Local
Agenda 21 seeks the meaningful involvement of a wide range of local groups
and stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of public policy
and a free flow of communication and discussion between them and their
respective local authorities (and other areas and levels of decision-making).
This paper explores the reality of this process using case study evidence
from local planning practice in Liverpool (in the north of England) and
Reading (in the south of the country). It concentrates on the interaction
between LA21 groups and local planning authorities around the preparation
of local land use plans and other policy initiatives and the day-to-day
regulation of development permits.
The paper builds
on ‘New Institutionalist’ theory to explore the constraints and opportunities
for significant transformations in social, political and economic ‘structures’
or ‘ways of doing things’ through the LA21 process. It concludes that the
two cases provide evidence of mixed success in achieving such changes in
established planning practices.