9 - The Dynamics of Economic and Social Partnerships and Governance Failure

Summary

I now turn to the scalar dynamics of economic and social governance through two further case studies. I address the failure of local economic governance in two local English regions in the 1990s that pursued different projects – Dartford in the North West Kent region and Greater Manchester. I conclude this chapter with the long-term historical dynamics of corporatism and its contemporary evolution.

Two regional case studies

This section briefly illustrates some of the above themes by considering two cases from my two regional research sites, the Thames Gateway and the North West. The first concerns an interorganizational partnership centred in Dartford in North West Kent in the UK and concerned with a particular property-led development project; the second concerns networks mobilized around the Manchester Olympic bids as a larger place-marketing exercise for Manchester and the North West. Both cases can be interpreted as instances of governance failure as well as governance success.

Kent Thames-side Agency and London Science Park at Dartford

When the research team conducted interviews in Dartford at the beginning of research on the Thames Gateway region in 1993–96, we were confidently informed by various politicians, local government officers and spokespeople for Dartford Chamber of Commerce that one of the town's big successes was to have secured planning permission for the London Science Park at Dartford (hereafter LSP). (For the background to the expansion of the Thames Gateway region, see DCLG, 2006.) At the conclusion of our research in 1996, the Science Park project had been scaled down and was still far from being fully established (see Dartford Borough Council, 1999):

A district comprising the London Science Park at Dartford, the University of Greenwich and Littlebrook Lakes Business Park. This is being promoted by Dartford Borough Council, The University of Greenwich, the Wellcome Foundation and South Thames Regional Health Authority. This mixed use proposal has been described as the first in a new generation of science parks, one which does not act as an isolated “park”, but that is integrated with nearby Dartford town centre. It includes a research and development centre, higher education facilities and student residences, a forum for business innovation as a catalyst for new scientific and manufacturing collaboration, plus a range of housing, shops and restaurants, all well served by public transport. (Thomas and Cousins, 1996: 286)