The study of governance and regulation in local environmental policy making was conducted by researchers at the University of Hull Department of Geography, and was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
Prof David Gibbs, co-author of the study says: "There is a new relationship between those who develop policy on the environment and those whose main job it is to attract business and jobs to the locality. But while the Labour government was focused on the environment in some of its early policies, it has more recently sought to give greater emphasis to economic growth and competitiveness. This often means that environmental issues lose out in local debates."
The researchers spoke to a wide range of local councillors, officers, environmental groups and private sector representatives. They concluded that local authorities still had an important role to play in driving and delivering environmental and local economic policies.
They also found that local business played little role in developing environmental policies, except on issues like congestion charging or estuary management, where they perceived they had a direct influence. However, environmental pressure groups, including those fighting to protect local amenities, are influential, especially when they become active in local government.
But the role of the environment in local governance has changed, and not always to the detriment of environmental concerns. "The relationship has become much more complex than it used to be in the early nineties," explains Prof Gibbs. "There seems to be a more holistic approach to urban development, often driven by a public-private partnership or a high-powered team in the council.
"There is a resulting blurring of distinctions between environmental and economic policies. It is not always the case that the environment loses out as a result. There have been interesting developments in 'entrepreneurial cities' like Manchester where sustainability has become an important part of debate about the regeneration of the city. Although road charging is still off the agenda, there is a lot of discussion about who should take responsibility for air pollution and this has helped create support for improved public transport.
In other cases, debate has been deliberately shifted from local to regional level to avoid local objections. "In Cambridge, discussions about the green belt and the infrastructure have been shifted from local communities to a broader 'Greater Cambridge' scale, which has circumvented opposition to change at a district level by transferring the debate to a more regional scale."
The study also found that there was often a lot of talk and debate about the importance of the environment, but this was not always followed through by concrete measures.
"The environment must be an increasingly important part of any debate about urban and regional development," concludes Prof Gibbs. "Yet none of the regions or localities we studied is engaged in a comprehensive strategy to make economic development more friendly to the environment. Too often there is lip service paid to the environment, but little is done to make economic development more sustainable."
For further information:
Contact David Gibbs on 44-148-246-5330 or (outside office hours) 0175-931-8402/0775-107-2017 or email d.c.gibbs@hull.ac.uk Or Lesley Lilley or Anna Hinds at the ESRC Press Office on 44-179-341-3119/413122
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The study Governance and Regulation in Local Environmental Policy Making was conducted by Prof David Gibbs and Dr Andrew Jonas of the Dept of Geography, University of Hull.
2. The study focused on six local authority areas in three regions: Leeds City Council, N E Lincolnshire Council (Yorkshire and Humber); Manchester City Council and Lancaster City Council (North West); 'Greater Cambridge' and Waveney District Council (Eastern). Interviews were conducted with 128 different key players.
3. The study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, high-quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC invests more than £76 million every year in social science and at any time is supporting some 2,000 researchers in academic institutions and research policy institutes. It also funds postgraduate training within the social sciences to nurture the researchers of tomorrow. More at http://www.esrc.ac.uk.