Urban Policy in the New Scotland: The Role of Social Inclusion Partnerships

Abstract

This paper seeks to address a number of important questions that arise from contemporary urban policy developments within Scotland. First, how far the recent and developing urban policies, most noticeably Social Inclusion Partnerships, of the Scottish Executive are influenced by or diverge from the strategies pursued by previous Conservative and Labour governments. Secondly, how far urban social policy, in a Scottish context, continues to be characterised by discourses of area/community pathology. In order to contextualise these issues, the paper will begin with a brief discussion of New Labour's general approach to ‘urban issues’ before concentrating on a case study of the Greater Pollok Social Inclusion Partnership. This will enable an examination of the extent to which ‘community involvement’ under New Labour's social inclusion partnership initiative is markedly different from recent Conservative governments' urban policies in Scotland.

Notes

Chris McWilliams is in the School of the Built Environment, Heriot‐Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS. E‐mail: [email protected]. Charlie Johnstone is in the School of Social Sciences, University of Paisley, Paisley PA1 2BE, UK. E‐mail: john‐[email protected]. Gerry Mooney is with The Open University Scotland, 10 Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh EH3 7QJ, UK. E‐mail: [email protected].

In 1998, the Glasgow Alliance emerged from the former Glasgow Regeneration Alliance and was charged by the Secretary of State for Scotland for getting key actors (from the public, private and voluntary sectors) in the city to work in a formal partnership (see McWilliams, 2002).

The Glasgow Regeneration Alliance (GRA) was established in 1993 as a partnership between the then Strathclyde Regional Council, Glasgow District Council, Glasgow Development Agency and Scottish Homes. These key players were encouraged to work in urban partnership. However, little was achieved by the GRA in terms of concrete policy formulation, improved co‐ordination and the long‐term commitment of partners towards regenerating the city (see McWilliams, 2002).