Regeneration: Now is the time to deliver by tackling inequalities

English devolution is being rewritten in real time. Growth Plans are being drafted, mayors are taking on powers and the decisions made in 2026 will shape regional economies for a decade. This is the best opportunity in 20 years to address regional inequalities and economic underperformance.For councils and combined authorities the stakes are obvious. The institutional opportunity is real, but so is the capacity gap. Teams are being asked to deliver transformational change with officers who have joined the profession during its most turbulent decade.I grew up in Tyneside watching a regional economy disappear. Coal mines closed. Shipyards on the Tyne fell silent. Heavy engineering plants shut their gates.At school in the 1970s and early 1980s, we were taught craft skills for industries that were already vanishing. The skills became obsolete before we could use them.We live in an era of performative politics. The idea that vocalised policy ambition is somehow delivering for society is simply false. Without follow-through – without the resources, skills and capacities to enable those ambitions – such exhortations are just hot air.Fifty-five years after I was born, Tyneside still lags behind UK averages on educational attainment, health, income and life expectancy.Following a career in regeneration across the UK, including with Scottish Enterprise, the London Development Agency, the Centre for Cities and the East of England Development Agency, I became executive director of the Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership in 2011. Here I saw what happens when you cut funding for local economies by two-thirds and introduce short-term funding cycles alongside constant institutional change. Capacities erode. Specialist skills disappear. Corporate memory walks out of the door.We live in an era of performative politics. The idea that vocalised policy ambition is somehow delivering for society is simply false. Without follow-through – without the resources, skills and capacities to enable those ambitions – such exhortations are just hot air.To develop our communities and address the profound inequalities in our localities, we need to deliver. This question – what do practitioners actually need to know to do this job well, and to deliver for their communities? – was at the forefront of my mind throughout the writing of my new book The Local and Regional Economic Development Handbook.It is something I wish someone had handed me when I was starting my career – a practical handbook explaining what economic developers do, why it matters and how to do it well. It covers the key concepts, theory, economics, policy and strategy – but more than half of the book is devoted to practice and delivery, drawing on hundreds of projects across dozens of cities and regions.A dedicated chapter on Place, Infrastructure and Real Estate speaks directly to this audience. A fundamental shift has taken place in economic development thinking: away from the old property-led models and towards multi-faceted approaches in which physical development is understood as a means, not an end. The insight that has reshaped the field is this: it is the place that succeeds, not the building. What matters is what people do inside the buildings and neighbourhoods created.The international case studies – including Salford Quays, Hamburg's HafenCity, Stockholm's Hammarby Sjöstad – show that intentional design can bridge economic viability with community connection. Their common feature is that social objectives were embedded into the fundamental structure and governance of regeneration, not bolted on afterwards.For those working in real estate and investment, that is both a challenge and an opportunity. Investment genuinely aligned with local economic development goals – investment that creates shared prosperity rather than displacement – is investment that endures, that builds civic trust and that produces the conditions for long-term value.For local government, the message is equally clear: development decisions are always economic development decisions. The question is whether they are made explicitly, with clear objectives and accountability, or implicitly, serving incumbent interests while claiming neutrality.Places with skilled practitioners, evidence-based strategies and effective delivery partnerships achieve better outcomes than those without.This handbook helps to equip practitioners with the foundational knowledge and skills they need. And hopefully prompts some curiosity about the world, about practice, and develops an appetite for purpose and continual improvement in local and regional economic development.Glenn Athey is the author of The Local and Regional Economic Development Handbook which is available at www.lredhandbook.com

Title

REGENERATION

Regeneration: Now is the time to deliver by tackling inequalities

By Glen Athey | 12 May 2026

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