Changing Partners: The Experience of Urban Economic Policy in West Central Scotland, 1980-90

The central argument in this paper is that the concept of partnership in urban economic policy, as it affected west central Scotland, significantly changed during the 1980s. In summary, the decade began with the public sector commonly taking the lead role, with more evidence of the rhetoric of private-sector involvement than the reality of genuine commitment from the business community. The shift that occurred as the decade progressed has been characterised as one of a simple redirection of responsibility and resources towards the private sector, in particular the transformation of the Scottish Development Agency into Scottish Enterprise and the private sector's control over the Local Enterprise Companies. Such an assessment potentially ignores the complexity of agencies and organisations that evolved during this decade; has the danger of underplaying the continuing role of different levels of government and of minimising the increasingly important part played by non-profit, community and voluntary organisations. Before documenting and analysing the shifting strands of partnership, the paper introduces the historical context that, it is argued, has played an important role in shaping the style of urban economic policy in Scotland, and in particular discusses economic policy initiatives that shaped the urban landscape of west central Scotland. The paper ends with an assessment of the critical ingredients of partnerships that emerged during the decade and a tentative evaluation of their impact on the economic, social and physical environment of west central Scotland.