English Regional Research Articles

County, Nation, Ethnic Group? The Shaping of the Cornish Identity

If English regionalism is the dog that never barked then English regional history has in recent years been barely able to raise much more than a whimper. Regional history in Britain enjoyed its heyday between the late 1970s and late1990s but now looks increasingly threadbare when contrasted with the work of regional geographers. Like geographers, in earlier times regional historians busied themselves with two activities. First, they set out to describe social processes and structures at a regional level. The region, it was claimed, was the most convenient container for studying ‘patterns of historical development across large tracts of the English countryside’ and understanding the interconnections between social, economic, political, demographic and administrative history, enabling the researcher to transcend both the hyper-specialization of ‘national’ historical studies and the parochial and inward-looking gaze of English local history. Second, and occurring in parallel, was a search for the best boundaries within which to pursue this multi-disciplinary quest. Although he explicitly rejected the concept of region on the grounds that it was impossible comprehensively to define the term, in many ways the work of Charles Phythian-Adams was the culmination of this process of categorization. Phythian-Adams proposed a series of cultural provinces, supra-county entities based on watersheds and river basins, as broad containers for human activity in the early modern period. Within these, ‘local societies’ linked together communities or localities via networks of kinship and lineage. 3

Towards Equal Voices: Childcare Policy and Children in the Chinese and Bangladeshi Communities in an English Regional Capital

Childcare provision in Britain has improved in terms of its quality, accessibility and affordability, but still much more has to be done, especially in meeting the needs of minority ethnic groups. Household research with Chinese and Bangladeshi families including grandparents, parents and children was conducted to account for their childcare needs. The findings indicate that, while there are a number of similarities between the two groups, there are also significant differences that influence household practices and preferences with regard to childcare. The qualitative data illustrate the diverse and dynamic nature of minority ethnic households, while also drawing out policy implications for socially inclusive childcare planning.

Devolution and British politics

Introduction: Devolution and British Politics PART ONE. A KINGDOM UNITED 1. State-building and national integration in Britain. Michael O'Neill 2. Challenging the Centre: Home Rule Movements. Michael O'Neill PART TWO. RE-IMAGINING BRITAIN: THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY 3. Politicizing Territorial Identity: Theorems of Change. Michael O'Neill 4. The Politics of Identity: Scottish Nationalism. Antonia Dodds and David Seawright 5. The Politics of Identity: Wales. James Hunter 6. Northern Ireland: Resolving an Ancient Quarrel. Rick Wilford PART THREE. REFORMING THE BRITISH STATE 7. Reforming the British State: The1998 Watershed. Michael O'Neill 8. Intra-party relationships of British state-wide political parties within the developing territorial agenda. David Baker 9. Central Government and Devolution. Janice Mcmillan and Andrew Massey 10. English Regional Governance. Chris Stevens 11. The Impact of European Integration. Janet Mather

Biting the Hand that Feeds: The Marginalisation of Tourism and Leisure Industry Providers in Times of Agricultural Crisis

The total closure of the countryside under the control regulations associated with the outbreak of the UK 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) had major impacts on the tourism and leisure industry. The English Regional Tourist Board estimated that there was a loss of tourism revenue of £5 billion, which cost 150,000 direct jobs. Cumbria experienced a fall in tourism expenditure of around £198 million; this was 31% of the value of receipts. This paper presents an evaluation of the impact of the countryside closure on tourism and leisure organisations in the area of Keswick, UK. The use of online quotes from interested or affected parties was also drawn upon in order to further illustrate the effects of the countryside closure. This geographical location was selected due to it being the epicentre of foot and mouth disease epidemic in 2001. The authors will consider the strategic management of the crisis and its resultant outcomes with particular reference to the value of the tourism and leisure industry in rural locations.

Devolution to the English regions: Assessing its implications for transport

The publication in May 2002 of the White Paper Your Region, Your Choice: Revitalising the English Regions opened up for the first time the prospect of elected regional government in England. It asserted that regional government offers the potential for improved decision making, more efficient programme delivery and a better quality of life for people in their regions. But, like much of the debate about English regional government, these claims have not been tested. Drawing upon the views of regional stakeholders, this paper seeks to redress the balance through a case study of transport policy in the West Midlands of England. It explores deficiencies in current institutional structures and assesses how far they might be redressed by the White Paper proposals. The research shows that transport policies have become increasingly embedded in regional strategies. However, their implementation is an outstanding concern. The government's reforms are designed to achieve greater coordination between transport and o...

Organised for Inward Investment? Development Agencies, Local Government, and Firms in the Inward Investment Process

Inward investment promotion and aftercare remain central aspects of local economic development for English Regional Development Agencies, Scottish and Welsh development bodies, and local authorities in Britain. In many cases, partnership and consultation mechanisms have become integral to attracting inward investment and providing aftercare. Inward investment is thus an important area in which to explore interinstitutional relations between agents operating along diverse spatial boundaries and with different responsibilities. In this paper we analyse the local and regional institutional structures and relations characterising the inward investment process in Britain using new survey data from local authorities, regional bodies, and inward investors. We find that promotional activities have clearly defined structures which are chiefly led by the regional level. Aftercare is characterised by more collaborative arrangements involving both regional bodies and local government. However, many bodies are little used, with competition and tension between partners remaining frequent within English regions, regardless of recent institutional changes designed to reduce such problems. In Scotland and Wales, however, their national institutions are not only widely used, but they create high levels of satisfaction from firms. Hence, England has yet to respond to the effective challenges of Scotland and Wales. The analysis also highlights the limited importance of all national, regional, and local public institutions in attracting inward investors and their subsequent aftercare. The critical inputs to business decisions appear to be driven chiefly by more general supply-side conditions (for example, general skills versus local public packages) and the general attractions of a particular location.

The Genesis and Tensions of the English Regional Development Agencies: Class Relations and Scale

This paper argues that the origin of the recently founded Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England should be theorized in terms of the class relations and tensions of economic regulation in Britain and the use of scale and rescaling to manage those tensions. The paper considers the class logic of neo-liberalism, which has been particularly strongly developed in Britain due to its long-standing liberal settlement, and the problems of socialization of production which neo-liberalism has produced. The class tensions and problems of socialization which first created, and then led to the decline of, centrally-redistributive regional policy are discussed. Analogous processes at the EU level are examined. A key precursor of the RDAs, local economic initiatives, is examined, and the spatial-class relations underlying them discussed. These arguments are then the basis for understanding the partial rescaling of regulation in England downwards from the national state and upwards from the local level, and also the shift from centrally to locally controlled regional policy. This analysis of origins of the RDAs then suggests a number of tensions in the project which will shape its future trajectory; due to these tensions the class relations of the new regional economic governance remain open.

The Genesis and Tensions of the English Regional Development Agencies: Class Relations and Scale

The Genesis and Tensions of the English Regional Development Agencies: Class Relations and Scale

The Regional Dimension of Public Expenditure in England

Public expenditure in the UK has a location dimension with respect to the devolved arrangements for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is no location dimension to the allocation of public expenditure to the regions of England. Nevertheless, whether planned or not, public expenditure impacts on the regions through the provision of services and associated employment and income generation. This paper examines the methodological issues in assigning public expenditure to countries and regions, and reviews existing and past patterns of public expenditure in English regions. It then considers the relevance of this analysis to policy options for introducing an explicit regional dimension to the public expenditure allocation mechanism in England. Paradoxically, English regional devolution is potentially more radical in its implications, in terms of rupturing existing allocative mechanisms that lead to flows of expenditure, than devolution in the territories (where it can be interpreted as putting democratic caps on pre-existing bureaucratic bodies). Au Royaume-Uni, les dépenses publiques ont une portée géographique pour ce qui est des actions décentralisées en Ecosse, aux Pays de Galles et en Irlande du Nord. Il n'y a pas de portée géograhique pour ce qui concerne l'affectation des dépenses publiques aux régions d'Angleterre. Cependant, planifiées ou non, les dépenses publiques ont un impact sur les régions par moyen de la prestation des services, et à cause de la création d'emploi et de la production de revenu qui en découlent. Cet article cherche à examiner des questions méthodologiques concernant l'affectation des dépenses publiques aux pays et aux régions, et fait la critique de la distribution actuelle et antérieure des dépenses publiques aux régions d'Angleterre. Il s'ensuit un examen de l'importance de cette analyse quant à la possibilité d'incorporer une portée régionale explicite dans le mécanisme qui assure l'affectation des dépenses publiques en Angleterre. Paradoxalement, il est possible que la régionalisation en Angleterre puisse être d'une portée plus radicale, en termes de la rupture du mécanisme distributif existant qui amène à des flux de dépenses, que ne le fut la régionalisation des territoires (oùil s'agissait de démocratiser des organismes bureaucratiques préexistants). Die Ausgaben der öffentlichen Hand im Vereinigten Königreich haben eine Standortdimension in Bezug auf Vereinbarungen mit Schottland, Wales und Nordirland, die im Zuge der Dezentralisierung festgelegt wurden. Die Zuweisung öffentlicher Gelder in den Regionen Englands dagegen ist nicht vom Standort abhängig. Geplant oder nicht, wirken öffentliche Ausgaben sich nichtsdestoweniger auf die Bereitstellung von Dienstleistungen sowie damit verbundener Erwerbstätigkeit und Schaffung von Einkommen auf die Regionen aus. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht die methodologischen Fragen, die sich aus der Zuteilung öffentlicher Gelder an Länder und Regionen ergeben, und bespricht sowohl gegenwärtige als auch frühere Schemata öffentlicher Ausgaben in den Regionen Englands. Anschließend wird die Relevanz dieser Analyse der politischen Optionen bei der Einführung einer ausgesprochen regionalen Dimension in den Mechanismus der Zuteilung öffentlicher Mittel in England erwogen. Paradoxerweise erweist die regionale Dezentralisierung Englands sich als radikaler in ihren Implikationen bezüglich eines Bruches mit bestehenden Zuteilungsmechanismen, die zu Ausgabenströmen führen, als die Dezentralisierung in anderen Gebieten (wo sie als demokratische Zügelung bereits bestehender bürokratischer Körper interpretiert werden kann).

Building a World Class Region: Regional Strategy in the South East of England

The South East of England sits uncomfortably within the English regional project. Public support for regional government is relatively low and political appetite for a debate on its future is limited. We argue that the South East poses a problem for English regionalism. The incorporation of this economic heartland is imperative if the project it is not only to be associated with economic development and regeneration in more deprived areas. However, the South East is fragmented and fraught with tensions that institutions of regional governance cannot easily overcome. In particular this relates to the highly differential economic trajectories of different economic sub-regions and to the institutional separation of the South East from London. The future of regional government in the South East of England and the role that the region plays in the wider English regional project remain highly uncertain.

Strategic Connectivity, Sustainable Development and the New English Regional Governance

This paper examines the institutional impacts of the new English regional sustainability framework and highlights the tension between the need for regional involvement and the central desire to control the debates and intentions of the regional actors. The paper argues that the regional sustainable development frameworks have been worth writing because they have had a strong demonstration effect: they have allowed regional chambers to become more proactive bodies independent of the regional development agencies (which chambers were created to scrutinize). They have also allowed pluralistic conceptions of sustainable regional development to develop in the English regions alongside the economistic perspectives of national policy makers.

Improving Information for Regional Development Agencies' Strategies and Policies: Using Microdata from the United Kingdom's 2001 Census of Population

The author is concerned with improving the quality of information available to the English Regional Development Agencies in the development and review of their strategies and policies. Proposals are discussed and evaluated concerning the use of microdata and user-defined customised output from the 2001 Census of Population for the United Kingdom. The discussion is set within the framework of the guidelines and advice specified within the Regional Strategies and Supplementary Guidance publications of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. Assessment of the potential value of 2001 census microdata and customised output in the policy process is substantiated, as far as possible, with the aid of a case study based on the Samples of Anonymised Records from the 1991 Population Census.

Pathways to the Future? An Initial Assessment of RDA Strategies and their Contribution to Integrated Regional Development

The English Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) were established in April 1999 as part of the wider package of devolution measures. One of the first tasks undertaken by the RDAs was the preparation of Region al Economic Strategies (RESs). These strategies were intended to be a means of securing agreement on a single regional vision and programme of development. However, the RDAs are n ot the only actors present in the English regions and the RESs are not the only region al-level planning exercises. This paper reviews the guidance given to RDAs regarding the preparation and content of RESs. It also provides an initial assessment of the strategy documents an d the extent to which they are coordinated with other regional plans and programmes. The eight RESs differ in terms of their structure, content and emphasis. In general terms, and accepting the constraints under which they were prepared, it is clear that they represent positive attempts to develop strategies for the regions. Key issues for the future include the need for RDAs to agree detailed subject-specific action plans, to establish stronger links with other regional actors and to en sure that they add value to regional development.

Rescaling and Regional Governance: The English Regional Development Agencies and the Environment

The establishment of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in the English regions will bring about an important change in UK regional governance. A key area of contention and struggle is likely to occur over the contribution of the RDAs to sustainable development. Although the pursuit of sustainable development is a stated goal of the RDAs, in this paper we argue that this goal is likely to be compromised by tensions and contradictions emerging in the evolving new governance landscape of England. In terms of promoting sustainable-development policy, the regional scale of the UK state is becoming materially and discursively significant, and a particular focus of struggles around economic and environmental issues. These struggles strategically intersect with wider processes of reregulation and rescaling in the UK state. We not only consider the practical policy implications of integrating the economy and environment at the regional scale, but also analyse emerging tensions in regional governance in the light of processes of social reregulation and rescaling within the UK state. We argue that theoretical approaches to the latter need to incorporate the uneven process of rescaling and the contingent nature of regional state forms and institutions.

A Seat at the Table: The development of the English Regional Archive Councils

Place des Conseils d'Archives Regionales dans les organismes regionaux de la Grande-Bretagne, organismes tels que le Regional Cultural Consortium

Regional Development Agencies and English Regionalisation: The Question of Accountability

The English Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are an uneasy halfway house between a standard quango, answerable to Parliament through a Secretary of State, and the regionally accountable development agencies they will become if the government ultimately tackles the democratic deficit in the English regions by creating new, directly elected regional authorities. The accountability arrangements for RDAs are ambiguous as to whether the agenda of the new agencies will primarily reflect the views of their boards and executives, regional stakeholders, or government ministers and departments. The authors put the current debate about RDA accountability into historical perspective and review its main features. They argue that the debate risks ignoring some important factors which affect the success of RDAs if it does not also (a) examine the issue of accountability within and between the broader constellation of organisations whose efforts must underpin the realisation of regional economic strategies, and (b) address a broader debate about the role of regional institutions— elected or not—in encouraging regional economic innovation and development.

VIEWPOINT: Sub-regional planning: the missing link?

The recent revival of regional planning in Britain has been accompanied by a number of related political and procedural innovations. Examples of associated changes in policy include those that result from devolution to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; the proposed establishment of an elected Greater London Authority; the creation of Regional Redevelopment Agencies (RD As) in England; the review and revision of the operation of English Regional Planning Guidance (RPG); changes in the structure and organisation of Training and Enterprise Councils (TECS) at regional level; and, more recently, a number of adjustments to the regulations that govern the allocation and use of the European Union's Structural Funds. Change is also the order of the day at local level. In England, the final years of the Conservative administration saw the abolition of a number of county authorities and the granting of unitary status to shire districts; the hiving-off of larger districts as unitary authorities within those counties in which the county council was retained; and, as a consequence, the creation of joint arrangements for the preparation of structure plans. Similar reforms took place in Wales, with the abolition of all of the county councils and the creation of all-purpose unitary authorities, and in Scotland, with the abolition of the regional councils and the creation of unitary authorities. An interesting additional feature of Scottish reorganisation was the establishment of a special joint committee with responsibility for preparing a structure plan for the Glasgow and Clyde Valley sub-region. This institutional 'churning' has produced both positive and negative consequences for strategic planning. In one sense, the abolition of the county and regional authorities could be viewed as an opportunity to establish new administrative and planning arrangements that are more in-tune with the needs of the twenty-first century, whilst, from another perspective, the same 'reform' was considered by some observers to be the penultimate act in the

Researching career plans and career histories of mental health nurses

The project design is a panel study in which questionnaires have been sent at regular intervals to RMNs who qualified between January 1993 and March 1994 in all colleges of nursing in four purposively selected English Regional Health Authorities. The cohort included those who took the three year direct entry training for psychiatric nursing and all those who took a shortened course, having previously qualified for another part of the nursing register. The focus of this article is the first phase of data collection which took place at qualification. This first phase comprised a cross-sectional survey in its own right. However it was also the baseline for a longitudinal study and so the methods adopted for this phase were those for establishing and maintaining a study group over time, and not those for a one off crosssectional study. Reasons for choosing a longitudinal design and the methods adopted are briefly outlined here; a fuller account is available in Robinson et al., 1996.

Acute asthma epidemics, weather and pollen in England, 1987-1994

Recent epidemics of acute asthma have caused speculation that, if their causes were known, early warnings might be feasible. In particular, some epidemics seemed to be associated with thunderstorms. We wondered what risk factors predicting epidemics could be identified. Daily asthma admissions counts during 1987-1994, for two age groups (0-14 yrs and > or = 15 yrs), were measured using the Hospital Episodes System (HES). Epidemics were defined as combinations of date, age group and English Regional Health Authority (RHA) with exceptionally high asthma admission counts compared to the predictions of a log-linear autoregression model. They were compared with control days 1 week before and afterwards, regarding seven meteorological variables and 5 day average pollen counts for four species. Fifty six asthma epidemics were identified. The mean density of sferics (lightning flashes), temperature and rainfall on epidemic days were greater than those on control days. High sferics densities were overrepresented in epidemics. Simultaneously high sferics and grass pollen further increased the probability of an epidemic, but only to 15% (95% confidence interval 2-45%). Two thirds of epidemics were not preceded by thunderstorms. Thunderstorms and high grass pollen levels precede asthma epidemics more often than expected by chance. However, most epidemics are not associated with thunderstorms or unusual weather conditions, and most thunderstorms, even following high grass pollen levels, do not precede epidemics. An early warning system based on the indicators examined here would, therefore, detect few epidemics and generate an unacceptably high rate of false alarms.

Issues in cost function specification for neonatal care: the Fordham case.

Econometric techniques have been used to examine the relationship between costs of provision, case mix and unit size for health care providers. Estimation of cost functions in a health care context is complicated by poor understanding of the underlying production relationship and the constraints under which production takes place. Different results and policy implications can follow from different model specifications. This underscores the need for care in the construction of such functions and the interpretation of their results. Cost and activity data from a study of neonatal care for an English Regional Health Authority are re-examined. Cost functions are estimated using alternative functional forms, and average cost per day is estimated and compared for two of these functions [one produced by Fordham et al. (J Publ Hlth Med 1992; 14(2): 127-130) and the other based more explicitly in economic and econometric theory]. It is shown that estimates of average cost per day are sensitive to model specification. Such are the differences in cost that significantly different policy implications could follow from the different models. We conclude that care must be taken in the construction and estimation of cost functions and that the assumptions upon which they rest be made explicit so that results can be properly interpreted.