Local growth plans

Measuring success beyond growth

Senior Reseacher, Sean Benstead, reflects on work we have been doing in Oldham, to help the Council there understand how local interventions can deliver on their plan for place.

Since the start of this year, my CLES colleagues and I have been working with Oldham Council and the Oldham Economic Review Board to develop a framework to assess interventions related to Oldham’s Place Plan 2030 and it’s Independent Economic Review. These interventions span themes relating to skills and employment, civic pride, business and innovation, transport and housing.
“look beyond traditional metrics”
As the Oldham Place Plan strives to achieve broader positive life outcomes for residents through good and sustainable economic activity, the framework has been designed to look beyond traditional metrics for economic success. It operates as a live dashboard, with baseline analysis and SMART targets, which crystalise focus and supports the prioritisation of interventions in target areas.

Read More

Making the missions happen

This article originally appeared in the Municipal Journal.

Done properly, community wealth-building can provide the Government with a means to deliver their election pledge of change and to maximise the impact of that change on people and places. That was the clear message from the first of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies’ (CLES) Community Wealth Building Conversation events earlier in the month.

Labour needs living standards to improve and, in last month’s Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves again made the case for economic growth, wealth creation and opportunity for all, arguing that these were the only way to deliver that goal.

Read More

What’s on the table at the council of nations and regions?

This article originally appeared in Labour List

With Keir Starmer due to host his first “council of the nations and regions” later today, and with salary comparisons very firmly off the table, you can’t help but wonder, what will be up for discussion?

Starmer has made no bones about the centrality of mayors and devolved leaders to his programme for government, signalling his intent early doors by visiting them all within five days of being handed the keys of number 10. He’s also clearly set out a remit for the regions, in the form of Local Growth Plans, on which headline thinking is due to be submitted later this month. No doubt these Plans will be in sharp focus today, given that securing investment will be the main theme of the agenda.

Read More