Sally Dickens reflects on her experiences as a local government Economic Development and Regeneration Manager, and argues that central and regional governments should empower local actors to lead and develop innovative, place-specific solutions to accelerate the economic growth needed across the country.
The Conservative government had high hopes for stimulating economic growth and addressing economic inequality across the country. The ‘Levelling Up’ policy agenda was born in 2019 and focused on reducing entrenched inequalities between regions of the UK through targeting investment in national infrastructure, investing in physical assets in town and city centres, and investing in skills and training for the population. Despite ambitious aims, Levelling Up was widely deemed unsuccessful. HS2 was cancelled in October 2023, and the Public Accounts Committee stated in March 2024 that the Government was ‘unable to provide any compelling examples of what Levelling Up has delivered so far’.
The new Labour Government has moved away from the term ‘Levelling Up’ for obvious reasons. However, the commitment to kickstart economic growth remains front and centre in the Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto and is included as one of the manifesto’s five ‘missions’. The manifesto sets out how the Government would transfer power out of Westminster into communities through devolution, giving local areas ‘new powers’, alongside a statutory requirement for towns and cities across the country to have ‘Local Growth Plans’.
It's a welcome change and will set out a clear and evidenced pipeline of investment requirements. From my own experience working across an inner-London local authority’s economic development and regeneration teams, I know that placing this trust in local actors can lead to great things:
Tailored solutions for local economies
Devolving decisions on investment priorities not only to regional actors like Mayoral Authorities, but also to local authorities and their stakeholders is hugely important. They know best what will bolster their local economy and how to innovate when pursuing this growth. This approach beats creating centralised funding pots with stringent investment criteria, which only stifle innovation by requiring areas with different strengths and needs to bid for funding using the same metrics.
Independent ideas
In my role as an Economic Development Officer, I worked in a team which was trusted to innovate by senior Officers and Members. We were able to independently develop project ideas and see these through to delivery with the assigned budget requested. Through this experience, I know that innovation excels when a team who have deep knowledge of their business and skills base is trusted. Recognising the wide range of stakeholders they could partner with to deliver their ambitions is also crucial.
Organic development
Through cultivating these independent ideas, the team developed the Future Workspace Fund, which was an £8million by-application grant and loan capital fund for the creation and improvement of affordable workspaces across the borough. This was created following this objective being identified as a key need in the local economy. Unlike other funds, it was not created in response to a regional or central authority’s request for project submissions. Rather, it was developed organically. The team identified the need for more affordable workspaces through their years of experience developing smaller projects, measuring their impact, and partnering with those who managed workspaces and users who used such workspaces to grow their businesses from the ground up.
To accelerate local growth, projects should be identified through building a strong evidence base of local business and skills, aligned with a clear identification of stakeholders, potential partners and their ambitions. This approach is already identified in the Government’s ambition of ensuring towns and cities have Local Growth Plans. To ensure the desired scale of growth is achieved, it is crucial that the trust to innovate doesn’t stop at the Mayoral level, and instead is shared through the layers of governance, emboldening local authority teams to play a central role in the economic growth of their areas.
How we can help
Mutual Ventures is helping various layers of government tackle local economic problems through creative solutions to ensure truly inclusive growth through the framework of Radical Place Leadership. This approach aims to provide collaborative public services at a place-based level and gives front-line staff the autonomy to decide what will work best. Tackling economic problems this way encourages inclusive growth and avoids isolation by tackling wider place-based challenges.
If you'd like to chat about how this approach could work for your area, contact our Chief Executive, Andrew Laird, andrew@mutualventures.co.uk.
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