URBAN REGENERATION AND CENTRAL LOCAL-GOVERNMENT RELATIONS - THE CASE OF EAST MANCHESTER

This study evaluates the role of agencies involved in inner city regeneration, paying particular attention to the centrality of the local authority's position, and the changing nature of central-local government relationships. The first chapter examines the mushrooming of policy initiatives during the 1980s, concerned with the 'streamlining' of the Urban Programme, and with attempts to improve policy coordination, promote entrepreneurship, and facilitate a property-based approach to urban development. The second chapter reflects on recent changes in urban policy for central-local government relationships, focusing in particular on notions of 'agency and partnership', 'resource dependency' and 'stewardship'. This is interpreted in relation to a typology of local government responses to a changing local policy environment, namely resignation, resistance and reform. The remainder of the monograph applies such concepts to the particular case of East Manchester, and the urban regeneration initiatives promoted over the past decade. An introductory discussion of the local authority's role in tackling urban regeneration in Manchester focuses on its local policy dominance., and the nature of its relationships with other agencies attempting to play a leading role within the city. The research then looks at urban regeneration in East Manchester, evaluating the role of the main participants and policy outcomes. It traces the evolution of interventionist strategies - the East Manchester Initiative, the Development Strategy and the Regeneration Strategy - culminating in the city's recent abortive bid to host the 2000 Olympics. The increasing pragmatism of the City's approaches is well reflected in the case studies covering commercial and industrial development, housing, environmental improvements, and community development. The concluding chapter brings together the theme of a privatist and property development based government urban policy and the impact of such an approach for urban governance. The process of restructuring inter-government relations has ultimately resulted in the idea of the 'enabling' authority attempting to balance the interests of local communities with those of agencies beyond the direct control of local government.