Rewriting the Rules to Rebalance the Economy

The government’s recent success in winning the support of communities in the north and midlands has spurred calls for a rethink on how investments are prioritised. There has long been criticism that London and the South East have benefited more from publicly funded investment, where business cases look more favourable against more densely populated localities. Has this investment created a self fulfilling prophecy by supporting growth and migration at cost to other localities? New policy targets are being muted, such as reducing regional productivity gaps or targeting less monetary aspects of quality of life. But could moving towards a system where policy goals are less based on measurable goals increase the risk of white elephants? Can devolution of spending decisions along with greater accountability over the benefits of investment help deliver more credible business cases? Has the loss of the regional development agencies hampered the ability regions to attract and allocated investment? This event will discuss these topics ahead of the government’s budget in March.

Panel:

Dr Vedran Zerjav, Lecturer – Infrastructure Project Management, UCL (Moderator)
Barry White, Chief Executive, Transport for the North
Shehroze Junejo, Head of Major Infrastructure Tracking, IPA
Jonathan Turner, Partner, Ashurst
Julia Prescot, Partner, Chief Strategy Officer, Meridiam, NIC Commissioner and IPFA Board Member

The summary of our recent London Future Leaders event is available for members to download below.