Local government and local economic development in Britain: an evaluation of developments under labour

Local Economic Development Initiatives and the Transition From Training and Enterprise Councils to New Institutional Structures in England

“…In line with other research (e.g. Bennett et al ., 2004), these results show that, as yet, they rarely have their own independent budgets and are largely expected to provide a route through which other bodies can pool their funds, rather than being main funders or leaders of development.…”

“…Another surprise is that the role of Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and Sub-regional Partnerships (SRPs) (13.8 and 6.4 per cent, respectively) is even lower. This reflects a slow and patchy development of these partnership bodies in their early stages (a result echoed in surveys of local government; see Bennett et al ., 2004). RDAs and these other bodies may have developed further since the 2003 survey date, so further monitoring would be helpful.…”

“…However, local authorities do not have the financial scope fully to replace the TECs and they have a similarly wide range of bodies that they have to network with. But the main constraint on local government is their dependence upon central government initiatives and funds, such as the Single Regeneration Budget and the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (Bennett et al ., 2004;North & Baldock, 2000). By drawing on these funds local authorities have successfully attracted resources from other agencies and private sector businesses.…”

Evaluating good practice in coaching delivery between governing bodies of sport and county sports partnerships in the United Kingdom

“…This approach was allied to a public health discourse that extolled the virtues of partnership between agencies and individuals working together to tackle complex health issues (Department of Health, 2004). Emanating from the political desire of former (New) Labour administrations that sought to transform the state into an enabling partner in order to renew a sense of participatory democracy via networks of cooperative institutions and individuals (Bennett, Fuller & Ramsden., 2004;Bevir &Rhodes, 2003;Newman, 2001), partnership was endorsed as a means of encouraging the involvement of communities in local politics to improve transparency and local autonomy over services (Daly &Davis, 2002;Sullivan &Skelcher, 2002).…”

“…These have traditionally included representation from local authorities, voluntary organisations, local businesses, educational institutions, community and neighbourhood organisations, employment services, and the private sector (Bennett et al, 2004) and are widely premised on the notion of joint rather than parallel working (Asthana, Richardson &Halliday, 2002;Bennett et al, 2004). As such, they are assumed to create more inclusive local governance that is better tuned to the needs of communities (Geddes, 2006).…”