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Embedding meaningful participation through devolution

October 14, 2024  

This article was originally published in The MJ.

Devolution should move beyond technocratic functionality and put meaningful participation at the heart of decision-making, says Jessica Studdert.

The new Government signalled early and clearly that it means business on devolution. A warm reception for mayors at No10 in the first days of office and an intention to ‘complete the map’ assuaged any doubt that devolution might not withstand a change in national administration.

Mayoral combined authorities have been remarkably unthought through

For a whole new sub-regional tier, mayoral combined authorities have been remarkably unthought through. It is convenient for the centre to have a single accountable individual to deal with.

Whitehall departments must have a body to receive the functions they see fit to delegate. The councils comprising the combined authority need a voice. And so here we are – they are the sum of their often competing parts.

Absent so far has been wider consideration of the role of scale for impact in policy-making and delivery at what level national, regional, local or hyperlocal policy should best be devised – across all policy areas – including economic development, health, education and more.

Attention on devolution has focused on zero-sum negotiations between tiers, rather than respecting the value of each scale.

As a result, the landscape is complex: the NHS has its own definitions of ‘system’ ‘place’ and ‘neighbourhood’, misaligned with democratic geographies. Attention on devolution has focused on zero-sum negotiations between tiers, rather than respecting the value of each scale. The opportunity for devolution to create new institutional norms that open out institutional decision-making to people, from the regional through to the hyperlocal level, has not yet been grasped.

With a tight fiscal backdrop and amid increasingly polarised communities, devolution should move beyond technocratic functionality and embed meaningful participation and dialogue in decision-making.


Photo credit: ‘10 Downing Street’ by Number 10 on Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.


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