In this episode of Placecast, presenter Nicola Headlam is joined by Glenn Athey, a freelance consultant and LPIP Fellow with over 31 years of experience in economic development. Glenn brings a forensic and refreshingly candid lens to one of the most persistent problems in UK public policy: why decades of place-based economic interventions have repeatedly failed to close regional inequalities — and what we might do differently.
Drawing on his work across regional development agencies, local enterprise partnerships and international case studies from Bilbao to Chile, Glenn argues that the UK’s stop-start approach to economic policy — driven by political cycles, chronic underfunding and a loss of institutional memory — is the root cause of so little progress. But this is far from a counsel of despair. Glenn points to practical solutions, the importance of private sector leverage, and the quiet power of long-term capacity building. He also discusses his newly published handbook for local and regional economic development practitioners, a resource designed to help the next generation of economic developers learn from the past rather than reinvent the wheel.
Guest Speaker
Dr Glenn Athey
Managing Director, My Local Economy
Dr Glenn Athey has 30 years of experience in regional economic development, including a PhD from the University of Glasgow, which was part-sponsored by Scottish Enterprise.
Glenn has wide-ranging experience in local and regional economic analysis, with specific expertise in labour market research, intelligence, and demand analysis, and in their application to policy, strategy, and delivery plans. He specialises in evidence-based policy, from economic analysis to specifying and articulating policy options and delivery mechanisms.
Glenn was Senior Labour Market Economist for Futureskills Scotland (part of the skills directorate at SE, and also working with HIE) 2001 to 2004, Head of Enterprise Strategy and Policy at London Development Agency 2004-2006, Head of Research at The Centre for Cities 2006-2008, Director of Research and Intelligence at the East of England Development Agency 2008 to 2011, and Executive Director of Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP 2012-2013, and Principal Consultation for Regions, Cities and Local Economies at Cambridge Econometrics 2020-22.
Glenn currently runs a specialist consultancy for economic development policy, strategies and advice at mylocaleconomy.org
Host
Dr Nicola Headlam
Dr Nicola Headlam has over 20 years of experience working across all aspects of the multi-helix innovation system, including central and local government, civil society and campaigning, academic research and knowledge mobilisation, and industry. Along the way, she has honed her expertise in urban and regional subnational economic development, the roles of government in shaping place, and in utilising data and evidence for transformation.
In 2024, she became a freelance economic advisor on the role of leadership and partnerships, urban and living lab forms for research, the future of cities and foresighting methods, urban transformations, place-branding and urban regeneration and the spatial consequences of public policy.
View Nicola’s LinkedIn Profile
Transcript
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Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this analysis post are those of the author and not necessarily those of City-REDI or the University of Birmingham.
Generative AI was used to generate parts of the blog using the transcript from the podcast.