A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF COMMUNITY RAIL POLICY AND PRACTICE DURING THE NEW LABOUR YEARS 2003 - 2010 by ANDREW SEEDHOUSE A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth In partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science Faculty of Science and Technology In collaboration with the Department for Transport NOVEMBER 2012 Copyright Statement This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author's prior consent. 2 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the separate but interlinked issues of changing governance processes and the delivery of Community Rail policy and outcomes in addressing the primary research aim ‘To consider how changing governance environments introduced under New Labour, compromised or assisted the successful delivery of the Community Rail Development Strategy’. The history of Community Rail policy development and application is explored, leading to the publication in 2004 of the Community Rail Development Strategy (the 2004 Strategy). The process of governance and the academic literature detailing its changing application and form across the scalar range is considered, as is the rise of the neoliberal approach to governance favoured by recent administrations. The thesis then explores New Labour’s introduction of the Third Way and the revised approach to the renamed third sector, a space where a high number of Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) engage. To test the primary research aim and four core research objectives, a multi-methodological approach is applied combining desk-based quantitative analysis to determine a sample set of CRPs for the fieldwork, with qualitative semi-structured interviews of actors engaged in the case study areas. The processes behind these decisions are examined in Chapter 4. Having selected the case study areas, an empirical overview of the transport planning policies of actor members of the CRPs is undertaken, as well as a visual and audio station audit. The research then considers the place of the 2004 Strategy within this wider transport planning policy landscape at all tiers of regional and sub-regional government, and concludes that not all tiers of local government appear as engaged as others. The resurgent approach to localism is then examined, and the role of Local 3 Strategic Partnerships is considered to determine the level of current CRP engagement and opportunity for enhanced integration to deliver the 2004 Strategy and wider outcomes. The research demonstrates a high level of correlation between CRP activities and alignment to core designated national indicators which make up the current performance management processes for Local Strategic Partnership members including the local authorities. The research then examines the importance of a CRPs own approach to governance, the role of core individuals and the importance of core actor engagement to support a stable platform for delivering successful Strategy outputs and outcomes. It concludes by identifying where CRPs currently engage in the wider policy environment and recommends national policy options to improve on outcome delivery for individual CRPs and their actor members. 4 CONTENTS Page No LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ 12 LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. 13 LIST OF APPENDICES ......................................................................................................... 13 ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................... 14 DECLARATION ................................................................................................................... 16 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 1: Introduction ............................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2: Partnerships, Governance and a New Approach to Localism ................... 28 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 28 2.2 Governance and Scale .......................................................................................... 29 2.2.1 Defining Governance ................................................................................. 29 2.2.2 Metagovernance ....................................................................................... 31 2.2.3 Scale, Spatiality, and Territorisation.......................................................... 32 2.2.4 New State Spaces and Geographies of Governance ................................. 34 2.2.5 Hollowing Out and Filling In ...................................................................... 36 2.3 The Changing Approach to Governance within the UK ....................................... 38 2.3.1 The English Question ................................................................................. 38 2.3.2 The Rise of Neoliberal Resource Led Governance .................................... 39 2.3.3 Shifting the Balance from Government to Governance ............................ 42 2.4 New Labour and the Third Way of Governance .................................................. 43 2.4.1 The Third Way ........................................................................................... 44 2.4.2 The Quiet Revolution of the Third Sector ................................................. 45 2.5 Summary ............................................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 3: Policy Development and Influences on the Community Rail Development Strategy ................................................................................ 50 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 50 3.2 British Railways and the Governance of Post War Branch Lines ........................ 51 3.2.1 Post War Neostatism and the 1947 Transport Act ................................... 51 3.2.2 Reducing Social Obligations and Changing Perceptions of Social Value ... 53 3.2.3 The Reshaping of British Railways ............................................................. 55 5 3.3 New-Welfarism Supporting a Socially Necessary Railway .................................. 57 3.3.1 The 1968 Transport Act - A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing ................................ 57 3.3.2 The 1974 Railway Act, Unified PSO Block and EEC Obligations ............... 58 3.3.3 Quantifying the Social Consequences of Rail Closures ............................. 59 3.4 Internal Hollowing Out of British Railways at a Regional Scale ......................... 60 3.4.1 A Neoliberal Approach to Railway Finance and Sectorisation ................. 60 3.4.2 The Serpell Report ..................................................................................... 62 3.4.3 Closures and Bustitution or Investment and Operational Efficiencies ..... 64 3.4.4 A More Commercially Responsive Railway – the Omega Report ............. 66 3.4.5 Challenging Assumptions and the Value of Partnership Working ............ 67 3.5 Privatisation and Partnerships ............................................................................. 68 3.5.1 Organising for Quality and Support from the Supranational Scale ........... 68 3.5.2 New Opportunities for the Railways ......................................................... 70 3.5.3 New Futures for Rural Rail ........................................................................ 72 3.5.4 What use are Rural Railways? ................................................................... 74 3.6 A New Age, A New Opportunity ......................................................................... 76 3.6.1 The Growth of Community Rail Partnerships and Governance ................ 77 3.6.2 The Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) ....................... 78 3.6.3 The 2004 Community Rail Development Strategy Consultation .............. 79 3.6.4 The 2004 Community Rail Development Strategy and the Future of Rail 80 3.7 Summary ............................................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER 4: Methodology ............................................................................................... 88 4.1 Introduction........................................................................................................... 88 4.2 Methodological Considerations ........................................................................... 90 4.2.1 The Primary Research Aim and Core Research Objectives ...................... 90 4.2.2 Data Requirements to Determine Primary Methodology ......................... 91 4.3 Determining the Sample Selection ...................................................................... 92 4.3.1 A Pilot Survey to Optimise Data Value ...................................................... 95 4.3.2 Questionnaire Survey for Sample Selection .............................................. 97 4.3.3 Patronage Performance of Designated Community Rail Partnerships ....