Ending the geographical inequality caused by years of underinvestment, underdevelopment, lower productivity, and a lack of innovation which has been exacerbated by the pandemic will require a long-term focus, a scaled and co-ordinated approach, and effective oversight.
Lack of powers and accountability to design and deliver effective policies for tackling local problems and supporting local people has been a major contributor to the widening gap of geographical disparities. There has been traction to enable greater local empowerment since 2010 with the introduction of the Localism Act, Police and Crime Commissioners, City Deals and democratically elected metropolitan mayors, but it will take a major shift of attitude and culture from Westminster and Whitehall to significantly move the dial.
Local government has shown that it can deliver, and it can be trusted with their responsiveness to the pandemic, working in partnership with national government to support communities. Local governments are closer to their communities and settings and are therefore better placed to understand local needs on employment, skills, housing, health, crime rate, culture and infrastructure and must be given the powers and accountability to continue and build on the capability and capacity developed in response to the pandemic.
Indeed, local governments have proven their ability to respond and deliver in times of crisis. However, my extensive experience working with central and local government has been that in times where it is business as usual, complex organisational structures and governance lead to excessive amounts of ‘red tape’ and unnecessary bureaucracy which stifle productivity, efficiencies, and effectiveness.
Lessons learned from the pandemic response - and the capacity and capability that have been developed as a result - must be leveraged to ensure that the greater power that will come with devolution will yield its proper dividends.
It is important that the ambitions to move the economic spotlight from London and Southeast does not result in the unintended consequence of worsening the widening gaps in the urban areas and end up creating more inner-city ‘ghettos’.
As a school governor, I am acutely aware of the challenges faced by schools with the tension of maintaining a high-level education standard and attainment against the financial pressures caused by the cost-of-living crisis, energy crisis and funding crisis. The government must prioritise education across the country. Schools have had to strip educational provision to the bare minimum to keep their gates open with some considering the feasibility of a ‘hybrid teaching provision’, with some days where pupils are in school and some learning from home. The negative impact of the pandemic and home-schooling is well known and documented. The government needs to adequately invest in education to prevent all of the UK becoming an ‘Educational Investment Area’.
Maintaining momentum on the delivery of the Levelling Up agenda is critical now as we face economic challenges to ensure people, communities and places with the greatest disparities survive and thrive.
Key Points:
• Devolution of powers to local government will need to be coupled with reducing red tape to improve productivity and deliver better outcomes for communities.
• It is important that the ambition to move the economic spotlight from London and the Southeast does not widen the deprivation gap in urban areas.
• Educational Investment Areas need rethinking with all schools in the UK struggling with rising costs and changes to teacher payment policies.
This article originally appeared in The Leaders Council’s special report on ‘The Levelling Up agenda’, published on November 30, 2022. Read the full special report here.
Photo by Pedro Ramos on Unsplash
