The Politics of Scale and Network Building in Spatial Planning

The Politics of Scale and Network Building in Spatial Planning was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Overview

This project examined the way communities connect with, and seek influence over, the policies and programmes of local authorities and service providers. Its aims were to understand the processes of capacity building within communities and how, through networking, communities build lobbying-alliances, connect to policy makers, and maximise the influence of community-led plans in decision making.

The project also studied how, through communication (and conversation), communities and stakeholders reach consensus around planning and related policy decisions. An attempt was also made to connect this research to the evolving 'localism' agenda, using its findings to contribute to the wider debate on the future of local governance and planning for housing.

The following key messages emerged from the project's many findings:

• Communities are overwhelmed by the current level of engagement with service providers, but underwhelmed by the degree of influence this engagement brings.
• Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) are failing to act as brokers for community-based concerns, offering no connection to service providers
• While it might be fashionable to argue for a reinvigoration of local democracy, communities themselves would settle for greater simplicity.
• Furthermore, two possible narratives of future 'localism' emerged:
• 'metagovernance', in which the local state gives the steer and communities deliver (within a framework of responsibility);
• an input-orientated scenario, in which local state apparatus becomes simpler to engage with and feed into.

Communities are seeking a locally-responsive system, not local responsibility; and policy-communities also see this as the best way forward.

People

Professor Nick Gallent
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Steve Robinson
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Outputs

Two main reports have been published and two conference papers given. A book will be published by the Policy Press in 2012.

Nick Gallent and Steve Robinson, Neighbourhood Planning: Communities, Networks and Governance, Policy Press, London, 2012 (forthcoming)

Nick Gallent and Steve Robinson, The Politics of Scale and Network Building in Spatial Planning: Bridging Community Ambition to Strategic Priority in Southern England, ESRC, Swindon, 2010

Nick Gallent and Steve Robinson, 'Some Notes on Desirable Localism', in Town and Country Planning (ISSN: 0040-9960), 2010

Nick Gallent and Steve Robinson, 'Making Connections in Community Planning', in ESRC Full Project Report, Bartlett School of Planning, London, 2010, p. 216

Nick Gallent and Steve Robinson, 'Connecting Communities and Policy Makers in England: Perspectives on Bridging/Brokering Linkages to Community-Led Plans', at Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), Minneapolis, 9 October 2010

Nick Gallent and Steve Robinson, 'Community-led Plans and the Capacity of Communities to Link to Formal Planning Structures', at Association of European Schools of Planning (Aesop) 2010, Helsinki, 8 July 2010