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I grew up as an ‘Apollo' child. Like many, I watched in awe as the giant Saturn V rocket powered its way into space. I recall being woken up to watch man's first step on the Moon.Following Artemis II's mission brought all this back and reminded me of a few key things that resonate.Programmes like these are at the cutting edge of taking risk. They create hope, opportunity and demonstrate what can be achieved when teams work together. They demonstrate how to overcome mistakes, adversity and disaster and how to regroup to deliver success.There are parallels with business and our desire to bring the best to our economies and the people in our regions, but also knowledge that plans do not survive intact. It is how you react that matters and business people have a resilience that, no matter what hits us, we will do our utmost to succeed.We are adjusting to a new world order and economic environment which has thrown economic plans out of the window.The Institute for Public Policy Research said UK business investment is the second lowest in the G7, concluding: ‘Under-investment is widely understood to be a core driver of Britain's economic stagnation.' The latest hit from the International Monetary Fund's spring economic outlook compounds the challenge with the biggest growth forecast downgrade of any G7 country. So, the task of local growth just got harder.It is clear from our meetings with ministers that Business Boards are an exceptional capability in local councils – experienced business leaders who have the acumen, networks and ingenuity we need to adapt and generate growth and investment.We are not short of strategies or plans for growth – but unless they are effective at changing anything on the ground, they remain academic. It is leaders like those on Business Boards who are from a business and entrepreneurial background in companies large and small, commercial and academia, who bring a level of vision and creative thinking that can bypass the political hurdles and find new ways through the challenges.Part of that involves working with government on our test, learn and grow projects that can act as a blueprint of how to adapt for growth.One of the most highly visible barometers of that challenge is the viability of our high streets. A recent House of Lords report was clear that to be successful you must ‘ensure local businesses support and are involved in high street regeneration projects and that local authorities empower and enable local business leaders to drive forward such projects...'Our business leaders are embedded in our high streets, helping their regeneration. This can feed into the High Street Strategy.Norfolk's high street work is an excellent example of what that approach can achieve. The chair of that board is the chief executive of a well-established retailer, whose business knowledge and expertise worked with their council to shape a practical retail support programme that is being rolled out across 24 local market towns.Housing is another critical area where again, local business leadership is finding ways to get things done.Working with the Liverpool Combined Authority and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, the Liverpool City Region launched an industrialised housing pilot.It is set to overhaul how Britain delivers sustainable social housing, schools, hospitals and public infrastructure. The pilot will apply digital manufacturing processes to standardise kits of parts, improve digital co-ordination and provide greater certainty of demand.That is the value Business Board leaders bring to local authorities, adapting at pace to turn the dial on delivery.Our focus includes developing the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, increasing start-ups and scale-ups, pushing up investment in skills, exploiting our world-leading cluster sectors, developing an intra-regional approach to innovation, especially among universities, and turning the Small Business Strategy into reality. But, this is against the backdrop of intense pressure from business rates, regulation, employment and energy costs.Half of the country is not on a devolution pathway. In some regions, the road to devolution has significant gaps that cause big risks for business investment and growth. We want to work with government to ensure those areas are not disadvantaged simply due to geography. Our Business Board leadership stands ready and able.Listening to the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies Helen Miller on what we are facing: ‘We are poorer than we thought we were going to be…the only question is we don't know how much poorer' – is a reality check on why local business leadership must continue working with local authorities to be creative in building investment and growth. Business Boards are dealing with urgent issues to keep their local economies moving. It is businesses that grow economies, generate jobs and taxes.It is government's job to provide the environment to enable us to do that. So small steps yes, but giant leaps are what is needed.Mark Bretton is chair of the Business Board Network

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ECONOMIC GROWTH

Turning the dial on growth

By Mark Bretton | 01 May 2026

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