LED Confidential

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.

The UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer put fiscal devolution firmly on the table with her 2026 Mais Lecture, including a road map for sharing national tax revenues with English regions. Does this foreshadow a permanent shift of power, or the familiar business rate retention model in new clothing?  A model of retaining growth in tax yields without clarity on which public service responsibilities move alongside?
Most importantly: what evidence and options should practitioners be assembling to feed into the Autumn Budget, including the role of inclusive growth and the risk of widening divides between mayoral strategic authorities and everywhere else?

In this Espresso Shot episode David and Mike unpack the UK Government’s 25 March 2026 announcements on Local Government Reorganisation in England. These included proposed moves from 44 authorities to 16 unitaries across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and the paused decision on Sussex and Brighton & Hove pending further consultation. They ask: Is this good news, bad news, or indifferent for local economic development and placemaking? And what does it mean when reorganisation lands alongside emergent mayoral / sub‑regional governance, with real risks around delivery capacity, 'shadow' arrangements, and keeping LED priorities visible during transition?

Is AI changing how you do local economic development and placemaking – or just adding noise? In this Espresso Shot episode, David and Mike share real examples of using AI to augment workshop management, support  stakeholder engagement and review business cases, alongside stories of mistranslations and “garbage” syntheses. They explore where AI genuinely augments LED work – and where human judgement, strategic insight and relationship‑building still have to lead.

What happens to local economic development when Green Party councillors and (potentially) mayors become a major force in local government? David and Mike explore the “Green wave” – from housing quality and community ownership to a proposed uplift in local government funding tied to net zero and inclusion – and ask whether our current tools and economic plans are ready for it.