A quiet but important shift is taking place across England’s combined authorities. As the first wave of 10-year Local Growth Plans rolls out, the familiar language of “economic growth” is being rewritten. Where past strategies focused on productivity and competitiveness, the new ones talk about opportunity, wellbeing, and inclusion.
When combined authorities were first created in 2015, their mission was clear: drive up economic performance. Ten years on, the goal has evolved. Growth still matters, but the route to it has changed.
The Labour government’s renewed focus on growth has clearly set the tone. Ministers have been unambiguous: every tier of government, from the Treasury to local authorities, must be able to show how its plans drive growth. But what’s striking is how combined authorities are interpreting that mandate. Rather than simply doubling down on productivity, many are expanding the definition of growth itself, framing it as something broader, more human, and rooted in the conditions that allow people and places to thrive.
What Are Local Growth Plans?
Local Growth Plans are long-term, 10-year frameworks for regional prosperity. Led by Mayoral Combined Authorities, they set out each region’s priorities for using devolved powers and funding to build productivity and opportunity in ways that reflect local strengths and ambitions.
They’re also a tool for collaboration, spelling out where local and central government can work together to add real value. Each plan is grounded in regional assets and informed by the principles of the national Industrial Strategy.
In short, these plans aren’t delivery checklists. They’re blueprints for how places grow, and they mark a new phase in England’s devolution journey.
The New Perspective
The first generation of combined authorities earned their reputation by building things: transport networks, regeneration zones, and investment funds. Greater Manchester’s 2017 Growth Plan, for instance, led with flagship projects such as airport expansion and city-centre redevelopment as symbols of renewal.
The new plans tell a different story. They start with people, not projects. Economic success, they argue, depends on strong social foundations: skills, health, care, and community participation. Growth remains the goal, but its meaning has expanded.
Partly this is practical. Years of fiscal constraint mean authorities can’t just buy growth; it has to be found locally. But it’s also philosophical: a recognition that productivity doesn’t thrive without good work, decent housing, and healthy communities. The new plans read less like investment prospectuses and more like social blueprints.
Inclusive Growth in Practice
Nowhere is this clearer than in the East Midlands Combined County Authority’s Opportunity Escalator – a framework that threads inclusion through the heart of economic strategy. Only a year into its existence, EMCCA under Mayor Claire Ward has built inclusion into the core of its economic vision. Her plan shows that people should be able to move up through the local economy via education, training, and good work, supported by employers and public institutions alike.
EMCCA explicitly links the Escalator to productivity, arguing that tackling inequality, poor health, and low skills is itself the route to a stronger regional economy. It marks a decisive break from the older “growth first, inclusion later” logic that defined earlier deals.
The East Midlands is not alone. Across the country, the new 10-year plans reveal a clear pattern being adopted by those who started their devolution journey earlier.
Burnham’s Greater Manchester now frames growth through the lens of a “wellbeing economy”, linking health, skills and net zero as the three pillars of productivity. The North East embeds “good work” and “local value” into its investment criteria, borrowing from community wealth-building principles.
Together, these plans signal a wider maturation of the devolution story. Combined authorities are no longer just economic engines; they are shaping the social conditions in which growth can happen.
The Second Generation of Devolution
If the first decade of combined authorities was about proving they could deliver growth, the next will be about showing they can sustain it through inclusion.
A few areas have already shown they can turn early momentum into lasting change, but many others still have something to prove. This second generation of devolution is defined by three shifts.
First, growth is being reframed as social infrastructure, which is built not only on roads and rail but on health, education, and care systems that enable people to participate fully in economic life.
Second, the model of leadership is changing: combined authorities are moving from funders to integrators, forging partnerships with universities, NHS trusts, and major employers who are now seen as co-investors in inclusion.
And third, growth is becoming a question of legitimacy. To maintain public trust and justify deeper devolution, combined authorities need to demonstrate not just efficiency but fairness.
The Challenge Ahead
The ambition is big, but the delivery will be hard. “Inclusive growth” is easy to write down but difficult to measure. The Treasury still looks at gross value added, while the most meaningful indicators like belonging, wellbeing and opportunity resist neat quantification. Funding also remains fragmented. Most authorities depend on short-term, ring-fenced pots that don’t suit long-term social investment.
The next test for combined authorities won’t be whether they can deliver growth, but whether they can redefine it. It takes courage to invest in childcare, mental health, or adult education instead of shiny infrastructure that is more tangible to voters demanding change. But these are the true engines of resilience, and the path to long-term, sustainable growth.
If this new generation of Local Growth Plans succeeds, England’s regions could move beyond growth that’s theoretical or uneven, towards growth that feels shared – social as well as economic.
Local plans, national influence
The shift also challenges the traditional orthodoxy.
For years, national growth policy has been designed in London and measured through Treasury spreadsheets. Local Growth Plans are quietly rewriting those rules. The next phase of devolution is showing that the real drivers of prosperity, such as skills, health, and inclusion, can’t be delivered from Whitehall alone.
If ministers are serious about a “whole-nation” growth mission, they’ll need to let go of old definitions and trust local places to define what success looks like.
