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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Geoff Vigar
Two trends in contemporary governance practice are mirrored in recent UK efforts in transport policy and practice: first, a concern to develop strategies in more participative and deliberative ways; second, a re-territorialisation of the state with greater attention to regional levels. This article discusses these issues through assessing a single regional transport strategy-making effort. The article argues that the process has achieved some of its aims and is a useful effort at generating awareness of, and interest in, this aspect of strategic policy making. However, the case highlighted shows how important it is to develop an appropriate collaborative process if a policy mechanism is to endure. This requires greater attention to: the purposes of participation in strategy development; the skills, practices and roles needed by the animateurs of such processes; the system of formal decision-making institutions and mechanisms arising from re-territorialisation in the UK case; and reconceptualising participatory processes in more deliberative ways. The article concludes with an assessment of ways forward both specifically for the development of strategic transport policy and for stakeholder engagement in similar exercises in other policy areas.
Author(s): Vigar G
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Planning Theory and Practice
Year: 2006
Volume: 7
Issue: 3
Pages: 267-287
ISSN (print): 1464-9357
ISSN (electronic): 1470-000X
Publisher: Routledge
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649350600841446
DOI: 10.1080/14649350600841446
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