Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Battle for the Floodplains: An Institutional Analysis of Water Management and Spatial Planning in England Thesis How to cite: Potter, Karen (2013). Battle for the Floodplains: An Institutional Analysis of Water Management and Spatial Planning in England. PhD thesis University of Liverpool. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2012 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/11853/ Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk Battle for the Floodplains: An Institutional Analysis of Water Management and Spatial Planning in England Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the for the Degree of Doctor in Philosophy by Karen Michelle Potter September 2012 Abstract Dramatic flood events witnessed from the turn of the century have renewed political attention and, it is believed, created new opportunities for the restoration of functional floodplains to alleviate the impact of flooding on urban development. For centuries, rural and urban landowning interests have dominated floodplains and water management in England, through a ‘hegemonic discourse alliance’ on land use development and flood defence. More recently, the use of structural flood defences has been attributed to the exacerbation of flood risk in towns and cities, and we are warned if water managers proceeded with ‘business as usual’ traditional scenarios, this century is predicted to see increased severe inconveniences at best and human catastrophes at worst. The novel, sustainable and integrated policy response is highly dependent upon the planning system, heavily implicated in the loss of floodplains in the past, in finding the land for restoring functioning floodplains. Planners are urged to take this as a golden opportunity to make homes and businesses safer from flood risk, but also to create an environment with green spaces and richer habitats for wildlife. Despite supportive changes in policy, there are few urban floodplain restoration schemes being implemented in practice in England, we remain entrenched in the engineered flood defence approach and the planner’s response is deemed inadequate. The key question is whether new discourses and policy instruments on sustainable, integrated water management can be put into practice, or whether they will remain ‘lip-service’ and cannot be implemented after all. Against the backdrop of a broader modernity debate, in this thesis the English floodplain emerges as a ‘battle site’ where the planner is caught in the cross fire of an ideological clash between economic (armed with technology) and environmentalist (allied with nature) arguments and preferred change in land use. Furthering interpretative research and discourse analysis to tap and explain belief and knowledge systems rather than rational ‘fluvial systems’ per se, the thesis delves deeper than previous research, into the mind sets and ‘irrationalities’ of actors’ practices on the floodplain. The policy response advocating ‘making space for water’ and floodplain restoration is based on an overstretched steering optimism, and will continue to prove too radical if the mediating and tempering political-institutional context is not seriously addressed. If there is true commitment from the UK government, closing the current implementation deficit on floodplain restoration will require the recognition and amelioration of persisting power structures within government agencies, founded on technological and economic rationalities, and permit the planner to share responsibility, unfettered by one sided growth objectives, to find new ways of working across sectors and disciplines towards sustainable, water sensitive towns and cities. i ii Acknowledgements To Thomas Fischer, who supervised my Master’s (MCD) dissertation on floodplain restoration and encouraged my ‘late’ entry into the academic field. To Jan Gomulski, who clicked ‘send’ on the email to Thomas, enquiring about the possibility of a PhD. To Sue Kidd and Peter Batey, who made me feel valued, to bring my research topic to Liverpool. To Greg Lloyd, who opened my eyes to the research ammunition within the social sciences. To Dave ‘so what’ Shaw – for keeping it real. Back to Thomas – for achieving that fine balancing act of trust in me to conduct the research in my own independent style, yet for key advice and timely ‘steers’, my ideal supervisor and (tor)mentor, with a feeling of self-assurance you were always behind me. To Mully (cat), my second supervisor – often in front of me, including on the laptop’s keyboard. To all my fellow PhD students at Liverpool, with a particular mention for my original ‘office mates’ Steven Ackers, Matt Cocks, Paula Posas, Antonio Ferreira, new next door neighbour Lynne McGowan and most of all Debbie Fox. For much needed support from colleagues, with a special mention for Urmila Jha- Thakur and John Sturzaker. To all those who have helped on my research journey, for many interesting conversations and observations, in particular Sarah Ward at the other end of the ‘bridge’ and the ‘potent’ Francis Hesketh - I look forward to further collaborations. To my mum and dad, who think I will never leave university, hopefully you are right – thank you for your constant support. 4 Finally to Paul, my ‘save the raindrops’ co-conspirator but thesis widower, for your endless love and encouragement, who tried to get me to believe in myself, but certainly kept me laughing – I too now look forward to getting the rucksacks on our backs and off walking in the mountains ‘on a crisp sunny day like this’. iii iv Contents ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................ III PART I: DEFINE AND DESIGN .................................................................... I 1 INTRODUCTION TO A CONTESTED SPACE: THE FLOODPLAINS OF ENGLAND .......................................................... 1 1.1 The Shifting Policy Context for Urban Floodplains ............................................................... 3 The Unknown Effects of Development and Flood Defence on the Watershed .................................................. 4 Floodplain Restoration, ‘Turquoise Belts’ and ‘Daylighting’ ..................................................................... 6 Early Policy Response in Flood Risk Management and Planning ............................................................... 8 1.2 Barriers to the Implementation of Floodplain Restoration ..................................................... 8 Over Complexity of Partnerships and Integration .................................................................................. 9 Traditional Mind Sets .................................................................................................................. 9 Spatial Planning ....................................................................................................................... 10 1.3 ‘Shifts in Governance’ ......................................................................................................... 11 Institutional Complexity and Resulting Policy Implementation Deficits ....................................................... 12 The Restricted Scope of Technocratic and Positivist Policy-Making ............................................................ 13 Connecting Institutional Research to Natural and Engineering Science ....................................................... 14 1.4 My River is Wide, not Deep – Summarising the Research ................................................... 15 An Interpretative Analysis .......................................................................................................... 16 Aim of the Research .................................................................................................................. 18 Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................................................ 18 2 METHODOLOGY: LAYING BARE THE BOTTLENECKS IN FLOODPLAIN RESTORATION POLICY ............................................. 21 2.1 Influences: a Critical Approach within the Interpretivist Paradigm ...................................... 22 2.2 Four Stage Research Design ............................................................................................... 23 Stage 1: Literature Review and ‘Grounded’ Observation ........................................................................ 24 Stage 2: Development of the Theoretical Constructs and Evaluation Framework .......................................... 24 Stage 3: Theoretical Sampling and Coding ........................................................................................ 24 Stage 4: Refine Research Concerns and Theory ................................................................................... 25 2.3 Overall Research Approach: the Case Study ........................................................................ 26 Case Study – to Aim for a More Holistic and Meaningful Explanation ...................................................