The Evolving Art of Place Leadership
We live in an era of profound change.
The erosion of the post-war order, coupled with economic upheaval and ongoing pressure on public finances, presents deep challenges for our cities and regions.
However, beneath the noise of this instability lies a powerful counter-current: a groundswell of empowered leadership at the local and regional level that is actively shaping a more hopeful future.
This article, based on comments presented at a dinner during a recent place leadership conference organised by the LPIP Hub exploring Capability and Capacity Building in Place Leadership, lays out the policy approaches common to those leading this renaissance, based on nine years of work with existing and emerging place leaders across all regions of the UK and beyond.
Generous collaboration and shared power
““Local government should act as the orchestrator of generous and generative collaborations” ”
The days when local authorities were expected to act alone are fading. The places that are progressing most rapidly towards renewal are those embracing ambitious and generous partnerships – and are being rewarded with greater responsibility as a result. While political leadership remains a vital element in the local landscape, providing a democratic mandate, convening power and vision casting role, other agencies including the private sector, universities and civil society also have much to contribute, bringing fresh creativity, energy and investment.
Maturing governance in this way requires a shift in mindset by local officers and elected representatives; it takes humility to make space for others. A similar change in mindset is also required by the other parties involved. Advanced place leadership requires all parties learning to lead beyond their own organisations’ immediate interests to achieve a collective ambition. Far from diminishing local power, sharing it in this way amplifies the potential for transformation, tapping into resources not otherwise available to councils. As Gabriella Gomez-Mont, former CEO of Mexico City Lab puts it, “local government should act as the orchestrator of generous and generative collaborations”.
An essential enabler of this type of collaboration is the development of shared narratives. Different parties may have different priorities and ambitions they hope to achieve through the collaboration, which may have historically pulled them in separate directions. A well-crafted narrative will weave these together, finding points of commonality and complementarity, enabling the alignment of effort and investments.
These narratives must be authentic – how many local economic strategies assert that their area will soon be the UK’s centre for whichever emerging technology is currently hot, without any real connection to that sector? The best strategic narratives tell authentic stories which link a place’s past with a hopeful vision for its future. Stoke-on-Trent is a good example here. Automation and globalisation saw the region’s once dominant ceramics sector reduce significantly during the late twentieth century. Where a story of loss and economic decline was becoming entrenched, place leaders in Stoke-on-Trent have sought to reframe the story, investing in ways to connect the region’s rich industrial heritage to future-facing advanced manufacturing applications in the space sector and high-performance computing.
Strategic use of public procurement
“Every purchasing decision is an opportunity to shape the future.”
Public procurement is often seen as ‘a necessary evil’. However, pioneering place leaders are recognising that public sector contracts – worth close to £400 billion a year nationally – are powerful levers for delivering strategic policy goals. Indeed, with public finances under continued pressure, it is imperative to invest these monies in ways which drive operational productivity in local services and improve outcomes. Every purchasing decision is an opportunity to shape the future.
The additional flexibilities in the Transforming Procurement Act (2023) and the focus on mission-driven procurement by the Government are illustrative of the rising rediscovery of procurement as a policy tool, though in reality, the barriers have always been more cultural than legislative. Initiatives like the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC) and Cardiff Capital Region’s INFUSE (Innovative Future Services) programme are playing a vital role in accelerating this behaviour change by empowering place leaders to transform their everyday spending into fuel for innovation, which both improves local services and creates new commercial opportunities for local businesses.
One key lesson from these initiatives is the value of strategic planning and pre-market engagement. By starting well in advance of critical decision points, clearly defining the desired outcomes (rather than prescribing the mechanism) and engaging early with suppliers, place leaders can pull the market towards their most pressing challenges, stimulating private investment in R&D and catalysing new solutions. Using this approach, Cardiff and Vale Health Board, in partnership with Cardiff Capital Region, inspired the development of a single-use endoscope to tackle a backlog of procedures.
With 30,000 people on endoscopy waiting lists in Wales and waits of up to 55 weeks for non-urgent procedures and 44 weeks for urgent ones, place leaders in Cardiff and Vale laid out an open innovation challenge, inviting the market to propose a solution. The result was a low-carbon, single-use device which can be used at the bedside, significantly accelerating the delivery of procedures and getting people out of the hospital faster. Cardiff Capital Region provided support to define the need and bring it to market, and later funding to test and validate the preferred product with users. This cleared the path to procurement at scale by local and national NHS services, stimulating private sector investment in the solution and hopes for a national rollout, with benefits for health outcomes and local growth.
Place-based impact investment
“With an average of £4 billion in savings for every 100,000 people in the UK, and approximately £300 billion held in ISAs nationally, there is a vast pool of capital that could be channelled towards local renewal and regeneration.”
The UK is experiencing a resurgence of purpose-driven capital, where institutions, businesses and individuals are making investments which aim to deliver both a commercial return and a social benefit. This includes the trend among local authority and university pension schemes to target investments at projects and programmes within their regions – for example, the capitalisation of Northern Gritstone and Midlands Mindforge, which seek to increase venture capital investment into firms based in the North and Midlands, respectively.
As well as institutional investors, there is also a quiet but radical movement at the grassroots level. Analysis by the Impact Investing Institute illustrates the untapped potential for ordinary citizens and local businesses to drive local economic growth and prosperity in their areas. With an average of £4 billion in savings for every 100,000 people in the UK, and approximately £300 billion held in ISAs nationally, there is a vast pool of capital that could be channelled towards local renewal and regeneration. At present, this capital is invested in national or international funds. Imagine the transformative impact if more of these resources were directed towards projects that generate both social and financial returns in local areas.
The maturing of local and regional governance through strategic collaboration and alignment of resources outlined above is an enabler of these kinds of place-based impact investments. Places which can demonstrate robust governance and good stewardship of public funds give investors’ confidence to partner in more ambitious schemes. Intermediaries like Abundance are creating the infrastructure to connect place leaders and community-based investors. Their Community Municipal Investments (CMIs) enable individuals with as little as £5, and larger institutional social investors to lend money to councils to accelerate the delivery of local green and social projects. To date, Abundance has raised over £150 million for pioneering green businesses and councils all over the country – many of which have gone on to raise hundreds of millions more on the back of that initial capital.
Elsewhere, Green Pastures, a social enterprise with a vision to end homelessness, has raised capital from ordinary individuals to provide people in need with homes and support. Since it was founded in Southport in 1997, Green Pastures has housed more than 20,000 people across the UK and currently has £49 million invested, offering investors a return of up to 5% annually on their capital.
Looking Ahead: Agility, adaptability, and long-term stewardship
“Real impact takes time but lasts generations.”
In these times of rapid change and uncertainty, the ability to adapt and respond to evolving circumstances is paramount. Local Growth Plans and other strategies must be designed to allow local communities to flourish in any of a range of plausible future scenarios. Yet, this agility must be balanced with a patient, long-term perspective, recognising that real impact takes time but lasts generations. Transformational place leadership is often about faithful dedication to stewardship of the places we serve over many years – a ‘long obedience in the same direction’. By embracing generosity in our collaborations, reimagining public procurement as investments in innovation, and leaning into the potential of place-based impact investment, our places can navigate the challenges ahead and create a more resilient, inclusive, and prosperous future for all.
In a pivotal time for place leadership, Recurve is your partner for navigating change and maximising opportunity.
With 20 years experience working across all levels of government and internationally on ecosystem mobilisation, public sector innovation and place-based investment, our team has the insight and expertise needed to help your organisation, partnership and/or region to rise and thrive in the face of change.
Email us at hello@recurve.solutions to discuss how we can empower you to lead your place to resilience, prosperity and renewal.
This blog was originally published on 14 May 2025 on the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub. Sam is a member of the LPIP Hub Board.