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City Deals, Decentralisation and the Governance of Local Infrastructure Funding and Financing in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Peter O'Brien
  • Andy Pike

Abstract

This article reflects upon a comparative analysis of the 28 ‘City Deals’ agreed between UK government, Scottish government and city-regional groupings in England and Scotland since 2011. The City Deals have sought to incentivise local actors to identify and prioritise ‘asks’ of UK and devolved governments, fund, finance and deliver infrastructure and other economic development interventions, and to reform city/city-region governance structures to ‘unlock’ urban growth. Our analysis is based upon 32 in-depth interviews with lead actors in the City Deals, including elected officials from local government, central government officials and policy specialists from think tanks, as well as a secondary literature review. We find that City Deals are reworking the role of the UK state internally and through changed central-local and intra-local (city-regional) relations. Regional and urban public policy is being recast as a process of deal-making founded upon territorial competition and negotiation between central national and local actors unequally endowed with information and resources, leading to highly imbalanced and inequitable outcomes across the UK. As a template for public policymaking in an emergent and decentralising context, deal-making raises substantive and unresolved issues for governance in the UK that are especially pertinent as the new Conservative government at Westminster pledges to widen and broaden this approach as a central component of its future devolution strategy and policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter O'Brien & Andy Pike, 2015. "City Deals, Decentralisation and the Governance of Local Infrastructure Funding and Financing in the UK," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 233(1), pages 14-26, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:niesru:v:233:y:2015:i:1:p:r14-r26
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Calvin Jones & Dylan Henderson, 2019. "Broadband and uneven spatial development: The case of Cardiff City-Region," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(3), pages 228-247, May.
    2. Neil Lee, 2017. "Powerhouse of cards? Understanding the ‘Northern Powerhouse’," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 478-489, March.
    3. Mia Gray & Anna Barford, 2018. "The depths of the cuts: the uneven geography of local government austerity," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 11(3), pages 541-563.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    cities; city deals; governance; devolution; infrastructure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O20 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - General
    • R51 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Finance in Urban and Rural Economies
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy

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