LED Confidential

The UK’s latest healthy life expectancy figures published in Spring 2026 have been described as a watershed moment, and for local economic development they raise uncomfortable questions.
In this Espresso Shot episode, David and Mike explore what falling healthy life expectancy, widening spatial gaps and changing population dynamics mean for the growth assumptions embedded in many local strategies. They ask whether places should still be planning primarily for growth or whether resilience and the prevention economy now need to sit at the heart of LED and placemaking.

In this episode, David and Mike are joined by Dr Glenn Athey to discuss the state of professional practice in local and regional economic development. Using Glenn’s new handbook as a springboard, they explore why delivery capability has become such a binding constraint on place based change, how years of austerity and institutional churn have hollowed out professional capacity, and what today’s practitioners need in order to do the job well. From evidence and judgment to curiosity, stakeholder engagement and getting out from behind the screen, this is a practical conversation about how to build stronger individual and organisational capability for the work ahead.
Access the handbook: https://lredhandbook.com/

With the Devolution and Community Empowerment Act now on the statute book, England’s devolution journey feels more settled but perhaps more uneven.
In this episode, David and Mike ask whether the new three‑tier system of strategic authorities accelerates progress or risks locking large parts of the country into a holding pattern. They explore Foundation Combined Authorities, Integrated Settlements, the under‑examined community empowerment strand of the Act, and what LED professionals can do in places still waiting for powers that may never arrive.

In this Espresso Shot episode, David and Mike  unpack what business and institutional investors may be reading into the 2026 local election results in England at a moment when confidence, continuity and delivery matter more than ever.
They explore whether governance instability is being treated as background democratic noise or as genuine execution risk, how this compares with the importance of traditional project fundamentals, and what LED and placemaking professionals can do to signal continuity through anchor institutions, clear pipelines and credible communication.

This is the second in LEDC’s short run of episodes on AI — focusing on the economic impacts on places and what that means for local skills and growth plans. Drawing on live work on local skills planning,  David and Mike reflect on how uncertain employers remain about how it will impact their recruitment decisions. They explore the spatial dimension: AI may be transformational for places with dense “intelligence functions”, while a small number may host major data / energy infrastructure. But what about the rest? They cover the practical AI adoption strategies for non‑obvious AI “winners” and what’s already visible in local labour markets.