BRIEF FOR GOVERNANCE ASSIGNMENT

BRIEF FOR GOVERNANCE ASSIGNMENT (STRAND 1 ASSESSMENT - 40% of module marks) 1.0 Introduction to Task  Your task is to prepare a 2,000 word essay that addresses the general theme of ‘The current organisation and working experience of the local government system in England’. Within this general theme the specific focus of your essay should be oriented towards EITHER: a) the role of the local government councillor, OR, b) the work of local government committees (e.g. a scrutiny, overview or an area committee).  Your essay should demonstrate your ability to draw on and combine desk/screen documentary study with some more specific first hand interview or observation based material. Depending on your chosen focus for the essay (a. or b.), this material should be generated by either an interview with a local councillor, or, by observing a meeting of a local council Select/Scrutiny committee or an Area-based committee. See sections 3.0 and 4.0 below for more details of each of these options.  The deadline for handing in your essay is: Monday 21 November 2016 and the assignment is worth 40% of the total mark of ENVS432 “Theory, power and ethics”. 2.0 Task Specification  In terms of background material you will need to consult published texts, journal articles, reports, policy statements, agenda/minutes, local newspapers; these may be available in hard copy or on web sites (some documents are published on both; other documents are specific to web sites). These sources will provide you with both general information on local government and material specific to the local council whose councillor, or committee you are using as a case study. It is important that you undertake this background reading as part of the task and that you demonstrate your understanding of it in your essay.  As explained above, your use of documentary sources should be complemented by some first-hand case study material. Depending on your chosen focus for the essay, this material should be generated by either an interview with a local councillor, or, by observing a meeting of a local council Select/Scrutiny committee or an Area-based committee. The Select/Scrutiny committee should have a planning/environment/regeneration/transport/housing & community safety related function; the Area-based committee will usually have a wide-ranging agenda including some of the above and other neighbourhood matters. .  You may find it useful to consult books such as The Good Research Guide by Martin Denscombe (2007) for guidance on conducting interviews and observations. 3.0 Option (A) - Councillor Interview  The councillor (or, recent ex. councillor) interviewed may be either a “leader” or a “back bencher; either way the emphasis should be on the councillor’s political role and experience. The interview should take the form of a half-hour discussion with the topics guided by a simple open-ended list of questions prepared by you beforehand.The topics covered could include, for instance: o the councillor’s recruitment into politics (e.g. why did they decide to stand for election?) and their experience to date; o their local ward and its political background; o their current involvement in the Council, its committees, in local party bodies and, in other outside interests; o their view of recent reforms to the local government system (e.g. moves towards elected mayors and city regional structures); o how they see their role as a democratic representative in the context of moves towards more direct forms of democracy (e.g. local referenda on Neighbourhood Plans). 4.0 Option (B) - Observation of Committee Meeting  The committee organisation of local authorities varies a good deal from place to place. It is a good idea to check on your preferred council’s current organisation through their web site, which can also be used to provide a list of dates/times/places of future meetings, to see which would be of interest to you. Most councils also include agenda papers and minutes of previous meetings together with supporting papers/ reports where appropriate. It will be useful to have a copy of the ‘agenda’ of the meeting you are to attend in order to follow the business being discussed. Topics to be covered in your essay could include, for instance: o the layout of the meeting room; o the current party representation on the council and committee; o roles of and interaction between political leaders (e.g. chair, executive member, minority leader) and back benchers (including the extent of their participation and interests); o interaction between the councillors and staff and members of the public and press (if any); o the issues of the day and how they are treated (but this not the main focus of the assignment – so be careful not to focus exclusively on this!). Some of those attending the meeting may be willing to chat with you after the meeting has ended providing you with an opportunity to ask some questions and seek clarification of anything you witnessed. 5.0 Format and Presentation • Your assignment should be written up in an essay style. It is important that your essay:  Provides evidence of wider reading and includes appropriate references and quotations in relation to local government and its reform,  Includes your description and analysis of the political structure and processes in your selected council in addition to the evidence from your case study interview/observation. • The essay should not exceed 2,000 words in length (excluding Bibliography) and a ‘word count’ should be placed at the end of your text. Use headings and sub-headings to provide signposts to the structure of your essay. The text should be illustrated as appropriate and fully referenced. • Include photographs, diagrams and tables as appropriate. These should be numbered e.g. (Fig. 1, Table 2 etc.), given a title and indication of the source and an explanatory caption. Reference to them should be integrated into your text; they should not be left ‘floating’ and not placed as appendices. • Include a Bibliography of sources cited (including interviews), prepared according to the Harvard – author (date) title – system - including documents sourced through web sites. N.B. web site entries operate in the same way as hard copy i.e. (author/date) in your text and in your Bibliographical list; in the list. You also need to give the full specific document site address and the date you accessed the material being cited (e.g. 03/10/2016) 6.0 Suggested Sources and Reading 6.1 Governance BEVIR, M. (2009), Key Concepts in Governance, London, Sage. COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (2011), A plain English guide to the Localism Act, http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/1896534.pdf COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, (2009), Strengthening Local Democracy – Consultation, July 2009, http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/1290537.pdf COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (2008), Communities in Control – Real people, real power, Communities and Local Government, Chapter 5 ‘Challenge – How do I hold to account the people who exercise power in my locality?’, http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/886045.pdf COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, (2006), Strong and Prosperous Local Communities: The Local Government White Paper, (Cm 6939-I), Department for Communities and Local Government, London. http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/strongprosperous COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND ROYAL TOWN PLANNING INSTITUTE (2007), Planning Together: Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) and Spatial Planning: a practical guide, DCLG, London. Available at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/154326 DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (1998) Modern Local Government: In Touch with the People (CM 4014), London, TSO, at: SJLib: J301.A2.E51, and, www.communities.gov.ukk DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (1999) Local Leadership, Local Choice, (Cm 4298), London, TSO, at: SJLib: J301. A2. E51 EVALUATING LOCAL GOVERNANCE PROJECT, STOKER. G. et Al. (2007), The New Council Constitutions: The Outcomes and Impact of the Local Government Act 2000, DCLG. GOSS, Sue (2001) Making local governance work: Networks, relationships and the management of change, Basingstoke, Palgrave. (SJLib) OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (2005) Citizen Engagement and Public Services: Why Neighbourhoods Matter, London, ODPM and at: www.communities.gov.uk/localvision MORPHET, J. (2008), Modern Local Government, London, SAGE. WILKS-HEEG, S. (2009) ‘New Labour and the Reform of English Local Government, 1997-2007: Privatizing the Parts that Conservative Governments Could Not Reach?’, Planning Practive and Research, 24 [1], February 2009, 23-39. WILSON, D.J. and GAME, C. (2011) Local Government in the United Kingdom (5th. Edition), Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. 6.2 Conducting Interviews and Observations DENSCOMBE, M. (2007) The Good Research Guide for small-scale social science research projects (3rd. Edn), (Maidenhead: Open University Press). 6.3 Useful Journals The first two items are weekly magazine in format and approach, but provide a good way to keep abreast of current issues, get views and quotes from practice and appreciate different political and professional interests in issues.  Local Government Chronicle  Municipal Journal  Local Government Studies  Local Governance  Public Administration  Planning Theory and Practice 6.4 Useful Websites Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) http://www.communities.gov.uk/ Local Government Association www.lga.gov.uk Local Government Chronicle http://www.lgcplus.com E.g. http://www.lgcplus.com/topics/localism/ New Local Government Network www.nlgn.org.uk Individual government departments, public bodies and agencies and local council web sites can be accessed via the LGA site [go to: ‘Links’ and click on your sought for council in the alphabetical list] or directly, e.g.: www.liverpool.gov.uk or www.wirral.gov.uk www.manchester.gov.uk [check out pages on ‘Your council’ and ‘local democracy’] www.buckscc.gov.uk [check out pages on ‘Council structure’ and ‘Meeting agendas and minutes’ 6.5 Some Further Reading [E] indicates electronically available through the University Library electronic resources website. AUDIT COMMISSION (1997) Representing the People: The Role of Councillors, London, Audit Commission (CDLib: JS3185) BARRON, J., CRAWLEY, G. and WOODS, T. (1991) Councillors in Crisis: the public and private worlds of local councillors, Basingstoke, Macmillan, (CDLib/SJLib: JS3113. B23) BROOKS, J. (2000) ‘Labour’s modernization of local government’, Public Administration, 78(3), 593-612 [E] BURTON, P. (2004) ‘Power to the people? How to judge public participation’, Local Economy’, 19[3], 193-8 (E) CHANDLER, J. A. (2002) Local government today (3rd Edn), Manchester, Manchester UP COLE, M. (2001) ‘Local government modernisation: the executive and scrutiny model’, Political Quarterly, 72(2) COLE, M. (2002) ‘The role(s) of county councillors: an evaluation’, Local Government Studies, 28[4], 22-46 (E) COLLINGE, C. (1997) ‘Political power and corporate managerialism in local government: the organisation of executive functions’, Environment & Planning C: Government and Policy, 15(3), 347-63 COPUS, C. (1999) ‘The local councillor and party group loyalty’, Policy and Politics, 27[3], 309-24 COWELL, R. and MARTIN, S. (2003) ‘The joy of joining up: modes of integrating the local government modernisation agenda’, Environment & Planning C: Government and Policy, 21(2), 159-79 DAVIS, J. (2000) ‘The hollowing out of local democracy and the “fatal conceit” of governing without government’, Brit. Jnl of Politics and International Relations, 2(3), 414-28 [E] GOODLAD, R. and MEEGAN, R. (2005) ‘Governance, social cohesion and neighbourhood participation’ in: BUCK, N. et al., Changing Cities: Rethinking Urban Competitiveness, Cohesion and Governance, Basingstoke, Palgrave (SJLib: HT51. H64) GONZALEZ, S. and HEALEY, P. (2005) ‘A sociological institutionalist approach to the study of innovation in governance capacity’, Urban Studies, 42[11], 2055-69 (E) HEMSLEY-BROWN, J. (2003) ‘Local governance: scrutinizing scrutiny: the impact of local government modernisation’, Local Government Studies, 29[3], 169-81 (E) HODGE, M., LEACH, S. and STOKER, G. (1997) More than the flower show: Elected mayors and democracy, (Local Government Policy Discussion Paper 32), London, the Fabian Society LEACH, S and COPUS, C. (2004) ‘Scrutiny and the political party in UK local government; New models of behaviour’, Public Administration, 82(4), 331-54 [E] LEACH, S. and WILSON, D. (2000) Local Political Leadership, Bristol, Policy Press (SJLib: JS 3137. L43) [e] LEACH, S. and WILSON, D. (2002) ‘Rethinking local political leadership’, Public Administration, 80(4), 665-89 [E] LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION (n.d.) Be a Councillor, http://beacouncillor.co.uk/ LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION (n.d.) Stand for What You Believe In – Be a Councillor, Local Government Association, London. http://beacouncillor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/suport-councillor-development-Be-a-councillor.pdf LOWE, Philip and MURDOCH, Jonathan (2003) ‘Mediating the “national” and the “local” in the environmental policy process: a case study of the CPRE’, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 21, 761-78 MIDWINTER, A. (2001) ‘New Labour and the modernisation of local government: a critique’, Financial Accountability & Management, 17(4), 311-20 [E] MEADOWCROFT, J. (2001) ‘Political recruitment and local representation: the case of Liberal democrat councillors’, Local Government Studies, 27[1], 19-36 NOLAN COMMITTEE (1997) Third Report of the Committee on Standards in public Life: Standards of Conduct in Local Government in England, Scotland and Wales (Cm 3702), London, HMSO ORR,K. (2005) ‘Interpreting narratives of local government change under the Conservatives and New Labour’, Brit. Jnl. Of Politics and International Relations, 7(3) [E] PEARCE, G. and ELWOOD, S. (2002) ‘Modernising local government: a role for Parish and Town councils’, Local Government Studies, 28[2], 33-54 (E) PETERS, G.B., AND PIERRE, J. (2001) ‘Developments in intergovernmental relations: Towards multi-level governance’, Policy and Politics, 29(2), 131-6 PERFORMANCE AND INNOVATION UNIT (2000) Reaching out: The role of central government at regional and local level, London, PIU PRATCHETT, L. and WILSON, D. (1996) Local democracy ad local government, Basingstoke, (SJSL/SJLib: JS3095. P91) RACO, M. (2005) ‘A step change or a step back? The Thames gateway and the re-birthof the urban development corporations’, Local Economy, 20[2], 141-53 (E) RACO, M., PARKER, G., and DOAK, J. (2006) ‘Reshaping spaces of local governance? Community strategies and the modernisation of local government in England’, Environment & Planning C: Government and Policy, 24(4), 475-96 [E] RAO, N. (2003) ‘Options for change: mayors, cabinets or the status quo?’, Local Government Studies, 29[1], 117-121 (E) RHODES, R.A.W. (1996) ‘The new governance: governing without government’, Political Studies, XLIV, 652-7 ROBINSON, F., SHAW, K. and DAVIDSON, G. (2005) ‘”On the side of the angels’: Community involvement in the governance of neighbourhood renewal’, Local Economy, 20[1], 13-26 ROWE, M. (2006) Abusive Partnerships: new forms of governance, new forms of abuse?. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy vol. 26 issue 5/6 pp 207-219 SANDFORD, M. (2004) ‘Electred mayors I: Political innovation, electoral systems and revitalising democracy’, Local Government Studies, 30(1), 1-21 SMITH, P. (2003) ‘Modernising the council: a personal reflection’, Local Government Studies, 29[1], 171-21 (E) SOUTHERN, R. (2002) ‘Understanding multi-sectoral regeneration partnerships as a form of local governance’, Local Government Studies, 28[2], 16-32 (E) SPARKS, L. (2001) ‘The chair and the chief officer: a many-sided relationship’, Planning Theory and Practice, 2[1], 85-90 STOKER, G. (2003) Transforming local governance: From Thatcherism to New Labour, London, Palgrave [SJLib/CDLib RES JS3111.S87] STOKER, G. (2004) How are Mayors Measuring Up?, London, ODPM and www.wlgnce.org.uk STOKER, GERRY and WILSON, DAVID (eds) (2004) British Local government into the 21st century, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan(SJLib: JS3111.S) STEWART, J. (2000) The Nature of British Local Government, Basingstoke, Macmillan (SJLib: JS3111. S84) SULLIVAN, H., KNOPS, A., BARNES, M. and NEWMAN, J. (2004) ‘Central-local relations in an era of multi-level governance: The case of public participation policy in England, 1997-2001, Local Government Studies, 30(2), 245-65 [E] SWYNGEDOUW, E. (2005) ‘Governance innovation and the citizen: The Janus face of governance-beyond-the-state’, Urban Studies, 42(11), 1991-2006 [E] THORNLEY, A., RYDIN, Y., SCANLON, R. and WEST, K. (2005) ‘Business privilege and the strategic planning agenda of the Greater London Authority’, Urban Studies, 42(11), 1947-68 WARD, Kevin G. (2000) ‘A critique in search of a corpus: revisiting governance and re- interpreting urban politics’, Trans. Inst. Brit. Geographers, (NewSer).25, 169-85 WIDDICOMBE COMMITTEE (1986) The Conduct of Local Authority Business, London, HMSO. WILSON, D. (2003) ‘Unravelling control freakery: Redefining central-local government relations’, Brit. Jnl of Politics and International Relations, 5(3), 317-46 [E] WILSON, C. and MORSE, K. (2004) ‘Modernisation and political management arrangements: The case of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council’, Local Government Studies, 30(1), 22-35 [E] WILLIAMS, C. C. (2003) ‘Developing community involvement: contrasting local and regional participatory cultures in Britain and their implications for policy’, Regional Studies, 37[5], 531-41 WOLLMANN, H. (2006) ‘The fall and rise of the local community: A comparative and historical perspective’, Urban Studies, 43(8), 1419-1438 [E]