Public involvement in Local Agenda 21: the impact of local authority policy processes Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD by Stephen Connelly Department of Town and Regional Planning University of Sheffield September 2002 SUMMARY Public involvement in Local Agenda 21: the impact of local authority policy processes Stephen Connelly The signing of Agenda 21 by the UK government committed local authorities in England to drawing up local action plans for sustainable development in partnership with their citizens. This Local Agenda 21 (LA21) initiative appeared to provide the opportunity for radical changes in the trajectory of development and in the nature of local governance. This research set out to explain why this did not take place and what happened instead. It investigated how the nature of public involvement in LA21 was shaped by the local authority policy making processes through which it was developed, based on the premise that these involved the working out of the ambiguous and contested concepts of public involvement and sustainable development in a complex policy and institutional environment. Two contrasting LA21 processes were studied in detail, primarily through interviews with key policy actors, supplemented by observation and documentary evidence. The research showed that public involvement in LA21 was the outcome of contestation between actors with differing interpretations of the key concepts, who also had a range of other policy and institutional goals which affected their attitudes towards the initiative. Outcomes were determined by which interpretations were present and the ability of actors to control policy making processes to promote their goals. This explains both the variation within the LA21 initiative as a whole and the absence of ‘radical’ impacts: such goals were simply not present or they were suppressed by more powerful actors. The thesis develops more practically adequate characterisations of both sustainable development and public involvement. It also challenges Agenda 21’s concept of a consensual participative planning process for sustainable development. It concludes by suggesting that policy making for sustainable development is inherently conflictive, and that public involvement in it is both a tool for policy makers and a channel for democratic input into policy making. Acknowledgements Many people assisted me in carrying out the research presented here and in constructing this thesis. For their assistance, advice and support in many ways my thanks go to: • all the local authority staff, councillors and others whom I interviewed in Durham and St Edmundsbury who gave freely of their time and knowledge to make this research fascinating and enjoyable; • Maggie Bosanquet and Mike Dawson, the leaders of the Local Agenda 21 teams in the two local authorities, who welcomed me into their organisations and helped in innumerable ways to make the research process go more smoothly than I thought possible; • my supervisors, Bob Marshall and Heather Campbell, for advice and support, and for steering me through the entire process; • Liz Sharp, as both friend and colleague, for her willingness to listen and argue when I needed it; • Nikky Wilson, for her patience and support and helping me keep a sense of proportion for four years; • all my colleagues at the University of Sheffield for making the PhD process enjoyable and stimulating, and in particular John Henneberry for serendipitously pointing me in the direction of the policy studies literature, which changed the way that I thought about the entire research project; and finally • all my friends and family who both supported me in my task and gave me a life outside the research. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction..........................................................................................1 1.1 Preamble.....................................................................................................1 1.2 Local policy for sustainable development..................................................1 1.2.1 The promise of Local Agenda 21............................................................1 1.2.2 An unfulfilled promise?...........................................................................3 1.3 The research................................................................................................4 1.3.1 Premises and aims....................................................................................4 1.3.2 Justification for the research....................................................................6 1.3.3 Approach to the research.........................................................................7 1.4 Structure of the thesis..................................................................................8 Chapter 2 Framing the research..........................................................................10 2.1 Introduction...............................................................................................10 2.2 Policy making as a complex process.........................................................10 2.2.1 A rational model....................................................................................10 2.2.2 A complex model...................................................................................11 2.2.3 Insights from theories of policy analysis...............................................13 2.3 Realist policy studies................................................................................16 2.4 A conceptual framework...........................................................................19 2.5 Conclusion................................................................................................21 Chapter 3 Democracy and participation: public involvement in governance....25 3.1 Introduction...............................................................................................25 3.2 Democracy................................................................................................26 3.2.1 Models of Democracy............................................................................26 3.2.2 Local democracy and government.........................................................31 3.3 Public involvement: models and critique..................................................39 3.3.1 Introduction............................................................................................39 3.3.2 Dominant models and approaches.........................................................40 3.3.3 Public involvement and policy making.................................................48 3.4 Conclusion................................................................................................53 Chapter 4 Sustainable Development..................................................................56 4.1 Introduction...............................................................................................56 4.2 The core meaning of sustainable development.........................................57 4.2.1 Underpinning assumptions....................................................................58 4.3 Contested meanings..................................................................................60 4.3.1 Characterisations of sustainable development.......................................61 4.3.2 A descriptive and analytical framework................................................63 4.3.3 Summary................................................................................................64 4.4 The role of the people in sustainable development...................................65 4.4.1 Introduction............................................................................................65 4.4.2 Three approaches to public involvement in sustainable development..66 4.4.3 Summary................................................................................................77 4.5 Conclusion................................................................................................79 Chapter 5 Local Agenda 21 in England.............................................................82 5.1 Introduction...............................................................................................82 5.2 The policy context.....................................................................................82 5.2.1 Central government and beyond............................................................82 5.2.2 The Local Government Management Board.........................................85 5.2.3 Local government and environmental policy........................................87 5.3 LA21 in practice.......................................................................................88 5.3.1 Introduction............................................................................................88 5.3.2 Outline history.......................................................................................90 5.3.3 Outcomes: Interpretations of sustainable development and public involvement in LA21.........................................................................92 5.3.4 Current explanations..............................................................................95 5.4 Conclusions...............................................................................................99 Chapter 6 Research questions and methodology..............................................101 6.1 Introduction.............................................................................................101 6.2 Conceptualising the policy making process for public involvement in LA21.......................................................................................................101 6.2.1 The nature of policy making processes...............................................101 6.2.2 Substantive goals and values...............................................................102 6.2.3 Policy making for public involvement in LA21..................................104 6.3 The research questions............................................................................106 6.4 The research programme.........................................................................108 6.4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................108 6.4.2 Data collection I: Case studies.............................................................108 6.4.3 Data collection II: Methods of data collection....................................110 6.4.4 Analysis...............................................................................................116 6.4.5 Ethics...................................................................................................117 Chapter 7 Public involvement in LA21 in County Durham.............................120 7.1 Introduction.............................................................................................120 7.2 Structures and principal actors................................................................121 7.3 The story of the LA21.............................................................................122 7.3.1 Genesis: 1980s - 1994..........................................................................122 7.3.2 The development of the LA21: 1995 onwards....................................124 7.3.3 Summary..............................................................................................128 7.4 Analysis...................................................................................................130 7.4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................130 7.4.2 Outcomes.............................................................................................130 7.4.3 Values and goals..................................................................................137 7.4.4 The context for the LA21....................................................................144 7.4.5 Processes..............................................................................................148 7.5 Conclusion..............................................................................................157 Chapter 8 Public involvement in LA21 in St Edmundsbury............................161 8.1 Introduction.............................................................................................161 8.2 Structures and principal actors................................................................162 8.3 The story of the LA21.............................................................................163 8.3.1 Establishing the LA21: 1992-1996......................................................163 8.3.2 The development of the LA21: 1996-1998.........................................164 8.3.3 The LA21 re-born – St Edmundsbury’s Community Plan: 1998-2000 .........................................................................................................166 8.3.4 Summary..............................................................................................167 8.4 Analysis...................................................................................................169 8.4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................169 8.4.2 Outcomes.............................................................................................169 8.4.3 Values and Goals.................................................................................176 8.4.4 The context for the LA21....................................................................183 8.4.5 Processes..............................................................................................187 8.5 Conclusion..............................................................................................197 Chapter 9 Policy making for public involvement in Local Agenda 21: analysis and explanation................................................................................201 9.1 Introduction.............................................................................................201 9.2 Explaining the case study findings .........................................................201 9.2.1 The case studies and current understanding of LA21..........................201 9.2.2 New ideas from the case studies..........................................................207 9.2.3 Explanations of the case study findings...............................................215 9.3 Generalising from the case studies..........................................................218 9.3.1 The general nature of LA21 processes................................................218 9.3.2 Was LA21 doomed to fail?..................................................................225 9.3.3 Implications for sustainable development through local government modernisation..................................................................................227 9.4 Conclusions.............................................................................................229 Chapter 10 Sustainable development and public involvement: reflections on theory...............................................................................................232 10.1 Introduction.............................................................................................232 10.2 Analyses of sustainable development.....................................................233 10.2.1 The substantive content of ‘sustainable development’........................233 10.2.2 Public involvement and characterisations of sustainable development .........................................................................................................238 10.2.3 Is a coherent position on public involvement in sustainable development possible?..........................................................................................242 10.2.4 Conclusion...........................................................................................248 10.3 Public involvement and policy making...................................................250 10.3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................250 10.3.2 Existing models of public involvement...............................................251 10.3.3 The management of public involvement.............................................254 10.3.4 Managed public involvement and democracy.....................................258 10.4 Conclusion..............................................................................................260 Chapter 11 Conclusions and reflections.............................................................262 11.1 Introduction.............................................................................................262 11.2 The conclusions from the research..........................................................263 11.3 Reflections on the research.....................................................................269 11.4 Further research.......................................................................................272 11.5 Research, policy making and the researcher...........................................273 Acronyms .........................................................................................................276 References .........................................................................................................277 Appendix A: Projects funded by Co. Durham LA21 Partnership Fund (Feb 1996- October 1999)..................................................................................296 Appendix B: Projects funded by St Edmundsbury Borough Council LA21 (1998- 1999)................................................................................................297 List of figures Figure 2.1: Models of causation..............................................................................18 Figure 4.1 Sustainable development........................................................................60 Figure 4.2: Three positions on public involvement in sustainable development – state and citizen roles ......................................................................................................78 Figure 4.3: Three positions on public involvement in sustainable development – epistemology and politics........................................................................................78 Figure 5.1: Central government definition of sustainable development .................84 Figure 5.2: The LGMB’s six steps to Local Agenda 21 .........................................87 Figure 6.1: Components of the policy making process for public involvement in LA21......................................................................................................................105 Figure 6.2: A prevalent understanding of policy making for public involvement in LA21......................................................................................................................105 Figure 6.3: Interviews............................................................................................112 Figure 7.1: The LA21 in County Durham.............................................................129 Figure 7.2: Four crises in the County Durham LA21...........................................157 Figure 8.1: The LA21 in St Edmundsbury ...........................................................168 Figure 10.1: The field of solutions to the environment and development problem.... ............................................................................................................................ 234 Figure 10.2: Summary of the argument for a political approach to public involvement in sustainable development...............................................................245 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Preamble For most of the past decade many UK local authorities have been grappling with the challenge laid down for them at the Rio Conference in 1992. This was to draw up a sustainable development strategy at their local level which represented a consensus between themselves and all other groups in their area – a Local Agenda 21 (UNCED 1992; LGMB 1994a). For many people outside and within local government this initiative was not only about making major changes in the trajectory of policy making towards more environmentally friendly ends, but its emphasis on participatory processes also gave an opportunity to revive or replace a moribund representative democratic system with a more direct, participatory democracy. Ten years after Rio this radical change in local governance has not apparently taken place: this research sets out to examine some of the reasons why this has been the case. 1.2 Local policy for sustainable development 1.2.1 The promise of Local Agenda 21 Humanity stands at a defining moment in history. We are confronted with a perpetuation of disparities between and within nations, a worsening of poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy, and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystems on which we depend for our well-being. However, integration of environment and development concerns and greater attention to them will lead to the fulfilment of basic needs, improved living standards for all, better protected and managed ecosystems and a safer, more prosperous future. No nation can achieve this on its own; but together we can - in a global partnership for sustainable development. UNCED (1992: §1.1) With these words the world’s governments gathered at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development at Rio in 1992 publicly and formally recognised the enormity of the environmental threat to humanity’s well- being. They simultaneously asserted the possibility that the threat could be averted - that environmental and developmental concerns could be reconciled through the 1 integration of economic, social and environmental policy making (§1.1, §8.2*). Moreover, they recognised that achieving sustainable development was not simply a task for concerted governmental action, but that the involvement of all groups in society in both policy making and action would be necessary (§8.3, §23.1). Agenda 21 was thus profoundly democratic and egalitarian (LGMB, 1993a), explicitly requiring ‘broad public participation’ (§23.2) as an integral part of and prerequisite for sustainable development. Local governments were amongst the many groups assigned roles by Agenda 21. In one brief chapter their importance was spelled out: Because so many of the problems and solutions being addressed by Agenda 21 have their roots in local activities, the participation and cooperation of local authorities will be a determining factor in fulfilling its objectives. … As the level of governance closest to the people, they play a vital role in educating, mobilizing and responding to the public to promote sustainable development (§28.1). They were given a mandate ‘by 1996...[to] have undertaken a consultative process with their populations and achieved a consensus on “a local Agenda 21”’ (§28.2a). Thus a new local government policy initiative was born. As a group UK local authorities were enthusiastic: by 1997 over 70% (Morris and Hams, 1997) were taking active steps towards developing a Local Agenda 21 (LA21) and across the globe UK local authorities have been the most active in developing this component of Agenda 21 (ICLEI, 1997; Buckingham-Hatfield and Percy, 1999). They were encouraged and assisted in this by the national local authority associations and the Local Government Management Board (LGMB), who set up a LA21 initiative to train and guide local authorities in developing their own individual LA21s. This action was supported by their claim of a major role for local government in achieving sustainable development, encapsulated in the oft-repeated statement that over two thirds of the statements of Agenda 21 which have been adopted by national governments cannot be delivered without the commitment and cooperation of local government (LGMB, 1993a: 1). A substantial body of writing by practitioners and academics embraced Agenda 21 as the cornerstone of a ‘new environmental agenda’ (Agyeman and Evans, 1995: 36) * References in this format are to chapters and paragraphs in Agenda 21 (UNCED,1992). 2