Des McConaghy:

Articles on Accountability and Public Participation, Regeneration, Scrutiny, Expenditure, Joint Resource Planning and Centre/local relationships: 1969 to 2009/2012

• 2012A  European Regional Development Fund. Evidence for House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee, Vol II, House of Commons, 13 July 2012.
  
  
• 2009A  The Total Place Initiative, Localis, November 2009.
• 2008B  The Framework and Frontiers of Expenditure Based Planning. Synopsis International Federation of Housing and Planning World Congress Liverpool, June 2008.
• 2008A  NAO Housing Market Renewal Report: HC20, Session 2007-2008. Evidence (Ev20) Submitted to the Westminster Public Accounts Committee: House of Commons HC 106, 3 July 2008, The Stationery Office, London.
• 2007B  Urban Strategies and the Future of Cities: a Forty-five Year Perspective. International Federation Housing and Planning World Congress, IFHP Copenhagen.
• 2007A  Getting It Together: Joined up Knowledge and the Strategic Framework of Debate. Public Money&Management, Vol 27, No 1. February 2007, CIPFA, London.
• 2006A  Independence for Statistics: Comments on HM Treasury Consultation. HM Treasury, London, June 2006.
• 2005B  Public sector output measurement (NI): Report to John Hunter CB (Permanent Secretary, Northern Ireland Department of Finance&Personnel) 18 June 2005, regarding the death of the "Northern Ireland Masternet" proposals; (see 2001F).
• 2005A  Formal Submission to NI Northern Area Plan Team regarding "Proposed Developments at the Giant's Causeway World Heritage Site", July 2005
• 2004A  Evidence for the "ODPM's Balance of Funding Review", mimeo.
• 2002C  The Private Government of Northern Ireland; Article for "SCOPE" Magazine (Northern Ireland). Belfast, July 2002
• 2002B  The Need for Statistics Legislation; evidence for Statistics Commission, (Cf. 1998B) mimeo.
• 2002A  Evidence for HC Treasury Committee: Inquiry into Principles of Public Service Agreements. Comments on Cm 4181, Cm 4315 and "The Government's Measures of Success" (HMT: 31 March 1999, see 1999A)
• 2001F  NI Masternet 2001 ; Proposal for a NI Assembly online information system covering all NI Departments' Public Service Agreements.
• 2001E  NI Assembly Draft Budget and Programme for Government: Paper following 10 December Budget 2002-03, mimeo.
• 2001D  Giant Step Back: Report on privatisation plan for access facilities to NI's World Heritage Site and lessons for general loss of accountability in NI. Local Government News (DCMS FOI Response, case 79841, pp 6), December 2001.
• 2001C  The Private Government of Northern Ireland: Re. The amendment to NI Bill (see 2001A) now excluded to encourage private sector and limit public audit. SCOPE, NICVO, Belfast, July 2001.
• 2001B  Comments on Scottish Executive's Draft Freedom of Information Bill: How official plans to encourage private sector participation inhibit progress on public sector online information systems. Paper for Executive and Parliamentary Committees, Justice 1 and Justice 2, mimeo, 18 May 2001.
• 2001A  Government Resources and Accounts Bill (NIA Bill 6/00): Written Evidence for Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Finance&Personnel, 11 November 2000. In Committee for Finance&Personnel, Second Report, Session 2000/2001, 16 January 2001, Stationery Office, Belfast.
• 2000A  Government Resources and Accounts Bill. Report for Westminster Standing Committee A. Mimeo, 5 January 2000.
• 1999C  Comments on the Scottish Executive's Consultation Paper on the Financial Framework for a Scottish Parliament, mimeo, 20 August 1999.
• 1999B   Review: Measuring (Accountable) Success - Analysis of Treasury Working Document. Public Money&Management: Vol 19, No 3. October-December 1999, CIPFA, London.
• 1999A  Evidence for Inquiry into Performance Targets. (Comments on Cm 4181, Cm 4315). Paper for House of Commons Treasury Committee proposing customisation of output and performance measures (OPAs), 25 April 1999. Treasury Committee, "Public Service Agreements", HC 378, 29 June 1999, Appendix 6, Stationery Office, London.
• 1998B  Comments on "Statistics: a Matter of Trust" (Cm 3882), House of Commons Treasury Sub-Committee Inquiry into the ONS, mimeo, July 1998. (Proposed variation of the Treasury's Green Paper's "Model D" - where ONS becomes directly accountable to Parliament and the balance of the GSS remains with Departments).
• 1998A  Comments on UK Government's White Paper, "Your Right to Know", February 1998, page 3-6. House of Commons Select Committee on Public Administration Report, HC 398-II (P150-152), May 1998, Stationery Office, London. (Proposals for "Community Masternet" comprising inter-departmental identification of a core area of publicly-accessible free information, a tailored response to social exclusion & information poverty and a co-ordinated public sector online system).
• 1997C  Comments on DETR Regeneration Discussion Paper. Mimeo, 23 December 1997.
• 1997B  Submission to Office of Public Service (Comments on "New Life for Public Services"), mimeo, 5 May 1997: (The above "Community Masternet" OPS submission (1997A) adapted for the New Labour Manifesto - with some DfEE priorities exampled).
• 1997A  Submission to Office of Public Service (Comments on White Paper "government-direct", Cm 3438), mimeo, February 1997. ("Community Masternet" to monitor sectoral and territorial disaggregation of Government Programme (including "one stop shops", public sector online information systems, Treasury "outcomes" (output and performance measures (OPAs)) and real time feedback, (retail analogy), towards the "objective-orientated PESC"); The National Archives, CAB 202/274, page 6-17.
• 1996C  Public Information in the Electronic Age. EPI TODAY, Sept/Oct. 1996. (The need for the Central IT Unit to cover how the Government organises and resources its programmes at all levels).
• 1996B  Waking Up Whitehall. EPI TODAY, May/June, 1996. (Urgent need for interdepartmental action in promoting a national framework for local networking).
• 1996A  Quest for Content. Published as Tomorrow Never Comes, Local Government News, April 1996. (Commentary of Kable's "Tomorrow's Town Hall" showing the need for a national framework for local networking).
• 1995A  Information Superhighway. Mimeo, Paper for the Labour Party Information Superhighway Policy Forum, April 1995.
• 1991C  Die Finanzierung von Kommunen und Stadterneuerung. (UK Financing of Municipalities and Urban Regeneration). Mimeo. Deutsche Akademie für Städtebau und Landesplanung, 1 October 1991. (International Symposium for the benefit of the New German Länder).
• 1991B  UK Financing of Municipalities and Urban Regeneration. (Die Finanzierung von Kommunen und Stadterneuerung). Mimeo. Deutsche Akademie für Städtebau und Landesplanung, 1 October 1991. (International Symposium for the benefit of the New German Länder).
• 1991A  New Tax for Local Government. Comments on DoE Consultation Paper. Mimeo., University of Liverpool, April 1991. (Analysis showing local taxation affecting a small fraction of local decision-making and need for more stable concepts of local taxation and accountability for overall action).
• 1990E  Bottom Up Democracy. (Polish Authorities start from scratch). Local Government News, August 1990. (Efforts of Polish grass roots communities and organisations in advance of relevant administrative frameworks).
• 1990D  The Terrible Simplifiers. Commentary on the Heseltine Interview ("Balancing Act"). Local Government News, June 1990.
• 1990C  Euro Information Centres. Public Service & Local Government, June 1990. (Strengths and Weaknesses of "Tenders Electronic Daily" in opening up EU's £450 billion public procurement programme).
• 1990B  German Questions: First Elections in GDR (Berlin). Local Government News, May 1990. (Reliance on monetary solutions to German Economic Monetary Union, further financial centralisation and absence of planning).
• 1990A  Balancing Act: The Heseltine Interview. Local Government News, April 1990. (Michael Heseltine interviewed on proposals for Elected Mayors and local bidding. His Whitehall framework still unresolved).
• 1987B  North Needs Better Bikes ! Report of 20 May, IEA Conference, Local Government News, May 1987. (Polemics of Professor Minford, et.al.).
• 1987A  GLASNOST !  Published as "Is Liverpool Finished?" Local Government News, April 1987. (Actual financial account of opposing Militant and Government strategies in this famous dispute: illustrating the need for more openness).
• 1985B  Information Pack (ENGLAND), Area Information Service, Liverpool, October 1985/6. (Brochure offering environmental data, area profiles and analyses over all local services: a guide to hard copy reports and user-friendly access to online services; 1983 to 1986). (Plus one year coverage of Northern Ireland).
• 1985A  Centralisation, the Common Denominator in Local and Central Plan Strategies. Lead Paper: Proceedings of Town & Country Planning Summer School RTPI, London, February 1985. (Local government reform in context: telematic illustration of the strategic implications of central targeting).
• 1984A  Watching Big Brother. The Planner, Vol 70, No 1, January/February 1984. (Monetarism plus telematics; where industrial production and systems of equity are less important than conservation of money, surveillance and central control. Telematic antidote).
• 1983A  Can Planners Choose ? The Planner, Jan/Feb 1983. (Telematic opportunities set out for opening up public spending in all constituencies - illustrated).
• 1982D  Merseyside Miracle ? (Task Force's First Year), Local Government News, October 1982. (Local progress with centrally controlled agencies but "budgetary haze" now resembles NI's unaccountable and spurious constituencies).
• 1982C  Consultation or Conflict. (Toxteth) The Planner, RTPI, August 1982. (How "top down" central resource targeting by-passes accountable agencies).
• 1982B  The Scottish Model II, Erosion of Consent. Local Government News, February 1982. (Commentary on Scottish political interviews and contrasts with the earlier Scottish Office attempt at joint resource planning with the Treasury).
• 1982A  The Scottish Model I, The Malcom Rifkind and Eric Milligan Interviews. Local Government News, January 1982. (Illustrating the irreconcilable nature of the romantic localist and monetarist dichotomy).
• 1981E  THE FIRE-NOW ! (Toxteth) Local Government News, August 1981. RICS & NCTJ Journalist of the Year Prize 1982: (eye-witness account of riots and classic analysis of the failure of official "solutions" over previous decade).
• 1981D  David Owen on Decentralisation. Interview published as "Devolved Democracy". Local Government News, August 1981. (SDP Leader's ideas on fostering local democracy and participation).
• 1981C  Capital Punishment or Plan? with Hinton & Jones, Liverpool Poly, mimeo, April 1981. (First systematic assembly and account of all local capital allocations in England).
• 1981B  Housing Market Processes and the Inner City (Murie & Forester). Review Article, Town Planning Review, January 1981.
• 1981A  Planning in the Critical Decade. The Planner, Vol 47, No 1, January 1981. (The democratic control of capital and the case for a Treasury "PESC Plus": an inter-departmental national framework for regional "expenditure-based plans").
• 1980G  The Italian Job, Rome v. the Red Belt. Local Government News, December 1980. (Progress in Tuscana and Emilia Romagna Regions and mismatch between centralised controls, regional financial planning and effective local action).
• 1980F  DOE Scuttles Boat People. Local Government News, September 1980. Disparity between the Carrington Agreement and DoE Housing Allocations).
• 1980E  A German Lesson. Local Government News, August 1980. (Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the German social housing system).
• 1980D  The Portuguese Connection. Local Government News, May 1980. (Portuguese central/local relationships and consequences for local communities).
• 1980C  Local Government's Crossroads. Local Government News, March 1980. (The critical choice for the 1980s: collaborative planning or central diktat).
• 1980B  Urban Development Corporations in the Dock. Local Government News, April 1980. (Alternative financial arrangements - within existing legislation - for fully involving local institutions and local government in priority developments).
• 1980A  Local Services in Northern Ireland. In "Consumers' Guide to Local Government", Martin Minoque Edit. Macmillan, 1980. (Textbook account of local administration of services in the Province).
• 1979C  Can Ulster's Local Government Revive? Municipal Review, Vol 50, No 594, 1979. (Political dilemmas set against the new "budgetary haze" in the Province and the costs of centralisation).
• 1979B  Shaping Local Government in a Communist Mould. Municipal Review, Vol 50, No 598, December 1979. (Contrasting Hungarian progress (NEM above) with central diktat in Poland).
• 1979A  Report on Visit to Hungary. Mimeo, The British Council, September 1979. (marrying regulation, planning and new market mechanisms: NEM).
• 1978F  Local Land Use Planning and Resource Allocation. The Architects' Journal, 5 July 1978.
• 1978E  The Collapse of a Local Government System. (Northern Ireland) Municipal Review, Vol 49 No 585, September 1978. (aetiology of NI administrative and political centralisation - accelerated by civil disturbances).
• 1978D  Where Have All the Powers Gone? (Demokratie in Ausstiegsgefahr? Besorgnisse britischer Kommunalbeamter nach einem Besuch in Nordrhein-Westfalen). Local Government in West Germany. Municipal Review, Vol 49, No 584, August 1978. (German centralisation leading to fiscal co-ordination and multi-level joint resource planning).
• 1978C  "Inner Cities": the UK Governmental Response. RIBA Journal, July 1978. (Critique of official responses to urban deprivation up to 1978).
• 1978B  The Cutting Edge: Expenditure-Based Planning. Built Environment Quarterly, March 1978. (Definition of "expenditure-based planning" principles relating "bottom up" aspirations to financial controls).
• 1978A  Setting up Six Towns: an Urban Strategy Gap. Town Planning Review, Vol 49, No 2, April 1978. (Definitive review of Whitehall's handling of SNAP proposals and other official inner city initiatives - proof was read by the relevant Ministers responsible).
• 1977B  Persistent Confusions in Planning. Built Environment Quarterly, December 1977. (The dislocation of DoE planning, public spending & local management).
• 1977A  Spotlight on Whitehall. Castle Street Circular, LCVS, February 1977. (Endemic problems of effecting a co-ordinated approach within Whitehall).
• 1975B  Community Land Bill, Report to HC Standing Committee, Mimeo, 1975. (Towards "positive planning": the missing financial principles for the operation and control of the "Land Key Sector").
• 1975A  SNAP - an Urban Programme. Paper at RTPI Glasgow Conference, 20 November 1974. Published in "The Urban Crisis: Social Problems & Planning". Brand & Cox Edits., RTPI, London 1975. (SNAP proposals related to local government finance and overall financing of urban regions).
• 1974C  Towards an Innovative Urban Programme. Mimeo, National Housing Conference. An Foras Forbartha, Dublin, 2 October 1974.
• 1974B  People and Public Policy. In "People & Planning" with Dr.E.F.Schumacher, Adult Studies Report, Goldsmith's College, October 1974.
• 1974A  Participation and Advocacy in Urban Renewal, mimeo, Senior Management Seminar, Civil Service College, Sunningdale, April 1974.
• 1973A  Management of the Social Environment, mimeo, Senior Management Seminar, Civil Service College, Sunningdale, 16 February 1973.
• 1972D  Liverpool SNAP'72 pdf file.
• 1972C  Problems in the Inner City. Mimeo. In "Social Deprivation and Change in Education" Conference, Nuffield Teacher Enquiry, University of York, April 1972.
• 1972B  SNAP 69/72: Another Chance for Cities, Shelter, (ISBN 0 901242 11 X), London 1972, pp 225. (Section 6 "The Relevant Planning Process" proposed for the first time - the national financing of multi-programme "expenditure-based plans" where locally generated social indicators co-ordinated interdepartmental action, used as bids for supplementary finance (a "Single Regeneration Budget"!). Section 9 "Towards an Innovative Urban Programme" accountable operation and control of bidding related to main programmes within the national economy). Led to DOE "Inner City Studies".
• 1972A  The Limitations of Advocacy: the need for new initiatives in urban ghettos. RIBA Annual Discourse, November 1971. In RIBA Journal Vol 80, No 2 1972, reprinted in Ekistics Vol 34 No 201, Athens 1972. (The technical, administrative and political barriers to effective action in both UK and USA inner city areas).
• 1971C  Integrated Information Systems & Co-ordination of Statutory Procedures. SNAP Report No. 5, Shelter 1971. (Co-ordination of statutory procedures, Integrated Urban Intelligence Systems, "one stop shops" and advice centres).
• 1971B  Problems of Working in Inner Areas. Lecture to the Fabian Society, 22 May 1971, published as "Crisis in the Inner City", Race Today, Vol 3, No 7, 1971. (Multi-programme area management response).
• 1971A  Inner Area Agencies. Official Architecture & Planning, Vol 34, No 5, May 1971. (Analysis and call to Cabinet Office CPRS to co-ordinate a tailored response to inner city tasks).
• 1970C  Integrated Advisory Services. SNAP Report No 3, Shelter 1970. ("Joined up solutions" - initiating the first comprehensive housing aid centre in NW England).
• 1970B  Multiple Occupation. SNAP Report No 2, Shelter 1970 (Prompted the first use of compulsory purchase for transfer of property to responsible ownership: the "Granby Decision").
• 1970A  Problem of Inner Areas. Mimeo, October 1970. (Tailoring technical, administrative. & political innovation for minority areas of multiple-deprivation).
• 1967A  Second Report on the Plan. Craigavon New City. With Milligan, Bannerman, Strang. Craigavon Development Commission (NI), 1967 (Masterplan for New City).

Contact to Des McConaghy:

desmc@talktalk.net

Biographical note

actualized 2013-5-11
(supported by rl)