Devolving growth: What are the challenges and opportunities for new strategic authorities?

The government’s ‘devolution revolution’ in England will see newly-created strategic authorities given greater powers to shape local economic policy through designing and delivering strategies on skills, housing, infrastructure, and transport. This will equip mayors to drive growth, raise living standards and improve services in their areas, while mayoral-led authorities are also expected to influence national economic policy through statutory local growth plans.

So how can new authorities – some of which will work across new geographies – develop a well-evidenced and coherent economic strategies? How can places at different stages of development approach this challenge? What role can local businesses, universities, and civil society play in shaping these plans? And how can they best be engaged?

Drawing on new IfG research, supported by the University of Surrey, which uses UK and international best practice to set out the development lifecycle of a local economic strategy, this event brough together an expert panel to explore how new strategic authorities can deliver local economic growth.

• Professor Lisa Collins, Pro Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation at the University of Surrey
• Dr Rebecca McKee, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government
• Tom Walker, Interim CEO at Greater Essex Combined County Authority
• Mayor Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands

The event was chaired by Akash Paun, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. This was followed by a Q&A session and an opportunity to network over lunch with fellow attendees.

We would like to thank the University of Surrey for kindly supporting this event.

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