Between Whitehall and Town Hall: the realignment of urban regeneration policy in England

In: Policy & politics, Band 22, Heft 2, S. 133-145

Abstract

Urban policy in England can be characterised on the one hand as a fitful succession of discontinuous initiatives, the latest being a phase of competition and place marketing, but on the other hand as a continuity of centralisation, fragmentation and organisational proliferation. Policy integration and interdepartmental collaboration at central and local government levels has been weak. Proposals for a new Cabinet Committee, Ministers appointed with responsibility for individual cities, an integrated Regeneration Budget, and decentralised regional administration offer the potential for a reversal of centralist trends. At the same time, however, they embody a managerial, competitive and corporatist policy culture which runs counter to the spirit of a new localism in regeneration policy.