Policy
Policy Research - 2008-09 - Towards resilient local economic strategies
CLES has a long-standing record of innovative thinking on regeneration and local economic issues. Many of the policies we have advocated and championed are now at the cutting edge of public policy. CLES continues to develop new thinking, to engage with Government and to influence debate on regeneration and local governance. CLES is unique. Our family and network of members, consultancy clients and our experience of thinking about and "doing" policy means we are well placed to represent practitioners and develop ideas and policy that work on the ground.
For 2008/09, we want to focus on the economic challenges that lie ahead and provide new thinking as well as practical advice and support to economic development managers and officers as to how they can respond and adapt to the changing economic climate. To reflect these changes, our current policy research is focused on a number of key themes including:
Future place - Building on work already done in 2007/08 on the Future City Game, we will continue to explore ideas for future places and the types of work being done in other areas of the UK and internationally which we can use as inspiration for economic development and regeneration in the UK. This will include our ongoing work on the Future City Game and our involvement in the Norfolk Trust global research project
New strategies: Environmental limits and economic downturn - Again, building on work done in 2007/08, we will be developing ideas for how we can respond to the key challenges that are facing our economies, particularly climate change and economic downturn. We will aim to develop new ideas for strategy and delivery which can start to address these challenges within local economic development and regional/national policy frameworks. We will be articulating a new vision for economic strategy which seeks to integrate the public, the commercial and the social economies.
Assessing and understanding local economies - Having a strong evidence base to inform delivery is extremely important for economic development and regeneration. The Sub National Review makes it clear that the strengthening of local evidence will become even more important in future with the announcement of a statutory economic duty. CLES have pioneered work in this area with their work on the LM3 model with APSE during 2008. CLES will continue to do research in this area in order to assist local authorities undertake economic assessment in the future and to further and deepen understanding of local economies.
Governing economic development and regeneration - The governance of economic development is extremely important and the government have spent much effort on new systems of governance such as Local Area Agreements and now Multi-Area Agreements. Building on our work on the Flyde Coast and other projects, we will continue to explore the value of these mechanisms for economic development and the role that local democratic systems play in overseeing and influencing the economic development of local places. This will include CLES’s sponsorship of a PHD at Manchester university and our research into the role of local elected members.
For more information on our policy research, please contact Sarah Longlands, Director of Policy on sarahlonglands@cles.org.uk
We have a range of policy publications which provide information about the policy areas that we are interested in as well as reporting on the research that we are currently involved with. If you are a member you will be kept up to date with all our policy research work through our regular publications.
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