LED Confidential

LED Confidential
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Podcast about local economic development and placemaking. Co-hosted by Mike Spicer of PolicyDepartment and David Marlow of Third Life Economics. Mike, David and guests address the divisive, often unspoken issues facing economic development professionals in 2020s Britain. Website: www.ledconfidential.co.uk

  1. −6 d

    What do MPs really want to know about devolution? LED talks to the House of Commons Library

    In this guest episode, David and Mike are joined by Mark Sandford, senior research analyst at the House of Commons Library, to explore what MPs actually want to know about devolution, local government finance and place. Mark explains how the Library's strictly impartial briefings have shaped debate on the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, the Fair Funding Review 2.0,  Local Government Reorganisation, and how mayoral devolution has shifted in under a decade from political suspicion to cross party orthodoxy. The conversation covers what a move from discretionary grants to assigned tax revenues could mean for the mayor–Whitehall relationship, the risk of a democratic deficit in reorganised local authorities, and how a more fragmented five-party political landscape may change what MPs need to know. LED and placemaking practitioners will take away a clearer sense of how to frame evidence for Westminster audiences.

    What do MPs really want to know about devolution? LED talks to the House of Commons Library

  2. 16 juli

    Planned for or planned around? Mayoral Strategic Authorities and the rural development gap

    In this Espresso Shot episode, David and Mike explore whether Mayoral Strategic Authorities can genuinely deliver whole-geography growth or whether the devolution model is structurally biased toward cities and large urban projects. They examine the gap created by Defra's non-participation in Integrated Settlements, which leaves MSAs with formal rural responsibilities under the D&CE but without equivalent rural funding levers. David sets out why appraisal  and business case development systematically disadvantages dispersed, rural geographies where fewer beneficiaries, smaller project pipelines, and thinner institutional capacity mean that they routinely lose out in any funding model designed around scale.   Mike explores what LED professionals can do now, before any reform, including investment in the development of a rural project pipeline and pushing the right-to-request agenda into Defra territory. The May 2026 local election results, which showed a growing divergence between core cities and their rural hinterlands, add political urgency to a structural economic challenge.

    Planned for or planned around? Mayoral Strategic Authorities and the rural development gap

  3. 9 juli

    Has Belfast cracked inclusive innovation?

    In this guest episode, David and Mike are joined by Dr Adrian Johnston MBE, Innovation Commissioner for Innovation City Belfast, to explore whether inclusive innovation can be measured in practice. Adrian explains how Innovation City Belfast, a partnership of seven anchor institutions built around the £1bn Belfast Region City Deal, moved beyond GVA and patents toward a broader "inclusion capital" framework covering economic, human, cultural and social capital, using proxies like "social graphs" and self-efficacy to track whether prosperity is genuinely shared. The conversation covers the Belfast Inclusive Futures visioning process, the city's ambition to be the UK's healthiest and most productive city by 2035, the spatial equity challenge of city-centre-led innovation, and how devolved regions outside London and Greater Manchester might frame policy differently.

    Has Belfast cracked inclusive innovation?

  4. 2 juli

    Council borrowing controls: protecting taxpayers or constraining growth?

    In this Espresso Shot, David and Mike  unpack the UK Government's new capital risk framework for local authorities — a consultation launched on 28 May 2026 proposing powers to monitor debt, investment, and revenue sustainability across every council, with intervention triggers where thresholds are breached.  At the time of recording six councils remained under Section 114 intervention; 37 others were in receipt of around £1.9bn in Exceptional Financial Support. Mike asks whether this represents proportionate governance or Whitehall micromanaging the financial distress it helped create. David argues the real problem is the local government finance system itself: designing a compliance framework around Woking and Thurrock while the majority of councils face structural distress from rising adult social care and SEN costs is a category error. For LED and placemaking professionals, the central question is whether tighter borrowing rules will constrain the regeneration finance that makes growth possible in the places that most need it — and whether the consultation is an opportunity to shape the outcome.

    Council borrowing controls: protecting taxpayers or constraining growth?

  5. 26 juni

    1 million young people outside the UK labour market: system failure or generational fault line?

    In this Espresso Shot episode, David and Mike unpack Alan Milburn's interim review findings into young people and work  — a diagnosis that names nearly 1 million 16–24 year-olds as not in employment, education or training ("NEET"), at an estimated economic cost of £125bn annually, and describes a "generational fault line" in the UK labour market. They explore the structural drivers behind the crisis: why ill health is a major cause of NEET status; how remote working and national living wage policy have reshaped entry-level opportunities; and why this problem clusters in particular places. David asks whether the Milburn Review risks reproducing a youth-employment-focused intervention without addressing underlying place-based system failures in coordination, while Mike explores the demographic pressures on recruitment in foundational economy sectors, and what this could mean for demand for young workers.

    1 million young people outside the UK labour market: system failure or generational fault line?

  6. 18 juni

    When growth assumptions collide with population health: healthy life expectancy and local economic strategies

    The UK’s latest healthy life expectancy figures published in Spring 2026 have been described as a watershed moment, and for local economic development they raise uncomfortable questions. In this Espresso Shot episode, David and Mike explore what falling healthy life expectancy, widening spatial gaps and changing population dynamics mean for the growth assumptions embedded in many local strategies. They ask whether places should still be planning primarily for growth or whether resilience and the prevention economy now need to sit at the heart of LED and placemaking.

    When growth assumptions collide with population health: healthy life expectancy and local economic strategies

  7. 11 juni

    Tooling up the profession: what local economic development practitioners need now

    In this episode, David and Mike are joined by Dr Glenn Athey to discuss the state of professional practice in local and regional economic development. Using Glenn’s new handbook as a springboard, they explore why delivery capability has become such a binding constraint on place based change, how years of austerity and institutional churn have hollowed out professional capacity, and what today’s practitioners need in order to do the job well. From evidence and judgment to curiosity, stakeholder engagement and getting out from behind the screen, this is a practical conversation about how to build stronger individual and organisational capability for the work ahead. Access the handbook: https://lredhandbook.com/

    Tooling up the profession: what local economic development practitioners need now

  8. 4 juni

    Two‑speed devolution? What the Devolution and Community Empowerment Act really means for places

    With the Devolution and Community Empowerment Act now on the statute book, England’s devolution journey feels more settled but perhaps more uneven. In this episode, David and Mike ask whether the new three‑tier system of strategic authorities accelerates progress or risks locking large parts of the country into a holding pattern. They explore Foundation Combined Authorities, Integrated Settlements, the under‑examined community empowerment strand of the Act, and what LED professionals can do in places still waiting for powers that may never arrive.

    Two‑speed devolution? What the Devolution and Community Empowerment Act really means for places
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Podcast about local economic development and placemaking. Co-hosted by Mike Spicer of PolicyDepartment and David Marlow of Third Life Economics. Mike, David and guests address the divisive, often unspoken issues facing economic development professionals in 2020s Britain. Website: www.ledconfidential.co.uk

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  • Skapad av
    LED Confidential
  • Aktiva år
    2022 - 2026
  • Avsnitt
    133
  • Åldersgräns
    Barnvänligt
  • Copyright
    © LED Confidential
  • Programmets webbplats
    LED Confidential