Durham E-Theses Integrating economic and community development within the context of rural regeneration in County Durham Scott, Alison Louise How to cite: Scott, Alison Louise (2005) Integrating economic and community development within the context of rural regeneration in County Durham, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2197/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Integrating economic and community development within the context of rural regeneration in County Durham A copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. A/ison Louise Scott Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department ofGeography, University of Durham ·.. 2 1 JUN 2005 For Mum and Dad, with love (andfor all of my bears) -i- DECLARATION This thesis is the result of my own work. Data from other authors contained herein are acknowledged at the appropriate point in the text. © Copyright 2005 Alison L. Scott The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without their prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. -11- Acknowledgements There are a great many people who need to be acknowledged for their help and support throughout the undertaking of this research. I would like to thank my academic supervisors Professor Ray Hudson and Or Joe Painter for their guidance, patience and constant ability to inspire. I also wish to express my gratitude to my examiners, Richard Meegan and Or Gordon MacLeod, for their constructive comments. The research was funded by an Economic and Social Research Council CASE studentship (S42200034030) and the collaborating body was the Economic Development and Planning Department of Durham County Council. I would like to thank John Ashby, Linda Edworthy and Giles Dann who were involved throughout the research process and also Anne Magee. Particular thanks go to John Ashby who remained involved in the work following retirement and has been extremely supportive as well as a fantastic source of knowledge. Thanks must extend to the other members of the Economic Policy Team and wider Department who always made me feel welcome at County Hall and provided documents and maps, lifts to meetings and gave time within their busy schedules to the research. I express tremendous gratitude and thanks to the people of County Durham and North East England who were involved in the research as interviewees or members of organisations I observed; there are too many to mention here by name. Many people showed great interest in my work, welcomed me into their organisations, gave freely of their time, and answered incessant questions and requests. The secretarial and technical staff in the Department of Geography were always immensely helpful and supportive. In particular I would like to thank Trudy -iii- lnlegraling economic and communily developmenl wilhin lhe conlexl ofrural regeneralion in Counly Durham A. L Scofl Graham, Kathy Wood and Stella Henderson. For help with the lengthy and daunting task of transcribing interviews thanks go to Christine Stephenson (International Centre for Regional Regeneration and Development Studies, University of Durham), Trudy Graham and June Foster (Durham County Council). Within the Department of Geography I would also like to thank members of the Politics-State-Space Research Group and the International Centre for Regional Regeneration and Development Studies. Particular thanks must go to Dan Knox, Doug Lionais, Rob Macmillan, Colin McFarlane, Amanda Smith, John Thompson and James Wadwell for their friendship and the many discussions and reference suggestions. Thanks also to Simon Nelis and Duncan Wishart for the happy times in 301 a. I would like to take this opportunity to thank John Zeilonka and Lawrence Redmond of Montsaye School Geography Department. Their enthusiasm and encouragement fuelled my interest in the study of Geography and in undertaking research. I would also like to thank the officers, staff, members (and ducks!) of Van Mildert College where I lived during this research and my undergraduate studies in Durham. I wish to especially thank Laetitia Vedrenne, Laura Walker and Ben Gorman for the fun times in Durham, their friendship and reassurance. Thanks also to Victoria Walton and Richard Clarke who tried, whenever they could, to be there when I made the journey home. Many thanks to Katherine Scott, Peter Davis, Kathleen Davis and Frederick Scott, for their continual love and patience and their usual support and interest in my work. I also wish to acknowledge my late grandfather Geoffrey Davis who always taught me to aim for the best and whom I often thought about whilst working at County Hall. Special thanks to Damien Laidler who produced many of the computerised figures and plates for the thesis. More than this, he instilled in me the confidence to take on the project and has been there for me throughout. Finally, thanks as ever to Mum and Dad (Sue and Chris Scott), for their continual love and encouragement and for helping me to stay in Durham longer than I had intended to. Alison L. Scott Durham, May 2005 -IV- Abstract Integrating economic and community development within the context of rural regeneration in County Durham Alison L. Scott, University of Durham, May 2005 Many policy-makers and academics now argue that if development IS to be successful, the approach needs to be holistic encompassing different strands of activity and, importantly, the community needs to be involved. Community and partnership are central themes within policy. The rise of partnership working is associated with a shift to governance. The emphasis on community as a target for government action and as having a role to play in policy formation and delivery can be understood as a form of governmentality- governing through community. This thesis explores the integration of economic and community development understood as both the bringing together of different strands of development activity and of top­ down and bottom-up efforts. The research focuses on the rural areas of County Durham. It exammes development activity at a county level and in three case study areas. Rural areas in the County vary significantly in terms of their socio-economic history and the approach allows comparison of integration in different settings. The contested nature of the concept of community has been largely neglected in previous work drawing on the govemmentality perspective, but is a key part of this work. The findings suggest that many local people are not involved in development activity. There are some new actors, but not mass participative democracy. Blurred boundaries between actors/organisations from different sectors and the power relationships within partnerships cast doubt on the difference between government and governance. Adopting a governmentality approach shows how governmental technologies influence the integration of economic and community development. In some ways integration is hindered, but the evidence shows that obstacles can be overcome indicating the need to consider local agency and the possibility of resistance. Notions of governing through community need to be qualified with regard to disengagement. -V- List of Contents DEDICATION DECLARATION 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ill ABSTRACT V LIST OF CONTENTS VI LIST OFTABLES XI LIST OF FIGURES XII LIST OF PLATES XIV CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND 1.2 RESEARCH AIMS 5 1.3 THESIS STRUCTURE 7 CHAPTER TWO KEY CONCEPTS 9 2.1 INTRODUCTION 9 2.2 KEY POLICY SHIFTS 10 2.2.1 1945 - mid 1970s 10 2.2.2 Mid-1970s - early 1990s 11 2.2.3 Early 1990s onwards 12 2.3 PARTNERSHIP 18 2.3.1 Partnership working 18 2.3.2 Partnership and governance 22 2.4 COMMUNITY 25 -VI- Integrating economic and community development within the context ofrural regeneration in County Durham A. L Scott 2.4.1 Community: definitions and the concept 25 2.4.2. Researching communities 28 2.5 GOVERNMENTALITY 30 2.5.1 Government: the 'conduct of conduct' 30 2.5.2 Governmentality: the concept 30 2.5.3 Changing governmentalities and governing 32 through community 2.5.4 Elements of the governmentality approach 34 2.5.5 Governmentality, partnerships and 37 community 2.6 FROM URBAN TO RURAL 39 2.7 SUMMARY 43 CHAPTER THREE COUNTY DURHAM AND THE POLICY 44 CONTEXT 3.1 INTRODUCTION 44 3.2 A BRIEF SOCIO-ECONOMIC HISTORY OF 46 COUNTY DURHAM 3.3 COUNTY DURHAM IN THE LATE 1990s AND 49 EARLy 21ST CENTURy 3.4 POLICY HISTORY 55 3.4.1 1946- 1974 55 3.4.2 1974 - early 1980s 59 3.4.3 Early 1980s- 1994 63 3.4.3.1 Policies and programmes in County 63 Durham 3.4.3.2 Rural East and West Durham 66 3.4.4 County Durham policy 1994 - 2000 68 3. 4.4.1 County Durham Economic Development 68 Partnership 3.4.4.2 East and West Durham Rural Development 73 Areas -vii- Integrating economic and community development within the context ofrural regeneration in County Durham A.