Towns are now in the policy spotlight.The reasons for this are all too clear: Brexit; the productivity puzzle; economic inequality; the decline of traditional high streets; and, a concern about what this means for local and national culture and identity.

Last Thursday, as the starting gun was sounded on UK’s general election campaign, every front page of every local newspaper in the North of England carried the same message: whoever wins, this election must close the North-South divide. 

What do 21st century London and 2,000 BCE Babylon have in common? It turns out, the answer is “quite a lot” as Monica Smith, Professor of Anthropology at UCLA argues in her book Cities: the first 6,000 years.

Amidst all the discussion surrounding the newly released deprivation data for England, one finding stands out – wherever you are, there are clear correlations between the different “domains” of deprivation.

The release of the English Indices of Deprivation provides a base from which to track the country’s progress since 2015, both socially and economically. An EU referendum and three Prime Ministers later, the past four years have brought with them two simple, but interesting questions: What has changed, and where has it changed?

Think about a simple agrarian economy, with only very basic technology. Individuals grow crops and trade them, bartering for other things they need.

At a time when the economic map of Britain is being reshaped by devolution and strong regional powerhouses, the Great Western Cities (Bristol, Cardiff and Newport) commissioned Metro Dynamics…

The potential for a new economic powerhouse for the UK was unveiled today, with a new report setting out recommendations to supercharge the economy in the west of Britain.

Owe the bank £1 and it’s your problem. Owe them £1m and the problem is the bank’s, or so the saying goes….

The inadequacies of the UK housing market are well…

In my experience lots of periods of change have particular inflection points, or moments when the overall…

Metro Dynamics yesterday launched a new report, urging the Government to champion investment in regional…

By Patrick White

t’s a bit early for lists of the best things of 2018, but my favourite book was “Our Towns” by Jim and Deb Fellows, based on their 100,000 mile trip round smaller US cities and the city led renewal and community action that is thriving. I recommend it. It’s hard to see from this side of the pond, but the party divisions which are paralysing Washington are much less of an issue locally.  Whilst national politics are totally dysfunctional, cities and towns are just getting on with what they need to do.

With the outcome of Brexit negotiations still up in the air, the Government’s scope for a major shift in direction at this autumn’s Budget was limited. Nevertheless, this is a Budget that supports investment and growth, and local growth in particular.

The Chancellor reiterated Government’s commitment to boosting productivity, and to regional and city growth to achieve it. There are new sources of funding at all levels of local government and these sit within the overarching structure of the Industrial Strategy published last year. So although the country’s finances and policies will be ultimately determined by what happens with Brexit – Philip Hammond has reserved the right to upgrade the 2019 Spending Review to a full Budget should no deal with the EU be struck – this Budget offers much of interest to places in the interim.