Arnold, Thomas 
ORCID: 0000-0002-4223-5639
(2020)
State rescaling and infrastructure imaginaries: transport devolution in England's 'Northern Powerhouse'.
PhD thesis, Unspecified.
Abstract
This thesis examines the impact of sub-national transport devolution in Northern England on institutional relationships between different tiers of government. The establishment in 2015 of Transport for the North (TfN) represents a rescaling of strategic transport planning powers in Northern England, as part of the 'Northern Powerhouse' agenda which aims to spatially rebalance England's economy through improvements to transport infrastructure and sub-national devolution. Exploring the formal and informal institutional influences that determine the choices available to local and sub-national actors, the research assesses the effect of rescaling on interactions between local government, national government and TfN itself. Using data from interviews with elite policymakers operating at the national, sub-national and local tiers of transport planning, along with analysis of key policy documents, the research identifies a range of strategies and tactics deployed by actors and organisations operating at different tiers of England's multi-level system of transport planning governance. A case study of West Yorkshire is used to assess local responses to TfN's development of a Strategic Development Plan and proposals for the totemic Northern Powerhouse Rail project. The research findings are assessed in the context of the UK's unusually centralised approach to infrastructure planning and funding to explore how state power shapes and constrains the choices available to planners involved in sub-national and local transport planning. The informal institutions governing the policy activity of sub-national actors, and their autonomy in responding to and interpreting rescaling of transport planning powers, are examined. The research explores TfN's planning and political activity in the context of its relationship with central government, while at the local scale political actors have responded to the establishment of TfN by employing a range of methods to promote their infrastructure priorities. The spatial, institutional and political ramifications of state rescaling are discussed and the socio-spatial objectives and outcomes of regional transport infrastructure strategies are analysed in the context of England's unusually centralised system of government. The thesis adopts an infrastructural lens to examine the effects of state rescaling and advances understanding of the informal institutions that influence the development of sub-national policy.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Jan 2022 15:35 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jan 2023 21:17 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03146185 |
| Open Access URL: | https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/th... |
| Supervisors: |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3146185 |
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