Janice Morphet

University College London | UCL · The Bartlett School of Planning

Since 2010, local authorities in England have faced a dramatic cut in funding from central government, associated with a neoliberal super-austerity seen in many countries. At the same time, these authorities have also been increasingly concerned about the problems associated with private sector delivery of housing and the consequences of their incr...

This chapter discusses how local authorities are drawing on their powers, resources, cultures, and experiences to address challenges in the Conservative Party's austerity policy and promote their financial security for the future. It refers to England's the central government that enabled and encouraged greater delivery of housing by the private se...

This chapter focuses on the role and history of local government in the United Kingdom, which are inextricably linked with housing provision and delivery in its administrative areas. It reviews the period since 1980 wherein the local government's housing role was lessened and almost removed, particularly in England. It also explains the intentional...

This book provides crucial insight into the fight back against austerity by local authorities through emerging forms of municipal entrepreneurialism in housing delivery. Capturing this moment within its live context, the book examines the ways that local authorities are moving towards increased financial independence based on their own activities t...

The UK’s pursuit of public value has been associated with its membership of the European Union (EU). This has been specifically through procurement both in the single European market and in the EU’s role in ensuring member state compliance with their public procurement agreements within the World Trade Organisation. The second has been through the...

This paper compares planning and funding arrangements for public infrastructure delivery in support of new housing development in the UK, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, the US, and Hong Kong/Mainland China. It examines the roles and responsibilities of different levels of government, the extraction of financial contributions from the...

This book provides crucial insight into the fight back against austerity by local authorities through emerging forms of municipal entrepreneurialism in housing delivery. Capturing this moment within its live context, the authors examine the ways that local authorities are moving towards increased financial independence based on their own activities...

This chapter looks at local authorities in England that have been intimately involved in the twin crises of super-austerity and housing over the past decade. It discusses the context of the resilient and adaptive system of the local government in England, wherein the authorities' pushback against austerity favoured their own direct action in delive...

This chapter deals with the application of austerity since 2010 as a political act designed to transform the way in which local authorities in the United Kingdom operate and are funded. It explains how the local authorities have been dependent on government funding as the UK is considered as one of the most centralised states in the Organisation fo...

This chapter reviews how local authorities in England have taken a range of initiatives to respond to super-austerity and face the twin crises of managing housing demand and supply. It discusses the restructuring of the form of local government and the creation of new unitary authorities or merging council administrations. It also explores the invo...

This paper discusses gender planning initiatives from the 1980s to the 1990s based on the experiences in London of two practising planners when local authorities began discussing gender-sensitive cities and developed specific actions and planning policies, women’s committees and women’s officers in planning departments. The first experience in the...

Linda Hantrais (2019), What Brexit means for EU and UK Social Policy, Bristol: Policy Press, £14.99. pp. 160, pbk. - Volume 48 Issue 4 - JANICE MORPHET

John Erik Fossum and Hans Petter Graver (2018) Squaring the Circle on Brexit: Could the Norway Model Work?, Bristol: Bristol University Press and Policy Press, £12.99, pp. 128, pbk. - Volume 48 Issue 2 - JANICE MORPHET

This paper sets out the motivations, methods and means through which local UK authorities are engaging in the direct provision of housing without any encouragement from the Government. The findings set out here are derived from a research study undertaken in 2017 which reviewed the direct housing provision activities of all local authorities in Eng...

Harold D. Clarke , Matthew Goodwin , and Paul Whiteley . Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Pp. 256. $19.99 (paper). - Volume 57 Issue 2 - Janice Morphet

The application of the EU principle of subsidiarity, that has grown in its strength since 1992, has largely been regarded a major shaping and legal underpinning force for devolution in the UK. However, the application of this principle has been considered to have been largely absent in England until the introduction of the executive mayoral governm...

When questions are asked about how the civil service is preparing for policy development and delivery beyond Brexit, it appears that there are activities being undertaken within Ministerial view and those, according to Jill Rutter of the Institute of Government, that are more likely to be submerged out of Ministerial sight. While the preparations f...

This paper explores the emerging changes in the relationships between cities and their suburbs driven by international institutional. This paper discusses these trends within the new tropes of integration and multi-level governance that are serving to redefine and implement new city/suburban relationships with an emphasis on the role of functional...

This article uses the tools of agenda setting, statecraft and scalecraft to examine the policy persistence that has underpinned the emergence of sub-regional scales of government implemented through combined authorities from 2017. It considers the ways in which polices have been framed and drawn upon and the uses of statecraft to implement EU legis...

The Planning Act 2008 introduced a new regime for assessing and consenting Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), with a process which incorporated establishing the principle of development through Parliamentary approval of National Policy Statements, acceptance and time-limited examinations of and decision upon, projects. This reg...

This research was commissioned by NIPA Insights in September 2016-March 2017 to examine the ways in which the 2008 Planning Act has been operating in relation to detail and flexibility in the system. The research brief is set out in Appendix A. The research that has been undertaken and is reported here has been based on a variety of approaches in a...

National concerns about the provision of adequate housing supply have been expressed by government, communities and individuals attempting to engage in the housing market. While the development industry has been critical of local authority planning practices, suggesting that these have been responsible for a shortage in housing stock, more recent i...

http://www.rtpi.org.uk/briefing-room/rtpi-blog/triggering-article-50/

With newly directly elected mayors due to take up their roles at the head of Combined Authorities following elections in May, Janice Morphet considers the powers at their disposal and the possible impacts of the latest round of revolution in English local government

As the UK negotiates Brexit, what are the effects, implications and challenges that lie ahead? Janice Morphet takes a long term view on the range of institutional and operational options that may be deployed by the UK, EU and other international institutions seeking to influence the negotiations and outcome. The book offers a context for the curre...

The implementation of the devolution process that started in 1999 was frequently assumed by contemporary commentators and scholars to lead to a fractured relationship with the national centre and a fragmented state as a consequence. However, discourse analysis and policy reviews in relation to spatial planning policies demonstrates that agendas and...

Following the UK referendum that voted to leave the EU, it is worth considering what the implications for planning might be in the event that Article 50 is triggered and leave negotiations commence. As the UK has been advised by the EU, there would be two stages in this process. The first would be the terms of exit and the second would be to negoti...

We may be seeing the start of a new era in which local authorities build housing again, says Janice Morphet, who looks at examples of how councils are starting to actively re-engage in direct housing development, across all tenures and using a variety of development arrangements and funding tools.

This important text book is the first to be written about infrastructure planning in Britain. Written by an experienced author, the book reviews the rapid rise in the use of infrastructure delivery planning at national and neighbourhood level. The key components of infrastructure delivery are set out and analysed, including the development of gover...

Foreword The RTPI's centenary year was marked by a proliferation of research on planning's contribution to wider societal issues such as climate change, public health, economic growth and governance. Making Better Decisions for Places in particular emphasises the importance of ingratiating a reflection on the appropriate level of decision-making in...

Planning is central to economic, social and environmental life but its practice is frequently criticised by all who engage in it. Seen as too restrictive by those who promote development and too weak by those opposing it, planners who advise on proposals cannot sit on the fence. Is it the planning system that is problematic or is it the planners wh...

An EU regulation agreed in December 2013 and becoming practically operational in 2015 is likely to have a major impact on the way that sub-regional strategic planning is carried out in the UK, as elsewhere within the European Union, as Janice Morphet explains.

The referendum held in Scotland on 18 September 2014 resulted in a rejection of the option of becoming an independent nation-state. The perceived closeness of the vote, however, led to a rush of promises for further devolution from UK politicians. This crisis seems to have resulted in a period of constitutional flux throughout the United Kingdom, w...

The implementation of devolution (1999) in the UK was assumed to lead to fractured relationships with the national centre and a fragmented state as a consequence. However, discourse analysis and policy reviews in spatial planning demonstrate that policies and legislation implemented by central and devolved governments since devolution demonstrate m...

Britain's relationship with the European Union (EU) is frequently viewed as simple by the media and politicians. In ways - never really explained - the EU has managed to 'take away' Britain's sovereign powers and has the ability to determine much of its legislation. The history of how this has occurred is never discussed, unlike other countries in...

In this introductory essay, we outline how recent events have generated considerable debate and discussion surrounding the future constitutional status of Scotland and the current devolutionary settlement in the UK, and how the aim of this collection of papers is to evaluate UK devolution and the policy mobilities surrounding it. We argue that ther...

Devolution has led to a dramatic restructuring of the UK state over the last 15 years. Planning is a devolved function and a concerted process of ‘planning reform’ has been implemented by devolved (and central) government since devolution, including a move from ‘land-use’ to ‘spatial planning’. Despite some expectations of, and pressure for, policy...

Across Europe, a series of revisions and realignments are currently taking place in sub-national governance structures. In England, this involves the creation of a new scalar construct through the dismantling of the regional tier and the creation of new sub-regional institutions. Through focusing on the move towards subsidiarity, this article consi...

The British spy novel took a realist turn in the 1960s epitomising the new wave. The first five novels each written Le Carré and Deighton were published in the period 1960-1970. Although both authors and these specific works have remained popular in genre spy fiction, there has been little consideration of the works in relation to each other and in...

The development of functional economic areas and their relationship to governance has been attracting considerable attention. New forms of sub-regional governance have emerged that have been interpreted in a variety of ways. Within this context, a different approach to multiscalar governance linked to economic space is emerging at a European level...

A number of fundamental concerns have been raised over the recent abolition of regional economic and planning institutions processes and associated plans and strategies in England. In particular, questions have arisen over the strength and democratic accountability of the new arrangements emerging at a sub-regional scale—namely local enterprise par...

The implementation of the devolution process that started in 1999 was frequently assumed by contemporary commentators and scholars to lead to a fractured relationship with the national centre and a fragmented state as a consequence. However, discourse analysis and policy reviews in relation to spatial planning policies, demonstrates that agendas an...

Following the work of Baumgartner and Jones (1993), Baumgartner et al (2009) and John and Bevan (2012), policy development is characterised by longer tails of policy equilibrium which are punctuated by policy peaks or events. This approach is based on the assumption that there are long periods of relative stability and incrementalism in policy maki...

The role of spatial planning in infrastructure planning and delivery is beginning to be implemented through practice following a slow start. This can be seen through the development of spatial planning structures and processes in the jurisdictions of the UK. This article examines the role of spatial planning in developing infrastructure delivery pl...

After years of being regarded as a regulatory tool, spatial planning is now a key agent in delivering better places for the future. Dealing with the role of spatial planning in major change such as urban extensions or redevelopment, this book asks how it can deliver at the local level. Setting out the new local governance within which spatial plann...

“Spatial planning” is a phrase that now resonates throughout many planning systems across the globe. It is being used as a label to describe pan-national, regional, strategic and even aspects of local planning processes. Within the UK, spatial planning is being utilized alongside, or even in place of, more traditional phraseology associated with pl...

The role of spatial planning in the delivery of a variety of outcomes, particularly those that are wider than those covered by traditional land-use planning, has started a range of policy and delivery discussions about spatial planning’s role in the responsibilisation agenda. This includes attitudes towards health outcomes, where a more personal ap...

In Democratic Governance (2010) , Bevir has posed the puzzle of what follows high modernism as the dominant determinant of public policy discourse and technologies of governance. This paper will attempt to identify a potential response to Bevir’s puzzle through the use of postcolonial genre and alterity which is now being deployed in democratic dis...

When introduced in 2004, spatial planning in England was set within the system of local governance, to perform a specific delivery role. This article sets out the system within which spatial planning now operates and the changes that this approach has introduced. It sets out the role of spatial planning in infrastructure planning and delivery, and...

Community-led parish planning - both process and product - can play an important part in rural spatial planning, acting as a focus for community capacity-building and ultimately helping broader spatial strategies to reflect the goals and aspirations of local communities, whilst ensuring that these same strategies have a clear spatial dimension. Dra...

Modern Local Government is a unique assessment of local government reform from the perspective of both local and central government, which is fully informed an analysis of the role of the European Union. This text provides a systematic review of the reform of local government since the election of New Labour in 1997.

1.1 The National Planning Forum (NPF) is the largest crosssectoral forum focussing on planning in England. It attracts high level representation from a wide range of organisations involved in planning and is making a major contribution to work on delivery and culture change for the planning system in England. Further information about the NPF is av...

The Effectice Practice in Spatial Planning project was commissioned by the RTPI, CLG, Jospeh Rowntree Foundation and the GLA and undertaken by UCL and Deloitte. The project has examined how spatial planning is being delivered by those involved in formulating the Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks that were introduced by th...

The current round of local government modernisation in England, which commenced in 1997, has focused primarily on three main areas—new council constitutions, e-government, and performance. However, a fourth strand of initiatives relates to the power of well-being and the duty to prepare a community strategy, in partnership with a local strategic pa...

The creation of devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, coupled with the proposals for the English regions are creating new operational environments for local government in different parts of the UK. This paper reviews both the key factors affecting these new environments and their relationship with local government. The paper assesses the...

Since the 1990s there has been a long-standing concern in government towards public sector accountability, management, efficiency and service delivery. A number of studies have attempted to analyse the multitude of individual changes and their manifestations through analyses based on a variety of institutional, policy and governmental distinctions....

The concern for sustainable development which has been accentuated by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), is now being reflected at national and local government levels. In particular, Agenda 21, which was endorsed at the conference, has led to the implementation of a Local Agenda 21 programme. In Britain, extensiv...

Few women make it to the top in public sector management. Those that do succeed are worthy of study. This research report outlines some significant issues for equal opportunities in the public sector, and elsewhere.

Reports on the findings of a survey of urban space carried out by the author for the DoE. Open space presents two issues. First, the problem of councils giving themselves deemed permission to develop either themselves or sell the land with planning permission to developers. Second, a great problem of neglect and poor management. The author proposes...

Discusses changes in inner city policy since 1968, which is marked in decades: the first 10 years being managed by the Home Office, the second by the Department for the Environment and from 1988 by the Department of Trade and Industry, with, for the first time, a minister with cabinet responsibility. Also discusses changes that have taken place in...

Since 1980 a number of Labour-run authorities have instituted various forms of decentralised services in order to make the communities they serve aware of local government and to have some formalised role. Through the provision of services at neighbourhood level, authorities have moved toward client centred administration. In Tower Hamlets, an Inne...

Examines recent changes in land-use allocation by the Inner London Boroughs, and also investigates the relationship between employment policy, its development and the command it has over Borough resources. Concludes that the last 10 yr have witnessed a remarkable change in attitude and policy response by Inner London authorities to employment probl...