“That’s another fine mess you’ve got us into Maggie” 1 Political distrust and active participation in the consultation of development in English coal belt villages
Abstract Using a narrative of incoming proposed development, this essay explores the collaborative and action research techniques that can be leveraged within the design of the consultation process within a post-mining village in the north of England. Using the village of Goldthorpe, located north east of Sheffield in the Dearne Valley and Yorkshire Coal belt, as a case study, this paper critiques the role of governance and actors in complex systems manifesting in fringe and underperforming areas. Considering Fung’s (2006) democracy cube, this paper looks at action research techniques practiced by Crookes, Till, di Carlo and Hübner in designing and implementing more democratic processes in resolving planning proposals.
The socio-historical and political context of Goldthorpe This paper will examine the collapse of political engagement at both grassroots and governmental level of towns in the English coal belts, looking in particular detail at the village of Goldthorpe, located to the northeast of Sheffield in the Dearne Valley. The village’s history is intimately connected with the coal mining industry, exploding in size in the early 20 th century with the introduction of coal collieries the area. The majority industry for the town historically was mining, with social constructs in place revolving around such identities (Dennis, 1969; Warwick and Littlejohn, 1992; Winterton, 1989). The socio-historical context of Goldthorpe has revealed issues within the ‘democratic potentials of governance’ in the potentially responsive linkages between ‘what citizens do and what citizens receive’ (Warren, 2009, p.3). Contemporary democracy within Goldthorpe lies within non-institutionalised politics of the kind outlined by Warren (2009, p.5; also Fig. 1). During the conservative government helmed by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, the industry suffered a swathe of closures, including all local collieries by the late ‘90s. As a result, the local economy underwent a fundamental employment shift, one from which it has not fully recovered. In the wake of the mine closures, policy impositions resulted in citizens enacting
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Quote taken from banner erected outside Goldthorpe’s local pub, the Rusty Dudley. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ukengland-south-yorkshire-22183736> Total word count: 2991