Publications

Re-imagining Tomorrow’s City Centres: Report Launch “We can’t predict the future of cities, but we can invent them” Mike Batty, UCL Last week Blake Morgan and the Southern Policy Centre launched their research report exploring the future of the central South’s city centres. We were joined by Andrew Carter from […]

How can the central South benefit from the government’s new devolution plans? Seminar Notes 9th July 2020 Panel members: Stewart Dunn, Chair, Southern Policy Centre Professor John Denham, Director, Southern Policy Centre Mark Sandford, Senior Research Analyst, House of Commons Library Nick King, Centre for Policy Studies Cllr Vikki Slade, […]

What next for devolution in central southern England? Briefing Note from the Southern Policy Centre. With a new devolution White Paper likely to be published soon, it seems Ministers will make devolution to our larger cities and regions part of their planning for economic recovery. In 2019 the Southern Policy […]

Recovery in the central South: collaboration for growth, seminar June 2020 Southern Policy Centre has been working with the public and private sector to identify the key issues facing the central South when lockdown is eased and we move into a new economic environment. This new policy paper, based on […]

Realising the Potential of the Wider South East Realising the Potential of the Wider South East technical symposium organised by L&WSE Strategic Planning Network. The symposium aimed to facilitate a conversation between strategic thinkers on opportunities for collective research and collaboration, in particular the scope for adopting a wider and […]

Is there a strategy for the central South? September 2019 conference Briefing Note Download a copy of the report here The challenge This project was prompted by widely shared fears that central southern England is neither gaining the resources and power of other regions, nor promoting itself effectively to private […]

Is there a strategy for the central South? Conference presentation September 2019 On 20 September 2019, SPC introduced their research on whether the variety of plans and strategies published by councils and LEPs across the central South together present a clear narrative about our ambitions for the future. Evidence from […]

Is there a strategy for the central South? 2019 Seminar findings and reports Three seminars were held in 2019 as part of the Regional Strategy Project to focus on the various challenges facing the central South.  Seminar 1 focused on the Economic Challenge; Seminar 2 discussed spaces for business; Seminar […]

Help us to move on! 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. People aged 16 to 25 have done most of their growing up in the shadow of the […]

Retaining graduates from the central South’s universities. Both authors frequently hear the refrain ‘we must retain more of our graduates’ at meetings and seminars on the local economy. This report, commissioned by Willmott Dixon, explores the retention of graduates from the central South’s universities in our economy and examines the […]

Housing costs and the central South’s economy ‘A great place to live…if you can afford it’ The central South is recognised as having some of the highest housing costs outside London. Our report, published in 2018, undertaken on behalf of Enterprise M3 LEP and Radian housing association, reviews the cost […]

Deprivation in the South Despite its perceived affluence relative to other parts of the UK, pockets of severe multiple deprivation exist across the South Coast region. This research offers a timely corrective to over-simplistic ideas of an English North-South divide by highlighting the significance of ‘hidden’ deprivation in affluent areas. […]