New Report Says Heritage Should Be Treated as Essential Infrastructure to Boost Local Economies

Britain's historic buildings and heritage attractions should be viewed as essential infrastructure rather than simply cultural assets if communities are to unlock long-term economic growth, according to a new report from independent think tank Localis.

The report, What's Past is Prologue – Unlocking the Value of Heritage for Local Economies, argues heritage has a far greater role to play in economic development than is often recognised. 

It calls for a major shift in government policy so that historic environments are treated as drivers of investment, employment, tourism and community wellbeing.

Using the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Stratford-upon-Avon as its principal case study, the report highlights the significant contribution the heritage sector already makes to the UK economy. Heritage generates an estimated £15.3 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) each year, outperforming the domestic sports sector, while also contributing around £29 billion annually in wellbeing benefits for local communities.

However, Localis warns a range of structural challenges is preventing heritage from reaching its full potential. These include a shortage of specialist conservation officers within local authorities, declining traditional building and restoration skills, and a complicated funding system that can make heritage projects difficult to deliver.

The report follows recent findings from the Culture, Heritage and Sport Select Committee, which suggested that refurbishing vacant and under-used historic buildings could provide around 670,000 homes, almost half of the Government's 1.5 million homebuilding target.

To help unlock the sector's full value, Localis recommends introducing heritage-specific guidance within HM Treasury's Green Book so that cultural assets are properly valued in public investment decisions. It also calls for heritage strategies to be embedded within regional growth plans, procurement reforms that strengthen local retrofit businesses, and greater opportunities for communities to take ownership of heritage assets.

Callin McLinden, Head of Research at Localis, said the report was designed to recognise the complexity of heritage policy while producing practical recommendations that support heritage-led economic growth.

Rachael North, Chief Executive of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, welcomed the report, saying heritage should be recognised as enabling infrastructure capable of driving economic growth while strengthening wellbeing, civic pride and social prosperity.

Tony Perks, Deputy Chief Executive of Stratford-on-Avon District Council, added that Stratford's internationally recognised heritage demonstrates how well-managed historic assets can attract visitors, create employment, improve wellbeing and foster a strong sense of pride in place.

The report makes the case that investing in heritage is not simply about preserving the past, it's about creating stronger local economies and more prosperous communities for the future.

Please download the entire report here https://www.localis.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Localis-Whats-Past-is-Prologue-A5-Report-July2026-PRF01a.pdf

One-Size-Fits-All Devolution Could Hold Back Local Business Growth, New Report Warns

As England's devolution agenda continues to gather pace, a new report is warning that a "one-size-fits-all" approach could leave many local economies struggling to reach their full potential.

The report, Everything in its right place: establishing strong organisations and practices for successful devolution, published by the independent think tank Localis in partnership with Local Partnerships, argues that ministers should move beyond simply replicating the Greater Manchester metro mayor model across the country.

Instead, it says devolution must reflect the unique economic realities of different regions if local businesses are to benefit from genuine growth opportunities.

For business owners, investors and employers, the findings could have significant implications.

Many areas of England still lack the strategic powers enjoyed by more established combined authorities. According to Localis, continuing to prioritise these mature devolved regions risks widening economic gaps between different parts of the country and leaving key decisions concentrated in Whitehall rather than in local communities.

The report argues that economic growth strategies should be tailored to local circumstances. While some regions are built around a major city, others rely on networks of towns, rural communities and local supply chains. Applying the same governance model everywhere may overlook these differences and limit the ability of local leaders to support business growth effectively.

For local firms, better-targeted devolution could mean improved transport links, more responsive skills programmes, stronger infrastructure planning and investment decisions that reflect local economic needs rather than national priorities.

One of the report's most eye-catching recommendations is a call for greater fiscal devolution. This could eventually include giving strategic authorities more control over locally raised revenues and even exploring options involving income tax or VAT distribution.

Supporters argue that greater financial autonomy would allow local leaders to invest more directly in projects that stimulate business activity, create jobs and attract inward investment.

The report also highlights the importance of clarity as local government reorganisation continues across England. With new unitary councils being created, Localis says responsibilities between councils and strategic authorities must be clearly defined before new structures become entrenched.

For businesses, this matters because uncertainty over who controls planning, transport, economic development and investment decisions can slow progress and create unnecessary barriers.

Localis senior researcher Sandy Forsyth said devolution should provide regions with the flexibility to respond to their own economic circumstances rather than being constrained by top-down structures.

The message for local businesses is clear: successful devolution isn't just about changing governance. It's about ensuring local economies have the tools, powers and resources needed to drive growth on their own terms. If policymakers get that balance right, businesses across England could be among the biggest winners.

https://www.localis.org.uk

Government must work to avoid widening north-south divide in decentralised employment support, Localis warns

The government must ensure plans to decentralise employment support to help get Britain back to work don’t open up a north-south divide in regional economic performance, a new report from Localis advises.

The warning is contained in a new research report from the think-tank entitled ‘Guarantee of potential: place-based employment support within a new local policy ecosystem’ which analyses how councils and combined authorities should rise to the challenge of delivering the biggest reforms to employment support for a generation and help achieve a national long-term target of an 80% national employment rate.

The report authors claim although northern areas which have higher unemployment and levels of economic inactivity have used the power of their devolution deals to address sub-regional economic disparities, when southern counties with stronger economies and increased capacity implement their own devolved powers, there's a risk these regional gaps may widen.

Similarly, if revised funding formulas or political attention favour the country’s big cities, coastal, rural and post-industrial parts of the country risk having their unique employment support needs overlooked, the study points out.

Localis investigated in ‘Guarantee of Potential’, how decentralization of employment might be advantageously used for the benefit of a distinctly localist approach to tackling worklessness and in line with the government’s agenda for devolution, public service integration and commissioning reform.

Report author and senior Localis researcher, Callin McLinden, told That's Businesss: “With record levels of economic inactivity and expedited devolution frameworks, local government is being asked to tackle worklessness with more responsibility, but lacks either sufficient capacity or resources to do so with confidence.

“This report sets out a practical roadmap for transforming fragmented employment services into coherent, integrated, and place-based support systems; linking health, skills, and jobs in a locally tailored but nationally coordinated framework achieved through strategic design and procurement.

"But without proper investment in local capacity, long-term funding certainty, and shared governance between Whitehall and localities, the potential to reduce worklessness risks becoming perpetually stunted.”

Ayden Sims, CEO, AKG, added: “This report arrives at a pivotal moment, as the UK grapples with persistent economic inactivity and the need for more inclusive growth and offers a compelling case for enhanced local ownership, not as a theoretical ideal, but as a practical and necessary shift in how we design, fund, and deliver employment services.

“The findings underscore the value in empowering local authorities and strategic partnerships to lead the charge in tackling worklessness, particularly in communities that have been historically less well supported via previous approaches. It also flags the importance of having this future support strike the right balance between local empowerment and trust, alongside a consistent national offer, underpinned by strong accountability frameworks.

“What stands out most is the report’s emphasis on integration, between employment, health, and skills and the recognition that good work is not just an economic outcome, but a determinant of wellbeing. The insights drawn from trailblazer regions and emerging local models show that when local leaders are given the tools and trust to innovate, alongside the practical support to ensure their visions can be realised and delivered, they can build services that are more responsive, more inclusive, and ultimately more effective.”

https://www.localis.org.uk

Localis response to Budget 2024

Localis CEO Jonathan Werran, said: “This epochal Budget, the first by a Labour Government in fourteen years, should give place-based policy a role from central casting in delivering the chancellor’s priority calls for economic growth, new infrastructure and the restoration of public services.

“The increased powers and setting of trailblazer deals as default to the combined authorities of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands as first tier stars of devolution further impresses the desired mayoral-led direction of travel for marshalling local growth and reshaping local public services in line with the government’s national missions.

“What would make all the difference from the previous government’s levelling up agenda is the degree and extent to which the expenditure of political capital will realise this government’s vision of English devolution in this parliament, and how local growth plans are made to fit like a Russian doll within a modern national industrial strategy and wider constitutional reform.

“The Budget offers an anticipated triage of immediate resourcing crises facing councils with real terms funding increases of £1.3bn in grant funding and £600m extra money earmarked for social care. A 1.5% real terms uplift from this year in day-to-day spending suggests a tight outlook for local public finances, however, and for surety of local government’s revenue financing we will have to look beyond to the next set of spending reviews, and the chance to realise at long last the promise of multi-year settlements.

“By contrast, capital funding is an easier topic for chancellors to debate, and although the end to ‘tournament financing’ of individual bidding pots in favour of single place budgets is much to be welcomed, questions may well remain over how measures in this year’s Budget will unlock the sizable private and institutional investment in all types of infrastructure - digital, energy, housing and transport - required to deliver radical place transformation.

“In this sense too, the £500m announcement to top up the Affordable Homes Programme in 2025/26 to £5bn and full council retention of right to buy revenues are good totemic announcements, but addressing the scale of the financing and resourcing for the volume and pace of new builds we urgently need is as important as any planning reforms and support to the planning profession.

“Finally, is this a Budget for high streets? Our town and city centres openly display the strength of the links between economic and social prosperity in our localities. The promise of permanently lower business rates from 2026/27, and more immediately from next year 40% relief as support for the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors is one step in the right direction for securing the foundational local economy, as is support against the scourge of shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.”

www.localis.org.uk