1. Richard Cowell G.I.N. Conference, Cardiff, July 2006
Managing stakeholders by orchestrating space: delivering wind power in Wales through spatial planning
Richard Cowell
G.I.N. Conference, Cardiff, July 2006

2. Discourses of ‘the planning problem’
streamlining + national direction + reduced scope for ‘local’ opposition
greater community involvement + local empowerment

3. Detailed empirical investigation
Spatial orchestration, in the sense of
framing opportunity structures for influence across and between arenas of planning, and …
how acceptable locations are constructed, and support for them maintained

4. Wind energy in Wales Rapid development in the 1990s Growing conflict
‘Planning is the problem’

5. 800MW target plus seven ‘Strategic Search Areas’
Stakeholder collaboration
Technical rationality
Political authority
Negotiated flexibility

6. Power as translation
Responses to the draft guidance: much public and community group opposition, but qualified support from other sectors
WAG’s responses to the responses: accommodating some industry demands for flexibility, but doing more to accommodate demands from planning authorities for tighter spatial control
Actual decisions about plan policies and projects: …

8. Some conclusions Spatial planning facilitating larger developments
Limitations of collaborative decision-making processes and influence of representative democracy
Connecting institutional design to contextual conditions, political geography and the objects of policy