| Summary: | Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) are the main vehicle of "A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal", which is a key programme for improving deprived areas in England. LSPs were set up to establish inclusive, collaborative and strategic approach at the local level. The main tasks of LSPs are to establish the Community Strategy, the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy and the areas of allocation of the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund with aims of reflecting local needs are for neighbourhood renewals. Because LSP consists of various stakeholders in various policy areas at different administrative levels, it would be difficult to reach agreements among them and to produce tangible output. This thesis explores preconditions of the LSPs approaches, two-way communications for formulating strategies, reaching consensus between members of LSPs and reflecting local needs to such strategies, and contributions to local communities. Then, it discusses what forces determine styles of operation of LSPs, why LSPs encounter difficulties in discussions in the decision making process and why LSPs have difficulties in shaping strategies of the partners' organisations. Firstly, this thesis develops a new evaluation framework for the strategies-making programme and public participation programmes, which may find practical use, based on the literature reviews of both academic research papers and government guidance on participative planning approach. Secondly, through reviews of government guidance on LSP approaches, this thesis established hypotheses for resolving the above mentioned questions by considering the new evaluation framework. Thirdly, in order to verify hypotheses, it uses the results of a questionnaire survey, a one-year observation of the board meetings, and an interview survey which examines the ways that the process operated for the strategy-making in four LSPs in inner London boroughs namely, Camden, Hackney, Lambeth and Wandsworth. It concludes by discussing to extent which LSPs achieve involvement and success in shaping the strategies of the partners.
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