Rural Policies in the Gloucestershire Structure Plan: 1. A Study of Motives and Mechanisms

P J Cloke and J K Little
Additional contact information
P J Cloke: Department of Geography, Saint David's University College, Lampeter, Dyfed, SA48 7ED, Wales
J K Little: Department of Geography, University College, London WC1E 6BT, England

Environment and Planning A, 1987, vol. 19, issue 7, 959-981

Abstract: The submitted structure plan for Gloucestershire contained some unusual and innovative policies for resource dispersal in declining rural areas. The motives and mechanisms which explain the development of these ‘radical’ (in comparative terms) policies within the political conservatism of a shire county are examined. The policies were formulated and adopted through an alliance of technical justification by planning officers and political ratification by an important group of councillors acting from motives of paternalism, beneficence, and philanthropy. Policymaking procedures were carefully orchestrated such that agreement could be forged within the county arena for a ‘consensus’ policy option containing significant elements of prorural policy. Once the Structure Plan was sent for scrutiny at central government level, however, the managerial expertise exerted by local state officials and politicians was undone by the more general concerns of the central state to restrict planning powers. The approved plan was diluted, and the perceived ‘art-of-the-possible’ at county level was shown to be out of line with that of central government, with a consequent loss of innovation for rural policy implementation.

Date: 1987
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a190959 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:19:y:1987:i:7:p:959-981

DOI: 10.1068/a190959

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning A
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().