The think tank for central southern England
The symposium aims to facilitate a conversation between strategic thinkers on opportunities for collective research and collaboration, in particular the scope for adopting a wider and longer-term perspective and by joining up current sub-regional economic, planning and infrastructure initiatives.
For more information and to watch the video of the event click here.
The Southern Policy Centre is building a strong reputation for research and studies which are helping shape public policy across the central South. To help manage our growth and ensure we offer a professional service to all our funders we want to recruit a General Manager. We need someone who can co-ordinate our activities and provide administrative support to our Associates, working alongside our accountant and communications advisor.
This is an exciting role, the postholder will have the opportunity to shape a role which is central to the day-to-day operation of SPC, keeping us on a robust footing and helping grow our reputation. The right person will be organised, but also politically aware, able to work alongside local politicians, councils, universities and businesses.
If you want to find out more, the job description and details of how to apply can be found here:
http://southernpolicycentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/General-Manager-SPC.pdf
John Denham, SPC Director, is speaking to a seminar exploring the economic potential of the the wider South East. The event takes place in London on 25 October, and is organised by Arup.
The combined economies of the former South East and East regions represent over 20% of the nation’s GVA. They also contain eight of its highest performing towns. Yet these areas are often perceived as the commuting hinterlands of London, rather than economic engines in their own right. Sub-regional economic, planning and transport initiatives are making a positive return in several parts of the Wider South East.
Professor Denham will talk about the central South and its relationship to London. To find out more about the event and register your interest go to http://wseplanningnetwork.org/events/
WSE-symposium-flyer-for-25-Oct-2019-finalThree seminars are being held as part of the Regional Strategy Project to focus on the various challenges facing the central south.
We would like to thank Barker Mill Estates, Build Environment Communications Group (BECG), Blake Morgan, Hampshire County Council and Carey’s Manor for their support.
The project’s conclusions will be presented to a conference at Carey’s Manor, Brockenhurst, on September 20th. For invitation requests please email us here.
The following documents are working documents to stimulate discussion. We welcome clarifications, corrections, and comments. Please email us here if you have any.
The analysis in the paper below draws on documents published by the LEPs and top-tier local authorities. It looks at the economic opportunities and challenges facing the central south, and for both explicit evidence of shared and joint working and of implied shared priorities and perspectives.
This paper provides a summary of research on strategies prepared by local authorities and other bodies. Its focus is on planning, housing and sustainability.
The analysis here draws on documents published by the LEPs and top-tier local authorities. It looks at the economic opportunities and challenges facing the study area, and for both explicit evidence of shared and joint working and of implied shared priorities and perspectives.
Our report for the Blagrave Trust outlining practical policy recommendations to address some of the issues facing young people in Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton can be read below.
In July 2018 the Southern Policy Centre was commissioned by the Blagrave Trust to develop a policy advocacy strategy for young people aged 16-25 in Hampshire. Over the last 8 months we have been listening to young people and researching alongside them to understand the challenges that affect them the most during transition from childhood to adulthood, and to develop potential solutions to these. The primary concerns raised were housing, education, training and employment. The work has been led by Professor John Denham, former government minister and founding director of the SPC.
The launch event will see the young people themselves present the findings from our work together and set out a strategy to start to address the issues raised. There will be an opportunity to discuss the strategy in groups and provide feedback.
Event Details
The launch will be held on Wednesday 3rd April 2019 Southampton FC’s St Mary’s Stadium, starting registration & refreshments at 10.15am. There will be buffet lunch served at the conclusion of the event which will finish by 1pm, please advise info@southernpolicycentre.co.uk if you wish to stay for lunch
In conjunction with the University of Winchester and supported by Paris Smith and Energise Me, we are delivering a seminar to explore how we can all live well.
The rise of new ‘health’ trends communicated via media platforms has called into question what living well really means.
Chaired by the University’s Chancellor Alan Tichmarsch, this event is the third of a series of debates on linked and topical issues.
Speakers of the seminar include Professor Shireen Kassam, Consultant Haematologist at Kings College Hospital and Visiting Professor at the University of Winchester on the importance of diet, Dr William Bird MBE, GP and founder of Intelligent Health, on the importance of physical activity and Kevin Gardner, CEO and Abby Oakley from Solent Mind on achieving mental wellbeing.
Book your free seats by clicking here.
With only weeks to the 29th March deadline, and amid much uncertainty, this is the crucial time to look beyond the short-term decisions on Brexit to the challenges shaping future of the British economy, whatever our final relationship with the EU and the rest of the world.
This is an invitation to hear Dame Kate Barker, University of Cambridge, (former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, member of the independent Industrial Strategy Commission, and advisor to both the previous Labour and current Conservative governments) speak on the British economy beyond Brexit. Kate will be joined by Larry Elliott (Economics Director at the Guardian) and other academic speakers including Professor John Denham of the SPC.
The Southern Policy Centre is delighted to be supporting this event run in conjunction with the Department of Politics and Society and the Centre for English Identity and Politics, both of the University of Winchester. Date and time: Monday 11th February, 11:30 to 14:30pm
Tickets are free, but need to be reserved via the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beyond-brexit-the-future-of-the-british-economy-tickets-53961114145
Since their establishment in 2010, Local Enterprise Partnerships have been integral to economic growth across England, providing a channel for government investment in infrastructure, skills and innovation. A joint Southern Policy Centre/PwC seminar held at the beginning of December exploredhow our local LEPs see their future role and discussed how they can help fulfil the needs of the Central South of England.
Julian Gray of PwC opened the discussion by suggesting that the urban South Coast was a great place to live, but that it underperformed economically. The session’s Chair, John Denham, reminded us that LEPs are big spenders, but that their activities were ‘under the radar’ for many, and they needed to be accountable to business and local communities.
John reflected on the suggestion of Lord Jim O’Neill, former Treasury minister, at a recent Southern Policy Centre seminar that the central South lacked ‘a distinctive, “stand-out” proposal which built on unique local strengths and offered …. a clear sense of local identity and place’.
Gary Jeffries, Chair of Solent LEP, saw a compelling vision of the central South coast as a ‘world class coastal economy’, building on our existing strengths. He suggested that a strong component of that vision should be the marine and maritime economies, but without neglecting other strengths in medicine, space technology and the wider knowledge economy.
Gary noted the proposed changes to LEP boundaries (now approved by ministers) which would see the New Forest area become part of Solent LEP. The parts of Test Valley, Winchester and East Hampshire districts which were currently part of Solent LEP would join the rest of their district in EM3. This would strengthen Solent’s coastal focus.
The LEP want to shape a distinctive local industrial strategy which builds on what we do well, and provides an investment plan which will support the growth of these sectors and of our economy, tackling infrastructure under investment and low productivity.
Alastair Welch, director of ABP’s Southampton port, highlighted the significance of the port in the UK’s global trade. Southampton was not ‘the end of the line’ but a ‘gateway to the world’. We should lobby hard for the investment to help us maintain this pre-eminence, which has many wider benefits for the central South’s economy.
We should be ‘thinking big’ and ensuring we invest in what is already excellent in our local economy to maintain our world-leading status. That will ensure we send a message about the success of our local economy, rather than a gloomy assessment of weaknesses. They could only be addressed, Alastair suggested, by building on our local strengths.
Presentations concluded with an assessment from Zoe Green from PwC of what would make a good local industrial strategy. Zoe’s experience with the national pilot on these strategies made clear that government ministers wanted to see investment in areas and sectors which can unlock local, regional and national growth. The best strategies would be ambitious and offer a distinctive vision for a place – highlighting its brand, assets, talent and even ‘liveability’.
A good strategy would also be based on robust partnerships between the public and private sector, which allowed the area to explore new ways of working. In Zoe’s view, collaboration across boundaries was vital to realising the vision for what the central South can be. That transcends organisational boundaries and presents a picture of how partners can deliver change at a scale which will have real economic impacts. In some areas, neighbouring LEPs in the pilot programme had taken a more strategic overview of their local industrial strategies, making a persuasive case for investment by highlighting shared aspirations and ambitions.
The discussion that followed these presentations echoed the need for an ambitious vision that businesses could get behind. One speaker endorsed the need for our area speaking with a coherent collective voice, and the need to avoid being parochial. Others spoke about our shared identity and the many things that bind us together.
Many of the businesses present were keen to get behind an ambitious vision for our future, and there was some discussion about the process for developing local industrial strategies, including the timetable – with Zoe pointing out that Government’s aim was to have all in place by early 2020.
The LEPs are already building the evidence base for their strategies, and will want to involve local businesses and communities in shaping their vision. Attendees at our seminar reflected the enthusiasm for that collaborative approach, and the desire for an ambitious, positive statement about what the central South can achieve.
SPC and PwC hope to arrange further events as our local industrial strategies progress. We look forward to working with our LEPs and businesses to help shape our shared future.
Is there a strategy for the central South? A new SPC project
There is a widely-shared fear that central southern England is not attracting the additional resources and powers that are being enjoyed in other regions.
The former Treasury Minister, Lord Jim O’Neill, has criticised previous devolution proposals from central southern England, saying that they failed to identify clear priorities and distinctive outcomes for the area.[1]It is clear that progress in the future will depend on developing a clear regional strategy with broad political, business and public sector buy-in. It is also clear that the government has backed some sub-regional strategies (for example the Oxford-Cambridge corridor) with no formal devolution deals in place.
Many strategy documents and plans have been published for central southern England by LEPs, local authorities, statutory undertakings and business organisations. However, it is difficult to find an overview of these proposals, let alone an assessment of whether they create a coherent and complementary set of policies.
The new SPC project aims to address that shortfall. Rather than re-open the sensitive and difficult topic of devolution structures, we want to address the underlying question: is there a coherent strategy for central southern England? And, if not, where are the gaps and omissions?
There is no comprehensive collation of the current strategies in place or being developed in the region. The project will bring that analysis together. It will cover for example: LEPs and cross-LEP initiatives; government, LEP and local authority-backed bodies such as Transport for the South-East; local authority strategies for development planning, transport, housing and local economic strategies; private sector-led initiatives from organisations such as EEF, FSB, CBI, IoD and Business South, and major employers such as ABP.
Taken together, existing plans and strategies cover most of the issues that would be contained in a regional strategy. Some are quite local in focus, but many have regional and national significance. But, covering different geographies and sometimes developed in silos, it is not clear whether taken together they form a coherent, integrated approach. Nor is it clear what weaknesses and omissions exist. Aspiration and the capacity to deliver are not the same thing.
There is an urgent need to highlight the major problems we face collectively in the central South and assess how best they can be meet through a coherent regional strategy. Our project will allow us to take that overview of the plans and strategies for our region and their efficacy.
By doing so, we can help develop a clear and shared statement of regional priorities. This will be of immediate value to any organisations seeking to champion the region but also provide the core content of any future devolution discussions.
The SPC project
Our initial research will support a series of stakeholder seminars that will examine the main policy areas in turn. The seminars will be based on a series of original analyses which summarise current plans and proposals. These papers, writtenin an accessible and non-academic style, and based on close collaboration with the appropriate LEPs, local authorities and other bodies, will be presented to an audience of key business interest, public authorities and other stakeholders.
Seminar structure: It is proposed to cover two related topics in each seminar. This will provide the best balance between attracting the appropriate audience for each event and giving sufficient time to discuss proposals. Our initial proposal is to cover the following topics (although this may be amended as research results emerge):
Seminar 1: planning and housing
Seminar 2: transport and infrastructure, including broadband
Seminar 3: higher education and innovation
Seminar 4: learning, skills and productivity (covering both HE and FE)
Seminar 5: energy and sustainability
The seminar discussions will be moderated to focus on areas of consensus support, and to identify significant issues that are inadequately covered by existing strategies. The final project will summarise the seminar conclusions. It will highlight the policies that clearly command widespread support as regional strategies. It will also identify areas for further development.
The report will be presented to a wide range of stakeholder groups and also to the region’s elected politicians.
We want to acknowledge the generous support for the Barker Mill Estate for this project. We are seeking organisations willing to host each of the five seminars.
Our researcher, James Dobson, started work on 22ndOctober on a five-month contract.
The project is being overseen by a steering committee with representatives from local government, business, Westminster and LEPs.
Prof John Denham, Director, Southern Policy Centre
denhamj@southernpolicycentre.co.uk
[1]Speaking at an SPC seminar in May 2017, Lord O’Neill said that the only proposal that was even considered by Ministers was that from Portsmouth-Southampton-IoW. The proposal has now been rejected by government.