Sea Ports are of vital importance to the Dutch economy. If port expansion is perceived necessary by the port authorities, they contact local public authorities (i.e. Mayor & Aldermen). Besides the authorities, most other stakeholders recognize port expansion as a basic need as well. Port planning is carried out according to the procedures of spatial planning laws. Case studies (Third Port IJmuiden, second Maasvlakte Rotterdam) show that the authorities deal with public participation in different ways. On the one hand the interaction is limited to one-sided communication at specific (official) stages during the spatial planning procedure and the impact on the final decision is rather small, on the other hand some authorities offer policy space and encourage other parties to deliver input. The quality of public management proofs to be higher in the latter, interactive approach. Given the management style of authorities, two (theoretically) optimal process designs for interactive policy making for port development, are identified. The process design with a lot of interaction between authorities and other participants scores best but (according to the contra- expertise) coincides with a greater risk of failure. The recommendation for public authorities is to start with a 'manageable' level of interaction and to increase and intensify the trade off with other parties based on emergent experiences. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting