news and views

We provide insights based on our experience and current work and discuss what changes in policy mean for our localities, regions and cities

๐™„๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ง๐™—๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ก๐™ค๐™˜๐™–๐™ก ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™™๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ: ๐™‘๐™ž๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ, ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™–๐™™๐™ซ๐™ค๐™˜๐™–๐™˜๐™ฎ

๐™„๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ง๐™—๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ก๐™ค๐™˜๐™–๐™ก ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™™๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ: ๐™‘๐™ž๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ, ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™–๐™™๐™ซ๐™ค๐™˜๐™–๐™˜๐™ฎ

๐—ฉ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป, ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜† must be informed by some robust analysis, stakeholder consultation, policy mapping and horizon scanning. It involves getting to grips with your locality as a place, what it offers as a business location and place to invest and visit.If...

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Applying climate change actions to local economic development functions

Applying climate change actions to local economic development functions

๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™›๐™ช๐™จ๐™š๐™™ ๐™–๐™—๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™ฎ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™จ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™—๐™ก๐™š ๐™™๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ก๐™ค๐™˜๐™–๐™ก ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฎ? You're not alone. Many struggle to translate models like circular economy and doughnut economics into actionable strategies.You can find the link to a longer article at the bottom of this post. The...

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๐™„๐™จ ๐˜ผ๐™„ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™œ๐™ค๐™ค๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™˜๐™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜๐™ฎ?

๐™„๐™จ ๐˜ผ๐™„ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™œ๐™ค๐™ค๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™˜๐™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜๐™ฎ?

Over the past 2 months I've been exploring a lot of AI services and platforms to help support my business and professional services.๐˜ผ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™จ ๐™—๐™š๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ช๐™จ๐™š๐™›๐™ช๐™ก ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง:- ๐—˜๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—œ'๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜† ๐˜„๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป. Need copy editing, graphics, to precis down a large 4 page summary into 2...

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Is your project Green Book ready?

Is your project Green Book ready?

I๐™จ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™Ÿ๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™™๐™ฎ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™™๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™‚๐™ง๐™š๐™š๐™ฃ ๐˜ฝ๐™ค๐™ค๐™  ๐™—๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™จ ๐™˜๐™–๐™จ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™–๐™ž๐™จ๐™–๐™ก? We get a lot of requests for quotes to help develop green book compliant business cases.The biggest pushback we have is: is your project sufficiently developed or do you think you can...

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#๐™Ž๐™ ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™จ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™š ๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™–๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™จ, ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ง๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™›๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™™๐™ช๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ.

#๐™Ž๐™ ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™จ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™š ๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™–๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™จ, ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ง๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™›๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™™๐™ช๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ.

In my experience as an advisor to local and city leaders, it's worth remembering these 10 key points:1๏ธโƒฃ๐—ฆ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€, and can be withdrawn and deployed at the workerโ€™s discretion.2๏ธโƒฃ๐—ฆ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐˜† โ€“ they can be attitudes or personal...

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Get the best out of consultants

Get the best out of consultants

๐™€๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง ๐™›๐™š๐™š๐™ก ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช'๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ข๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ก๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™จ?Hereโ€™s how you can change that - Part 1 1๏ธโƒฃ๐——๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—ข๐—ฏ๐—ท๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€ โ†’ Be explicit about what you want to achieve.โ†ณ Clear goals lead to targeted efforts.Ambiguity only causes confusion and inefficiency.๐˜๐˜ง...

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20 ๐™ฎ๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™‚๐™ง๐™š๐™š๐™ฃ ๐˜ฝ๐™ค๐™ค๐™  B๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™จ C๐™–๐™จ๐™š ๐™–๐™™๐™ซ๐™ž๐™˜๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ 60 ๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™๐™จ

20 ๐™ฎ๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™‚๐™ง๐™š๐™š๐™ฃ ๐˜ฝ๐™ค๐™ค๐™  B๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™จ C๐™–๐™จ๐™š ๐™–๐™™๐™ซ๐™ž๐™˜๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ 60 ๐™จ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™๐™จ

The Green Book is a useful process used in the UK to originate and develop project ideas and plans that require public money. Here's my tips for a good Green Book Business Case....1) Always start with a ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ท๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ. If its still vague - don't...

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UK Government: verdict is still out on local economic policy

UK Government: verdict is still out on local economic policy

๐—ช๐—ต๐˜† ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—จ๐—ž, ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐˜†, ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€?The numbers tell a tale of imbalance, with some regions trailing behind even the historically weaker areas of former East Germany.New government or not, we...

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Achieving impact in local economic development

Achieving impact in local economic development

๐˜ฟ๐™ค ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ช๐™ก๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™™๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™—๐™ช๐™™๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ?The high-impact investments and activities are those which create jobs and GVA and have low amounts of displacement, duplication (of other support provided elsewhere) and...

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Understanding the megatrends

Understanding the megatrends

๐™‡๐™ค๐™˜๐™–๐™ก ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ง๐™š๐™œ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ข๐™ž๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™›๐™ก๐™ช๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š๐™™ ๐™—๐™ฎ ๐™œ๐™ก๐™ค๐™—๐™–๐™ก ๐™™๐™ฎ๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜๐™จ, ๐™ค๐™›๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™™ ๐™ข๐™š๐™œ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™๐™จ. I deal a lot with these when writing local and regional economic strategies and advising city leaders.Here are some of the most critical megatrends local economies are dealing...

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Testimonials & Featured Clients

"Glenn is an uber-consultant, a cut above the rest"

John McGill, Director @ UK Innovation Corridor

โ€œI canโ€™t recommend Glenn highly enough having worked with him over many years.Glennโ€™s work is highly professional, demonstrating a very high level of stakeholder management, workshop and facilitation skills.โ€

Sarah Murray, Director @ Local London

โ€œGlenn delivered an accurate, innovative and useful review, with a forward looking agenda with recommendations concerning the rationale, focus, objectives, governance and delivery of enterprise support and inward investment in the region. It was an excellent piece of work.โ€

Richard Kenny, ED Economy and Growth @ Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CA