Business investment is an important driver of economic growth and low levels of business investment are regularly cited as one of the reasons UK economic growth has been subdued in recent years. Busin...

For policymakers thinking about local economic growth, it is natural to begin with data on current performance. This works well for many topics – GVA, productivity, skills, business base – but it work...

While the economic impacts of new rail lines and large road schemes have been greatly studied, far less is known about the economic effects of improvements to existing local public transport networks....

What do the air you breathe, the Thames Barrier, and the Armed Forces have in common? It is impossible to exclude anyone in society from benefitting from them. We breathe the same air, flood…

This blog focuses on enterprise and competition, and complements the blogs on GVA and productivity published in summer 2024.

In September the government published the Defence Industrial Strategy 2025. This is the last of eight sector plans in the national Industrial Strategy, alongside Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy…

August means airports, and now that air travel has rebounded from the lows during the Covid-19 pandemic to reach levels where globally there are more flights than ever, airports face bigger and…

Last month the government published new guidance for Mayoral Strategic Authorities on Local Growth Plans. These are a key foundation of the new Industrial Strategy and the government’s ambitions for d...

UK local and combined authorities are being asked not just to justify investments but to demonstrate their impact.

Original evidence reviews published in January 2016. Updated evidence review on enterprise zones published May 2025. Area based initiatives can have positive impacts on local growth outcomes, but…

Our new publication, Lessons and recommendations from What Works Growth’s evaluations of local growth policies, draws on a number of evaluations that What Works Growth has carried out over the years.

In this guest blog, Paul Swinney sets out why the Industrial Strategy should be focused on the productivity of our biggest cities.

Under Arnolds Field, tonnes of illegally dumped waste have been burning for years, spewing pollution over the area. Locals fear for their health – and despair that no one seems willing to help

In this guest blog, Dr. Max Nathan, Henry Overman, Capucine Riom, and Maria Sanchez-Vidal set out evidence on the impact of BBC (partial) relocation to Salford on wider employment in the area. This bl...

Last week we held the first in our latest series of breakfast briefing webinars. This event focused on how local governments can prepare themselves to make the most of the devolution of local growth p...

YouTube video by What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth

YouTube video by What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth