Local Strategic Partnerships: a Panacea for Voluntary Interest Groups to Promote Local Environmental Sustainability? The UK Context

This paper examines the experiences of local interest groups in promoting environmental sustainability within Local Strategic Partnerships. LSPs are expected to be a local pluralist governance platform in which non-state groups can engage more widely in the promotion of economic, social and environmental well-being within a local authority area. Using semi-structured qualitative interviews with state and non-state representatives in two contrasting LSP areas in the Yorkshire and Humber region of the UK, this paper finds that environmental interest groups have been marginalized by local state members of LSPs. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.