Growth Deals Beyond the Cities

By 2021, over £6bn of new funding from the UK and devolved governments has been announced for areas in the devolved nations for growth deals. As a large number of these deal areas are outside of cities and their economies predominantly focus on rural sectors, this seminar aimed to share and discuss knowledge, experiences and good practice on growth deals in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

The event provided a unique opportunity to understand the overall context and learning from these deals, hear first-hand from senior local government officials involved in designing and now delivering the growth deals and engage with approaches to project appraisal, monitoring and evaluation.

The seminar’s objectives were:

• To update on city and growth deals policy across the UK

• To share and discuss knowledge, experiences and good practice on growth deals beyond the cities

• To engage with approaches to project appraisal, monitoring and evaluation

• To identify the key questions, issues and responses
  
  

The event involved over 70 participants from the public, private and civic sectors from across the UK.

Slides from the presentations are available to download below.

Further comment and feedback are also available @CURDSNewcastle and #growthdeals.

Tuesday 16 November 2021

Programme

13:00 Introduction and Aims of the Workshop
(Professor Andy Pike, CURDS, Newcastle University, and Emily O’Hare, Cities and Local Growth Unit, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Session 1: Growth Deals in Context‌‌

(Chair: Emily O’Hare, Cities and Local Growth Unit, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

13:10 Growth Deals - The Policy Context
(Akwasi Mensah, Cities and Local Growth Unit, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

13:30 Learning from Deals and Deal-Making  
(Professor Andy Pike, CURDS, Newcastle University)

13:50 Participant questions, feedback and discussion

14:15 Break

Session 2: Learning from Scotland and Wales
(Chair: Akwasi Mensah, Cities and Local Growth Unit, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
 

14:30 Borderlands Growth Deal
(Jane Meek, Corporate Director of Economic Development, Carlisle City Council)
 

14:50 Ayrshire Growth Deal
(Allison Craig, Strategic Manager, Ayrshire Growth Deal)
 

15:10 North Wales Growth Deal
(Alwen Williams, Portfolio Director, North Wales Growth Deal)
 

15:30 Participant questions, feedback and discussion

15:45 Break

Session 3: Monitoring and evaluating

(Chair: Professor Andy Pike, CURDS, Newcastle University)
 

16:00 Project Appraisal, Monitoring, and Evaluation for City and Growth Deals
(Professor Graeme Roy, University of Glasgow)

 16:20 City and Growth Deal Monitoring and Evaluation

(Emily O’Hare,Cities and Local Growth Unit, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Session 4: Closing panel: sharing good practice and local learning

(Chair: Professor Andy Pike, CURDS, Newcastle University)

 
16:40 Participant questions, feedback and panel discussion: Jane Meek (Borderlands Growth Deal), Allison Craig (Ayrshire Growth Deal), Alwen Williams (North Wales Growth Deal), Kimberley Daly (Scottish Government), Emily O’Hare (Cities and Local Growth Unit, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) and representative from Welsh Government (invited).

17:15 Wrap-up and next steps (Andy Pike)