Partnership or Presence? Exploring the Complexity of Community Planning

Abstract

Partnership working between the public, private and third sectors is a defining feature of the contemporary local public policy landscape in the UK. Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) in Scotland involve representatives from different sectors working in partnership, led by the relevant local authority. CPPs resemble local governance reforms elsewhere in the UK and encounter similar problems, among which are difficulties in successfully integrating voluntary sector organisations. This article draws upon research which explored the influence of voluntary sector participants in relation to community planning processes at the strategic, managerial and operational levels. It examines the suspicion that voluntary sector representatives have a ‘mere presence rather than a voice’ in local policy-making (Cameron, S. & Davoudi, S. (1998) Combating social exclusion – looking in or looking out?, in: G. Madaanipour et al. (Eds) Social Exclusion in European Cities, pp. 250 (London: Jessica Kingsley), and explores the potential contribution of complexity theory to interpret the relationships involved in local partnerships. It is concluded that voluntary sector participants are junior partners in CP and have to adapt how to operate and convince the leading public sector partners that they are business-like in order to exert influence.

Key Words:

• Community planning
• governance
• partnership
• third sector
• complexity theory

Acknowledgements

This research informing this article was funded by the Nuffield Foundation Small Grants Scheme.

Notes

As an illustration of this, see the diagram of a typical CPP or the Scottish Government website –http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/PublicServiceReform/community-planning or in Audit Scotland, 2006.