Levelling up in a ‘decentralised’ England: place-based or ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategies?

Shivani Sickotra

Regional Studies, Regional Science, 2024, vol. 11, issue 1, 724-737

Abstract: English policymaking has traditionally been centralised, assuming homogenous needs across regions and contributing to economic inequalities. The Levelling Up Agenda aims to address these disparities through a place-based approach using devolved Combined Authority (CA) organisations. Despite being the first national strategy with an extensive place-based focus, it faces criticism as a potentially centralised political tool. Concerns also exist about whether Combined Authorities can deliver regional economic development as they have centrally controlled aspects. If regional planning approaches are identical, decentralisation through Combined Authorities would essentially be futile. This paper uses a novel quantitative method with Strategic Economic Plans to determine if regional planning inhibits a place-based or ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, contributing data-driven insights to the debate regarding the efficacy of Combined Authorities. Through exploratory text analysis, hierarchical and K-means clustering, findings indicate regions adopt place-sensitive planning with varying sector priorities. A northern-southern and an inland-coastal distinction emerge, with London as an outlier. This suggests Combined Authorities are fit for purpose at this quantitative clustering level and do consider their geographical context in planning despite a devolved yet centrally controlled oxymoronic landscape. Collaborations like an inland and a coastal CA network are recommended to potentially maximise place-based growth.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/21681376.2024.2419135 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:rsrsxx:v:11:y:2024:i:1:p:724-737

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rsrs20

DOI: 10.1080/21681376.2024.2419135

Access Statistics for this article

Regional Studies, Regional Science is currently edited by Alasdair Rae

More articles in Regional Studies, Regional Science from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().