The neighbourhood became one of the key sites for urban policy development during the previous New Labour government, and Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders were amongst their final strategies to combat “the most difficult problems faced by deprived neighbourhoods” (SEU 2000:5). This thesis explores the process of neighbourhood management in the coastal town of Ilfracombe, Devon. Ilfracombe features the characteristics of decline found in a number of coastal towns across the country, and suffers from high levels of deprivation (House of Commons Report 2006). Consequently, the neighbourhood management pathfinder ‘Transform’ was deployed in Ilfracombe in an attempt to address high deprivation. This thesis uses empirical findings collected through interviews and focus groups to examine the process of ‘Transform’, from its conception to its practical operation. It specifically considers the ‘voices’ of residents whose opinions and experiences, as targets of neighbourhood intervention are not always sufficiently documented within policy narratives. Consequently, the thesis unravels the process of neighbourhood management through findings generated by qualitative research ‘on the ground’. These are then examined through the lens of governmentality, allowing the methods, practice and outcomes of government, to be unpacked through a presentation of my empirical findings (Foucault 1991). These examinations take a particular interest in notions of community engagement and participation, partnership working, and the process of social exclusion. Here, partnership is demonstrated to be a tentative and fragile process underlined by local histories and differing temporal frameworks for action. But, this research also demonstrates that joint working can be improved through neighbourhood management which widens routes of communication to officers ‘on the ground’. However, what this thesis hopes to demonstrate most strongly is the continuing depth of problems felt by residents in Ilfracombe and that the process of ‘inclusion’ through paid work and ‘active’ citizenship, underlined in Labour’s neighbourhood renewal strategies, is not tackling some of the main problems of ‘deprived’ neighbourhoods, as experienced by the residents themselves.

Raman spectroscopic measurements of various hydrogen bearing clathrate hydrates have been performed under high (< 1cm-1) and low resolution (>2 cm-1) conditions. Raman bands for hydrogen in most common clathrate hydrate cavities have been assigned. Unlike most clathrate hydrate guests, the general observation is no longer valid that the larger the clathrate cavity in which a guest resides, the lower the vibrational frequency. This is rationalized by the multiple hydrogen occupancies in larger clathrate cavities. Both the roton and vibron bands for hydrogen clathrates illuminate interesting quantum dynamics of the enclathrated hydrogen molecules. At 77K, the progression from ortho to para H2 occurs over a relatively slow time period (days). The para contribution to the roton region of the spectrum exhibits the triplet splitting also observed in solid para H2. The complex vibron region of the Raman spectrum has been interpreted by observing the change in population of these bands with temperature and with isotopic substitution by deuterium. Raman spectra from H2 and D2 hydrates suggest that the occupancy patterns between the two hydrates are analogous. The Raman measurements demonstrate that this is an effective and convenient method to determine the relative occupancy of hydrogen molecules in different clathrate cavities.