Lowndes and Stoker-participation

TRENDS IN PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: PART 1 –LOCAL GOVERNMENT PERSPECTIVES

VIVIEN LOWNDES, LAWRENCE PRATCHETT AND GERRY STOKER

INTRODUCTION

Enhanced public participation lies at the heart of the Labour government’smodernization agenda for British local government. As the white paperModern Local Government: In Touch with the People states, ‘the Governmentwishes to see consultation and participation embedded into the culture ofall councils . . . and undertaken across a wide range of each council’sresponsibilities’ (DETR 1998, para. 4.6). Such bold statements suggest thatthe modernization programme is introducing fundamental change intolocal democratic practices: change which is addressed as much towardsaltering cultures and attitudes within local government as it is towardscreating new opportunities for democratic participation. Yet the belief thatlocal government should involve the public or ‘get closer to the community’is hardly new. The history of British local government is littered withexperiments in public participation and consultation (Gyford 1991; Burnset al. 1994; Stoker 1997).

This article analyses the prospects for change through an examination ofcurrent practice and attitudes within local government. It presents findingsfrom research commissioned by the Department of the Environment, Trans-port and the Regions (DETR) to fill gaps in existing knowledge about theextent and nature of participation exercises in local government (Lowndeset al. 1998a). The study is unique in that it provides, in effect, a censusof local government activity to enhance public participation. Survey-basedanalysis was complemented by qualitative research on the experience andaspirations of local government members and officers regarding public par-ticipation – both positive and negative. Consequently, this research comp-lements existing studies of new developments in local participation whichhave tended to be largely descriptive and uncritical, focusing uponexamples of ‘good practice’ and lacking any statistical underpinningregarding general trends (Stewart 1995, 1996 and 1997; LGA/LGMB 1998;New Economics Foundation 1999).

Vivien Lowndes is Professor of Local Government Studies and Lawrence Pratchett is Reader in LocalDemocracy in the Department of Public Policy at De Montfort University, Leicester. Gerry Stokeris Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde.

Public Administration Vol. 79 No. 1, 2001 (205–222) Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2001, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street,Malden, MA 02148, USA.

206 VIVIEN LOWNDES, LAWRENCE PRATCHETT AND GERRY STOKER

The research had two key objectives:

• To provide an up-to-date picture of the nature and scope of publicparticipation in local government via a survey of all local authorities.

• To investigate the views of local authorities and their citizens on par-ticipation initiatives in practice via selected case studies.

This article reports the research findings as they relate to local authorityactivities and attitudes. A subsequent article will consider citizen perspec-tives (Lowndes, Pratchett and Stoker, 2001).

A questionnaire was sent to the chief executives of all principal localauthorities in England in January 1998, covering the level of use and trendsin the take-up of a range of different participation methods. Local auth-orities were asked about their use of nineteen different forms of partici-pation. The questionnaire also investigated perceptions of the factors stimu-lating participation initiatives and the benefits and problems encountered inpractice. A response rate of 85 per cent was achieved. (In total 332 principalauthorities that existed at the time responded, of which 310 provided sub-stantive survey returns.) Alongside the survey, case studies were conductedin 11 local authorities. These involved in-depth interviews with individualswho had developed or organized participation initiatives, ranging fromsenior officers and members through to those responsible for managingspecific activities. (For further details of the research methodology, includ-ing the topic guides employed, see Lowndes et al. 1998.) This article reportson the findings from both the survey and the case studies.

As with all surveys, there are limits to interpreting the findings and gen-eralizing them to the broader population (Denscombe 1998). These prob-lems are compounded by the complex operational structures of most localauthorities, which make it difficult for one individual to have completeknowledge of all the organization’s initiatives. It is inevitable, therefore,that there will have been some under-reporting of participation initiativesin some authorities. Where questions of attitude or perception have beenanswered there are also limits to interpretation, as these represent a per-sonal understanding on the part of the respondent, rather than an organiza-tional position. However, the high response rate (85 per cent of allauthorities) and the seniority of most respondents (most were chief execu-tives or senior officers within a policy unit) ameliorate these difficulties. Inaddition, the case studies were used, in part, as a triangulation tool to verifythe reliability and validity of the survey instrument.

It is important to note that the research was concerned only with localauthority initiatives to stimulate participation; it did not cover community-generated activities such as self-help groups, petitions or direct actions. Fol-lowing Parry et al., ‘participation’ was interpreted broadly to refer to publicinvolvement in ‘the processes of formulation, passage and implementationof public policies’ (1992, p. 16), and electoral practices were not covered.Political parties were also beyond the terms of the research, although we

Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2001

TRENDS IN PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 207

acknowledge the important role that such organizations play in structuringmany opportunities for political participation. The initiatives under investi-gation varied significantly in terms of both their scale and scope – that is,their duration and cost, their policy or issue focus, and the numbers andspecific groups of citizens targeted. They also varied in ‘depth’ – rangingfrom the provision of information, to consultation over specified options,to problem-based deliberation, and user-management of services. The nine-teen forms of participation constitute an inelegant, yet pragmatic, bundleof activities, covering virtually all the rungs in Arnstein’s (1971) famous‘ladder of participation’ (see Gyford 1991; Burns et al. 1994 or Audit Com-mission 1999 for commentaries). The one thing that all of these methodshave in common is that they are attempts to encourage participation in localaffairs beyond the traditional processes of political engagement (voting andparty membership). It is for this reason that they can be seen as contributing(potentially) to a process of democratic renewal (DETR 1998; Pratchett1999).

THE USE OF DIFFERENT METHODS

In order to establish a census of participation initiatives the survey askedeach local authority to identify the different forms of participation or con-sultation they had used in the previous year. The responses from this aresummarized in chart 1 (p. 216). For the purposes of analysis the differentforms of participation are divided into five categories:

• Consumerist methods – forms of participation which are primarily cus-tomer-oriented in their purpose and are mainly concerned with aspectsof service delivery.

• Traditional methods – methods which have a long history of use in localgovernment and are traditionally associated with public participation.

• Forums – activities which bring together users of particular services,residents of an area, individuals concerned with specific issues (forexample, community safety) or those with a shared background orinterest (for example, minority ethnic groups), on a regular basis.

• Consultative innovations – new methods which seek mainly to consultcitizens on particular issues rather than to engage them in sustaineddialogue.

• Deliberative innovations – new methods which encourage citizens toreflect upon issues affecting them and their communities through someform of deliberative process.

This categorization is inevitably crude and a case can easily be made forincluding some forms within a different category. For the purposes ofanalysis, however, it displays some important distinctions between differ-ent forms of participation.

The most striking feature of chart 1 is the dominance of consumeristmethods as a means of consulting the public. Local authorities have clearly



responded to the customer orientation encouraged by Conservative govern-ments in the 1980s and early 1990s, with 92 per cent of authorities operatinga complaints/suggestions scheme and nearly as many (88 per cent) under-taking service satisfaction surveys. Traditional methods are also widelyused, with more than four-fifths of authorities issuing consultation docu-ments and holding public meetings during the census year. Forums are alsoa popular means of encouraging regular dialogue with different groups:while the organization and operation of forums varies greatly, it wasnotable that 87 per cent of all authorities claimed to operate at least onetype of forum.

Of greater interest, however, is the level of innovative methods in use.Nearly half of all authorities (47 per cent) used focus groups, and a signifi-cant proportion used other deliberative mechanisms to engage with com-munities in a more general way: some 45 per cent undertook some formof community planning or needs analysis involving public participation,while more than a quarter were using visioning techniques. Perhaps sur-prisingly, given recent publicity surrounding them (Smith and Wales 2000),only a small proportion of authorities (5 per cent) used citizens’ juries,although this figure is somewhat blurred by the different labels which vari-ous organizations attach to this activity. Consultative innovations such ascitizens’ panels were less widely used than deliberative techniques,although 55 authorities already had a panel up and running and a further18 expected to implement one in the near future. While different authoritiesuse the terms citizens’ panel and citizens’ jury to describe a range of differenttechniques, for the purposes of this research the term citizens’ jury referredto groups of citizens brought together to deliberate on a specific issue, whilethe label citizens’ panel was reserved for a statistically representative sampleof citizens who are periodically consulted on a range of issues. The othermajor area of innovative consultation was in the introduction of interactiveweb-sites: 24 per cent claimed to already have such technology in operationand a further 9 per cent anticipated implementation within the subsequent12 months (Lowndes et al. 1998a). Such claims, however, need to be bal-anced against a more recent study of local government web-sites (SOCITM1999) which found that no authority in Britain offers a truly transactionalsite and only 6 per cent offer a good level of interaction. The remainderoffer only very limited interaction (22 per cent) or no interaction whatsoever(72 per cent). The extent to which technology is being used to extend partici-pation and consultation is clearly limited.

While chart 1 provides a valuable summary of the extent to which eachform of participation is used by local authorities, it is also useful to analysethis information in different ways. It is evident, for example, that most auth-orities use more than one form of participation (Lowndes et al. 1998a).Indeed, the survey findings show that, on average, each local authorityused around nine different forms of participation during the census year.Averages, however, can conceal marked differences between individual



authorities. Chart 2 (p. 217) disaggregates the data into type of authorityto reveal significant differences between urban and rural authorities. Themean averages show that all three types of urban authority used aroundeleven different forms of participation. By contrast, district councils (whichare generally smaller in terms of both population and geography – althoughwith some notable exceptions) generally used only eight different formsof public participation. Given that chart 1 shows that the vast majority ofauthorities use at least two forms of customer-oriented consultation(complaints/suggestions schemes and service satisfaction surveys) and twotraditional forms of participation (consultation documents and publicmeetings) this indicates a generally low level of innovation among smallerauthorities. In some respects, this is not surprising – these authorities gener-ally have smaller budgets and fewer resources with which to experiment.At the same time, however, it does appear to imply that smaller authoritieswill not necessarily be more actively engaged with their communities – atleast, not through formal participation mechanisms. County councils, how-ever, stand out within the predominantly rural areas. Counties were parti-cularly advanced in their use of interactive web-sites and were also goodat using other consultative approaches, presumably reflecting the problemsof geography which confront most counties. Such a finding reinforces theargument that different participation approaches may be more suited to theneeds of particular types of organization.

The greater range of participation methods used in some authoritiesraises questions about the extent to which innovations are related to partypolitical control. In particular, are the most innovative authorities controlledby the political parties most closely associated with the participation agendaat national level? Chart 3 (p. 218) analyses the average number of partici-pation initiatives by political control. Somewhat surprisingly, it shows thatthere is very little difference between any of the three major parties. WhileLiberal-Democrat controlled authorities are slightly ahead, using a meanaverage of 9.8 initiatives, they are closely followed by Labour (9.6) andConservative (9.1) controlled authorities. These figures may be affected bythe exceptionally high number of Labour controlled authorities that existedat the time of the survey and the absence of Conservative controlled auth-orities. Of greater interest, however, are the consequences of an absence ofclear political control. Where authorities have no overall control, the aver-age number of initiatives drops to 8.4. This suggests that while the con-trolling party is not a significant factor in determining the average numberof initiatives, the absence of one is. The absence of clear political leadershipin ‘hung’ authorities appears to restrict the opportunities for experimen-tation with participation and reduces the opportunities for innovation. Thiseffect is even stronger in Independent controlled authorities where the aver-ages drop even further (6.2), although the relationship between small rurallocal government and Independent control somewhat blurs the analysis,



making it difficult to determine whether size or political control is the mostimportant factor in causing this effect.

TRENDS AND INNOVATIONS IN PARTICIPATIONSo far the analysis has concentrated upon the overall picture of partici-pation as it existed at the time of the census. It is interesting, however, toexamine the ways in which local authorities arrived at their current pos-ition. Chart 4 (p. 219) summarizes recent trends for some of the more innov-ative modes of participation and compares them with the recent growth inother, more conventional, methods. The most striking feature of chart 4 isthe fact that all modes of participation are on the increase (this conclusionalso applies to the other modes of participation not included in this chart).Even traditional modes of participation such as ‘public meetings’ and ‘ques-tion and answer’ sessions are being more widely used than previously. Thissuggests that there is a momentum behind the participation agenda whichextends beyond any individual method. Indeed, it would appear that farfrom being a focus on a few fashionable innovations, the participationagenda has encouraged local authorities to renew their acquaintance withtraditional forms of participation, as well as to experiment with alternatives.Of course, the distinction between traditional and innovatory forms of par-ticipation is not always apparent to individual authorities. In some of thecase study authorities the introduction of ‘question and answer’ sessionsduring committee meetings was deemed a major innovation which hadcaused great controversy among councillors; in others it was deemed a firststep towards more open participation; and in others it was a long-standingtradition which was taken for granted (Lowndes et al. 1998a). Such attitudeswere important in determining the speed at which different innovationswere taken on board by different authorities.

Chart 4 also indicates the points at which innovation started to accelerate,notably the mid-1990s. Focus groups, in particular became particularlypopular at this point, possibly reflecting national party interests in thesetools. The other forms of innovative participation also show marked growthduring this period: visioning, especially, shows a quite dramatic take-up inthe three years from 1995. Clearly there is a process of learning and knowl-edge sharing involved as different authorities have experimented with dif-ferent tools and passed that information on through the local governmentcommunity. Of more significance here, however, is the apparent willingnessof local government to engage with these innovations. The rapid take-upof new forms of participation suggests a latent disposition within localgovernment for much greater public involvement and an enthusiasm fordeveloping new opportunities.

FACILITATORS AND BARRIERS TO ENHANCING PUBLICPARTICIPATIONThe sharp growth in many forms of participation in recent years raisesimportant questions about the main purposes of public participation initiat-



ives and the factors stimulating the development of participation strategies.Respondents were asked to identify the main purposes and benefits of par-ticipation initiatives in their authority. Two stood out as being importantto the majority of authorities. First, many respondents stressed the impor-tance of gaining citizens’ views and recognized that council decisions werelikely to be better informed if they were linked to participation exercises.Second, a large proportion of respondents saw participation as beingdirectly related to service improvements, clearly reflecting the currentemphasis on consultation within the Best Value framework. Both of thesebenefits, however, are largely internal to the commissioning organization,reflecting the information needs of decision makers and service providersrather than those of the community. Indeed, the goals of empowering citi-zens or increasing their awareness were largely secondary to the more tan-gible benefits of improving decision making. However, it should be notedthat such a finding contrasts sharply with the experiences of many citizens,especially those who had experience of deliberative participation (seeLowndes, Pratchett and Stoker, 2001, for a more detailed analysis of thispoint).

Alongside the analysis of purposes and benefits, survey respondentswere also asked to rank a number of issues according to how importantthey were in stimulating an interest in public participation measures withintheir authorities. Chart 5 (p. 220) summarizes their responses by attachingweighted scores to the various categories. There are always problems inasking individuals to attach ordinal rankings to complex and non-ordinalpatterns of preferences or beliefs. While it is important to be cautious wheninterpreting such responses, however, it is clear that internal factors wereconsidered by respondents to be much more important than external stim-uli. Corporate strategy, departmental projects and ruling group policy allscored consistently high. By contrast, central government initiatives andlocal government networks were not deemed to be of much significance instimulating activity in this area. Whether such responses reflect reality isnot an issue here. What is significant, however, is the perception amongrespondents (local government chief executives) that the participationagenda is being driven more by local internal factors than by external impo-sition. There is, therefore, a strong sense of ownership of these initiatives.

Such ownership, however, did not blind respondents to the difficultiesthey had encountered in developing participation strategies. Respondentswere also asked to rank the main problems experienced in implementingparticipation initiatives. Their responses are summarized in chart 6, againusing weighted scores derived from the rankings. As might be expected,the majority of respondents identified lack of resources and time as themain factors inhibiting the development of public participation. Such issuesare not trivial. The case studies found that local authority resources rarelymatched their ambitions in this area and that justifying greater expenditureon participation was always difficult when there were pressing social or



economic problems demanding resources (Lowndes et al. 1998a). Moreover,the time commitment necessary to make different initiatives successfulacted as a powerful inhibitor to greater experimentation. As a consequence,several of the case study authorities had adopted a rolling policy of usingdifferent forms of participation in different years: perhaps holding a seriesof focus groups one year, conducting a residents’ survey another year, andso on. In so doing, they were often aware of the limitations of their strategyand, in particular, realized that the potential added value of matching infor-mation from several sources was lost through this method. The problem ofwhen and how to commit resources to democratic enhancement, rather thanto service delivery, is an unresolved dilemma which lies at the heart of thecurrent process of democratic renewal.

The other important point which emerges from chart 6 (p. 221) is that‘lack of public interest’ was seen to be a major inhibitor in many authorities.Indeed, 58 (nearly one-fifth) of respondents ranked this factor first. Suchfindings have important policy implications, for while chart 4 suggested alatent disposition among respondents towards enhanced participation,chart 6 shows that the same respondents to do not perceive a strongdemand for it. The challenge for local authorities, therefore, is not only todevelop more and better opportunities for participation but also to stimu-late demand for such initiatives across their communities.

THE DRAWBACKS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Although the respondents demonstrated considerable enthusiasm towardsenhanced public participation they were nonetheless frank about the prob-lems and drawbacks associated with such initiatives. While two-thirds ofauthorities indicated that their experience of participation initiatives waslargely positive, 35 per cent emphasized some negative effect (Lowndes etal. 1998a). Two problems were particularly common. First, almost a third ofthose identifying negative effects (32 per cent) were concerned that publicparticipation initiatives raised unrealistic public expectations. This wasparticularly important when the authority’s ability to respond to particularissues was constrained by financial or legal limitations. Some authoritiesalso indicated that this was a problem when public demand on a particularissue conflicted with broader council policy. Second, a quarter of thoseidentifying negative effects were concerned that public participation initiat-ives slowed down the decision-making process by introducing additionalstages into an already bureaucratic process. This was particularly a concernwhere the authority was working with other agencies which demanded afaster response.

Respondents also identified other negative effects, although theseoccurred with less frequency. These included concerns that initiatives hadintroduced additional costs to the decision-making process or placedadditional burdens on officers and members without any clear gains fromparticipation. There were also concerns that issues were often captured by



particular groups who were not representative of the wider community,leading to populism and short-term decision-making among elected mem-bers. Concerns that community-based participation initiatives encourageparochialism and an over concentration on relatively trivial issues were alsoexpressed. As one respondent put it ‘relatively minor issues assume greaterimportance than they perhaps warrant’. Another went further, suggestingthat participation initiatives had led to greater conflict and acrimony amongdifferent sections of the community. This was matched by similar concernsthat initiatives might undermine the authority or legitimacy of electedmembers or officers, and that being responsive to citizens may distractattention from other ‘more important’ issues. Finally, a small number ofvery active authorities expressed concerns that in some areas there was adanger of ‘consultation overload’, especially where many organizationswere consulting on a range of overlapping issues. Coupled with this wasa concern that unless initiatives are seen by all actors as being successfulthere is a danger of groups losing confidence not only in the initiative, butalso in the authority more generally.

Most respondents did not see these negative effects as excuses for avoid-ing participation. Rather, most authorities saw them as challenges to beovercome. Indeed, for many of the case study authorities such problemswere seen as being a necessary part of the learning experience in developingmore effective public participation strategies (Lowndes et al. 1998a). Never-theless, all authorities acknowledged that there were certain issues whichshould not be opened up to participation. The most commonly mentionedissues were those of internal management, confidential issues, commer-cially sensitive matters and activities which are prescribed by statute, ther-eby leaving the council no discretion. Other respondents, however, ident-ified equally pertinent issues, although these were less frequently reported.These included: issues requiring a quick response from the council; issueswhich might raise unnecessary fears among the community or lead toblight; areas where the ruling party had a clear manifesto commitment toproceed in a particular way; and those issues which might exacerbate com-munity tensions or create unnecessary cleavages between communities.Most respondents were at pains to emphasize, however, that regardless ofwhich issues were opened up to public participation the final decisionshould always rest with elected members.

THE IMPACT OF PARTICIPATION INITIATIVES

Public participation is not simply about giving citizens more influence overparticular decisions. Many of the case study authorities emphasized thatparticipation initiatives were only one factor among many that mightinfluence a decision. Elected members, particularly, argued that they hada duty to weigh a range of factors which might contradict current publicopinion. Nevertheless, it is useful to reflect upon how much impact partici-pation initiatives have on final decisions. The survey asked respondents to



describe in their own words the effect of their participation initiatives onfinal decisions. Chart 7 (p. 222) groups these into six categories. The keyfeature of these six categories is that only two (better informed decisionsand strong influence) can be deemed to be wholly positive – and theseaccounted for only a third of respondents. The remaining two-thirds ofrespondents had noted some negative effects of initiatives in the work ofthe authority. While such reservations do not invalidate public participationinitiatives, they should alert all those involved with the democratic renewalagenda to the issues which need to be addressed if initiatives are to be seenas being successful.

The limited impact of public participation initiatives on final decisions isnot wholly surprising and, indeed, it may even be appropriate. As theAudit Commission (1999, para. 48) observe, it is the elected member’s roleto decide ‘what weight to give to the results of community consultationalongside other factors, such as available resources, statutory requirementsand the views of partner organisations’. What is not clear from the surveyfindings, however, is whether the results of participation initiatives havebeen given their due weight in the decision-making process. Low levels ofimpact may well be explained by such arguments but they also need to bejustified, especially to the public.

CONCLUSIONS

The survey of participation initiatives has shown a commitment andenthusiasm across local government for innovation in this area. Over thelast few years the number and range of participation initiatives in localgovernment has expanded greatly, offering citizens wide opportunities totake part in local affairs. This growth in participation opportunities reflectsmore than simply a response to the current democratic renewal agenda or,indeed, a party political programme. Rather, it demonstrates a sense ofownership within individual authorities of the democratic possibilitieswhich such initiatives hold and a willingness to develop them. In providinga census of participation initiatives within local government, therefore, thesurvey has provided an important benchmark against which to measuredemocratic development in future years.

The findings from the survey offer more than just a benchmark of partici-pation activity. The experience of local authorities has revealed difficultiesas well as advantages in enhancing public participation: difficulties whichthey must address if they are to meet consultation requirements in respectof Best Value, the power to promote the social, economic and environmen-tal well-being of the area, or the beacon council scheme. Top of most listsis the crucial dichotomy between justifying expenditure on democraticactivities when specific services are still in need of resources. Similarly, thetension between introducing real democratic enhancements and achievingefficient and effective service delivery remains. As participation becomes



more entrenched in the culture of local government so these problems anddilemmas will become more pressing.

The claim that the observed growth in participation initiatives representsdemocratic enhancement needs to be treated with some caution. Whilemany of the initiatives do provide new opportunities for individuals orgroups to articulate their preferences, it is clear that, on their own, theyoften do not live up to the fundamental democratic tests of popular controland political equality (Beetham 1999). Individual initiatives are often delib-erately designed to discriminate in favour of particular groups or areas,especially where authorities are trying to reach socially excluded groups.In this respect, they automatically fail the democratic test, even though theymay be seeking to address failings in existing democratic practice. Wherethey can enhance local democracy, however, is as part of a broader pro-gramme of participation and community engagement linked into tra-ditional democratic processes (Lowndes et al. 1998b). The overall approachthat local authorities adopt towards participation, therefore, will beimportant in establishing the extent to which individual initiatives canenhance local democracy.

Among many authorities there is a perception that there is little publicenthusiasm for enhanced participation, particularly among those groupswho are traditionally excluded from political participation. Such a percep-tion makes justifying participation initiatives even harder. These percep-tions, however, are only half of the picture. Our research also investigatedcitizen attitudes and perceptions towards local government participation,including some of the most socially excluded groups in society. The find-ings from this part of the research are reported in a subsequent article inthis journal (Lowndes, Pratchett and Stoker, 2001). Making the link betweenlocal government and citizen perceptions of participation is possibly thegreatest challenge facing democratic renewal.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors would like to thank the other members of the research team:Steve Leach, Melvin Wingfield and David Wilson.

APPENDIX

Charts 1–7 follow on pp. 216–22.


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CHART 7 Impact of participation on final decisions

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Date received 24 February 2000. Date accepted 3 October 2000.


Lowndes and Stoker-participation

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