Combining historical and policy study with empirical research from a qualitative study of regional elites this book offers an original and timely insight into the progress of devolution of governance in England. With particular interest in how governments have tried and continue to engage English people in sub-national democratic processes while dealing with the realities of governance it uses in-depth interviews with key figures from three English regions to get the ’inside view’ of how these processes are seen by the regional and local political, administrative, business and voluntary sector elites who have to make policies work in practice. Tracing the development of decentralisation policies through regional policies up to and including the general election in 2010 and the radical shift away from regionalism to localism by the new Coalition Government thereafter the authors look in detail at some of the key policies of the incumbent Coalition Government such as City Regions and Localism and their implementation. Finally they consider the implications of the existing situation and speculate on possible issues for the future.

As in many other areas of public policy in the United Kingdom, in recent years city planning has increasingly been localized, all the way down to the neighborhood level. This book is the first to critically analyze this shift, which has proved to be among the most contentious and controversial of all contemporary planning initiatives. Focusing on the newly granted rights of communities to draw up statutory Neighbourhood Development Plans, it moves from there to engage with larger debates about the theory and practice of localism, setting this trend within an international context with cases from the United States, Australia, and France, as well as the United Kingdom.

Combining historical and policy study with empirical research from a qualitative study of regional elites this book offers an original and timely insight into the progress of devolution of governance in England. With particular interest in how governments have tried and continue to engage English people in sub-national democratic processes while dealing with the realities of governance it uses in-depth interviews with key figures from three English regions to get the 'inside view' of how these processes are seen by the regional and local political, administrative, business and voluntary sector elites who have to make policies work in practice.

In the wake of many decades of increasing centralization, localism has been making a decided comeback in recent years. This book explores the development of localism as a new mode of statecraft and its implications for the everyday practice of citizenship. Jane Wills highlights the importance of civic infrastructure to effective engagement of citizens in local decision making, looks at the development of community organizing, neighborhood planning, and community councils, and positions this turn to the local in relationship to the longer geopolitical history of the British state.

English local government is in a state of decline after 40 years of incremental but cumulative centralisation by central government. This book is the first to directly address this trend's impact upon the institution of local government, a crucial element in the democratic viability of a unitary state. The process of centralisation, and its corrosive effect on the status and responsibilities of local government, have been widely recognised and deplored among politicians and senior officers within local government, and by academics with an interest in this field. However, there has been no study exploring in detail its impact, and, equally important, suggesting ways in which the growing imbalance between the powers of central and local government should be rectified. This book fills this gap. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of local government, and more generally to those interested in what has been happening to British politics and governance.

The book explores the claim that English local government exists in one of the most centralised relationships with national government. Such a position fundamentally undermines any notion of local self-government and makes the term ‘government’ in local government a misnomer. The book will examine how the erosion of the autonomy, powers, roles, functions and responsibilities of English local government came about, the arguments of centralisers and localisers to support their view of the constitutional status of local government, and its overall role in the government of England. The book offers an antidote to the onward march of centralisation by offering a new vision of local government which emphasises both ‘local’ and ‘government’.

Looking at the future of local government, this book examines the different changes, such as community charge and other financial changes, housing reforms, education reforms services, local democracy and other problems within the local government.