Prospects for mitigating climate change require decarbonisation of the energy sector over relatively short time periods, coupled with significant changes to the way we consume energy. This is particularly true in the transport sector given the current levels of transport-related greenhouse gas...

The effect of the government's 'devolution settlement' on the position of England within the UK shows no signs, as yet, of departing from the tradition of British incrementalism. Despite significant changes still underway, attitudes and identity have yet to show decisive changes. The paper...

The Local Government Act 2000 established the system of ‘overview and scrutiny’ in a majority of English local authorities. Ostensibly an attempt to transfer some of the features of the parliamentary/government decisionmaking process, the new system has not been able entirely to replace its...

Decentralisation is a key thread running through current UK policy making. The Coalition Government has abolished New Labour’s regional legacy in favour of a new set of strategies around growth and development that has tapped into the localist agenda. Drawing on a series of recent...

The UK Climate Change Act 2008 commits to a reduction of 80% in national GHG emissions by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. This article explores what happens next where these top-level aspirations are expected to be turned into radical action. It does so through examination of the transport sector,...

In the absence of regional government, New Labour has pursued a process of administrative decentralisation in the English regions outside London, including the appointment of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), charged with stimulating economic modernisation and assisting in reducing regional...

A<sc>yres</sc> S. and S<sc>tafford</sc> I. Managing complexity and uncertainty in regional governance networks: a critical analysis of state rescaling in England, <italic>Regional Studies</italic>. Network management is viewed as a way of dealing with uncertainty in complex policy networks, but little is known about the types of...

In this timely Handbook, leading scholars from around the world explore the challenges presented by infrastructure PPPs, and contemplate what lies ahead as governments balance the need to provide innovative new infrastructure against the requirement for good public governance. This Handbook...

Compared with the constitutional changes introduced elsewhere in the United Kingdom, in the English regions a more cautious approach has been adopted based on administrative decentralisation. A key feature of the government’s reforms has been the strengthening of regional spatial planning and...