La regolazione dei trasporti nel Regno Unito fra problemi di iper-regolazione, efficacia e rischi di policy divergence

The paper explores the relationship between the development of transport policy and planning across the UK and the nature of institutional bodies. The landscape of the UK transport sector is densely populated with bodies that are of different formal institutional type and include Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Executive Agencies, Commissions, Tribunal s, (...). The article describes this existing variety in transport governance, the role of the different structures in the policy implementation process, the effects of devolution and the successive reorganisations, the consequences of the process of spending review on the transport governance system. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the governance efficiency and institutional gaps and it highlights a fragmented structure of governance in the transport sector. The main problem of this structure of governance concerns the formulation and implementation of transport policy and the risk of policy divergence compared with the European strategy in this sector.