The government's review of sub-national economic development and regeneration: key issues

We are now in the midst of another concerted attempt by Government to make sense of and tidy up the sub-national governance of economic development and regeneration. This is a challenging task made all the more difficult by being undertaken in a UK context following a period of uneven devolutionary change and cross-cut by new and existing scales of institutions and spatial policies at the sub-regional, city-regional, regional and pan-regional levels as well as the economic slowdown. The current endeavour has taken the form of the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration led by HM Treasury, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Communities and Local Government department and the consultation Prosperous Places: Taking Forward the Review of Sub National Economic Development and Regeneration (hereafter SNR). We recognise that SNR is emergent 'policy-in-the-making', containing some potentially radical steps for government across a range of geographical levels, and represents a laudable attempt to establish a clearer framework replete with challenging opportunities for RDAs, local authorities and other existing and emergent spatial institutions. Our purpose here is to raise some key issues for debate and reflection as part of the process of addressing sub-national economic development and regeneration policy and governance.