Competitive bidding in urban regeneration: stimulus or disillusionment forthe losers?

During the 1990s competitive bidding became the principal way of allocating resources for urban regeneration. One of the objectives was to invigorate the approach of local authorities by exposing them to the pressure of compe tition. Another was to open up decisionmaking to a wider spectrum of intere sts, including the private sector and local communities. The authors examin e the consequences for unsuccessful areas-an analysis which is crucial to a ny overall assessment of the approach. They Focus on the competition for Pr iority Partnership Area status associated with the reshaping of Scotland's Urban Programme under Programme for Partnership. The analysis reveals a mod est stimulus to partnership working in several areas, attributable to the n eed for agencies to cooperate in a time-constrained bidding process and to manage 'compensation' funds thereafter. These benefits were offset by the d isillusionment caused by the experience and the penalties of losing resourc es. To avoid widening inequalities in the Future, the authors argue, centra l government must recognise the impact of this disillusionment through impr ovements in the organisation of competitive bidding and through planning me chanisms for the mitigation of the adverse effects of losing.