Investing in regional equality: four English examples

Some international cities have innovated to successfully overcome significant social and economic inequalities in recent years. City-REDI, University of Birmingham, in partnership with CIPFA, has sought to understand whether English local authorities could emulate this success.

Using the nine key success factors identified in a previous report, "Investing in regional equality: lessons from four cities", we examined the experiences of four different areas in England: Dudley, Enfield, South Yorkshire and Tees Valley. We wanted to know which of the nine success factors were applicable in the English context, whether they were being used to their full potential and what barriers local authorities were facing.

All nine success factors identified from international experience are in evidence in England. We found examples of innovative practice across all four areas. We also identified a tenth success factor that appears to be important in England: Transferable learning and knowledge exchange.

Despite these good examples, implementation of some success factors has been more challenging in England than in the international city-regions explored in previous work. In particular, local areas have struggled to invest for the long term and to conduct effective monitoring and evaluation.