LED Confidential

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.

In this episode, David and Mike are joined by Claire Ward, the first Mayor of the East Midlands Combined County Authority, to explore what it really takes to lead a new devolved English region through its first term. She reflects on how newer Combined Authorities differ from the earlier Greater Manchester / West Midlands experience, and building institutions at pace across four constituent authorities as powers, structures and expectations accelerate. They cover how to create a region‑wide narrative and shared priorities, what first‑term success looks like in tangible delivery terms,and why issues like integrated settlements, visitor levies, and broader fiscal devolution matter for shifting to a more flexible, locally‑shaped resource envelope. Mayor Claire discusses the importance of coterminous responsibilities across public services (and the practical challenges when footprints don’t align), collaborations with other mayors, and why better local data is essential if devolution is to drive genuinely place‑specific policy and delivery.