Rural Policies in the Gloucestershire Structure Plan: 1. A Study of Motives and Mechanisms

The submitted structure plan for Gloucestershire contained some unusual and innovative policies for resource dispersal in declining rural areas. The motives and mechanisms which explain the development of these ‘radical’ (in comparative terms) policies within the political conservatism of a shire county are examined. The policies were formulated and adopted through an alliance of technical justification by planning officers and political ratification by an important group of councillors acting from motives of paternalism, beneficence, and philanthropy. Policymaking procedures were carefully orchestrated such that agreement could be forged within the county arena for a ‘consensus’ policy option containing significant elements of prorural policy. Once the Structure Plan was sent for scrutiny at central government level, however, the managerial expertise exerted by local state officials and politicians was undone by the more general concerns of the central state to restrict planning powers. The approved plan was diluted, and the perceived ‘art-of-the-possible’ at county level was shown to be out of line with that of central government, with a consequent loss of innovation for rural policy implementation.