๐๐ป๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฒ: ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐
๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ
The Regional Development Agencies lasted thirteen years from statute to closure. The Local Enterprise Partnerships lasted thirteen. The average English economic development institution does not live long enough to see its own major projects complete – let alone learn from them. Sure, none of these institutions were perfect – but we should be evolving and adapting, not abolishing.
Itโs like trying to fix your window with gaffer tape. Sooner or later itโs going to split, usually when thereโs a catastrophic weather event.
Consider what that destroys. Relationships with employers and investors, built over years, severed. Evidence bases and evaluation histories dispersed or deleted. The craft knowledge of what failed here before, and why, walking out of the door with the redundancy notices.
The RDA case still astonishes me. Roughly ยฃ15 billion spent over eleven operational years. Independently evaluated returns of ยฃ4.50 to ยฃ6.40 for every ยฃ1 spent. Abolished anyway – a decision that owed everything to the politics of 2010 and nothing to the evidence.
In Britain, the abolition and reinvention of institutions is not the consequence of policy failure. It is a cause of it.
The economic development institutions the world admires are almost without exception decades old. They have had time to make mistakes, keep the lessons and refine the craft. No English institution of the last sixty years has been permitted that.
๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ด. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ: ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ. ๐๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ.
This post is part of the prosperity in every postcode series. To deliver this โ we need to be truly great at local and regional economic development. Follow me to get these posts prioritised in your LinkedIn newsfeed.
#EconomicDevelopment #Devolution #LocalGovernment #PublicPolicy #RegionalDevelopment
