Learning from collaboration research in the Scottish and English Borderlands is being applied to challenges of post-Brexit partnerships across the English Channel
Policy&Practice academics have been exploring borderland collaborations for the last two years. The work, led by Professor John Mawson of Policy&Practice and Dr David McGuinness (Northumbria University) is focusing on the development and implementation of the ten-year £500 million Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal which straddles the English-Scottish Border.
Thanks to Wolf Blur for photograph, http://wolfblur.de/index.php/zu-meiner-person
Covering an area the size of Wales, this pioneering programme is the largest rural development initiative and partnership in the UK, bringing together local authorities on either side of the border with funding support from the Scottish and UK governments.
The partners have been keen to acknowledge the significant contribution of researchers in initiating the work of the Borderlands Partnership. As policies have been developed and are being put into practice, researchers continue to explore how best to overcome the inevitable managerial, organisational and leadership challenges that must be resolved to take the Growth Deal forward.
The value of this work has been recognised more widely as understanding of the complexities of cross-border collaboration deepens. Consequently, Professor Mawson was recently invited by Kent County Council to participate in a research and consultancy project on sustaining its partnership working arrangements across the English Channel with French, Belgian and Dutch local authorities.
Kent County Council has been undertaking economic social, cultural and environmental projects with its European partners for several decades funded largely by the European Union’s Interreg Programmes. However, the UK’s decision to exit the European Union in 2021, following the Brexit referendum, has resulted in a substantive loss of funding for such endeavours.
Recognising the value of this longstanding European collaboration activity and the associated build-up of shared knowledge, experience and trust – partners were keen to pursue alternative mechanisms and funding to sustain the work. To this end a voluntary Straits Committee Partnership was established in 2020 by local authority partners on either side of the Channel and North Sea. Its priorities are determined by an executive committee involving officer and member collaboration on agreed programmes and projects including a scheme for community and voluntary sectors.
While progress has certainly been made, unforeseen obstacles have interfered with the process such as the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, the introduction of new customs regulations, transformations in the processes underpinning passenger and freight movements amongst other things.
The loss of European Union funding has slowed progress in the implementation of the Straits Committee’s cross-border strategy. However, a change of government in the UK has led to a more positive and stronger focus on removing barriers to economic growth which means that possibilities for new collaborative initiatives are emerging – not least because of Kent’s pivotal strategic location. Furthermore, as the UK government’s Devolution agenda matures, it is anticipated that this may further strengthen Kent’s strategic and economic development capacity and help facilitate new cross-channel developments.
In the Spring of 2024, the Kent and Medway Economic Partnership published a ten year economic framework and action plan which included measures to support its European agenda. Against this background the research and consultancy project undertaken by Professor Mawson and his Birmingham University colleagues is exploring the role and challenges of the Straits Committee in revitalising cross border collaboration.
To date, over 20 interviews have been conducted with European local authority politicians and senior officers together with civil servants in various government agencies to explore these matters further. The research and initial findings were presented by the team at the Regional Studies Association winter conference in November 2024. The paper entitled Cross-Border Collaboration in the Trans Manche: Brexit – and where next? generated considerable interest particularly in the light of current political developments.