Plant Closures in Urban Areas: Towards a Local Policy Response

Abstract

This paper focuses upon large plant closures by multi-locational firms in urban areas. It argues that it is useful to disaggregate such closures into two categories: cessation closures and selective closures. This classification is applied to closures in Sheffield from 1979 to 1989 and a further distinction is drawn between inter-urban selective closures and intra-urban selective closures. The local environmental factors which had most effect on inter-urban selective closures are identified. It is argued that local policies may be able to influence plants at risk of selective closure (through manipulation of the environmental factors) but that local policies are unlikely to influence plants at risk of cessation closure.