East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward highlights the challenges of creating economic growth that benefits all communities and addresses rising feelings of exclusion and divisiveness. She discusses the formation of an RSA-led Inclusive Growth Commission tasked with exploring long-term, transformative solutions. With a focus on community engagement and fresh thinking, the Commission aims to craft a strategy for lasting positive change across the East Midlands.
Five minutes
The Mayor of the East Midlands describes how an RSA-led initiative is aiming to help craft long-term solutions to address the challenges of (and create lasting positive change for) communities across the region.
From the moment it was formed – and well before my election as its first Mayor in May last year – the new East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) set its sight on one overarching goal: to drive inclusive growth. It’s a goal that is hard to argue with: to grow our economy in ways that include and value the contributions of people and places across the region while benefiting those same people and places.
So many of my conversations with partners highlight how communities within the EMCCA region feel let down and not able to realise their potential, and living and working in the region for many years I’ve seen this myself at first hand. Yet, unsurprisingly, inclusive growth has proved a tough nut to crack. And the cost of failing to realise this goal appears to be rising, as communities that feel locked out from the benefits of growth are drawn to populist promises and polarising narratives.
That’s why I asked the RSA to set up an Inclusive Growth Commission to tackle a series of critical questions: What do we think inclusive growth means for this area, and how will it look and feel 10 or 15 years from now if we get it right? How well do we understand the assets that we have which could make us stand out and bring new investment? What are the root causes behind many of our challenges? How do we realise the opportunity that a Mayoral Combined Authority offers the region, particularly given the commitment to further devolution set out by the new government?
The RSA is uniquely placed to help us with these questions. As chair of the commission, RSA CEO Andy Haldane has given extensive thought to these challenges and has seen how previous programmes have fallen short. He is supported by a first-class team who can reach out to a wealth of talent, knowledge and experience across the Fellowship and beyond. Between us we have assembled a strong body of commissioners bringing a breadth and depth of thinking to the task and offering us a real prospect of transformative change.
I am not interested in a Whitehall view or responses that are cut and pasted from other regions.
As well as answering our questions, there are three key objectives that I’m expecting from the commission. First, I have encouraged them to think long-term and not to get hung up on the latest cycle of policies and programmes. We are not going to see quick fixes to many of our underlying challenges, though of course, I am keen to create momentum and EMCCA is already investing in the region in ways that will support a future Inclusive Growth Strategy. But we need to be realistic about the time it will take to provide our communities with the agency they need to contribute to and benefit from growth. And so the commission has a deliberately long time horizon within which to set its recommendations.
Second, I want to see an independent and challenging view. Some of our current approaches are simply not delivering for many of the communities I was elected to serve. So we desperately need fresh thinking and informed experts who are prepared to take us beyond the status quo. EMCCA was set up to do things differently and I am looking forward to recommendations that spur us and our partners to be innovative and drive lasting system change where it is needed.
Second, I want to see an independent and challenging view. Some of our current approaches are simply not delivering for many of the communities I was elected to serve. So we desperately need fresh thinking and informed experts who are prepared to take us beyond the status quo. EMCCA was set up to do things differently and I am looking forward to recommendations that spur us and our partners to be innovative and drive lasting system change where it is needed.
Finally, it’s critical that the work of the commission is rooted in and speaks to our people and places. I am not interested in a Whitehall view or responses that are cut and pasted from other regions. EMCCA covers a diversity of towns, cities and villages, each playing their part in the rich economic, natural, social and cultural fabric of our place. I want our communities and stakeholders to recognise the picture the commission paints, and to work with us to take ownership of the recommendations. This is why I’m so encouraged that the commissioners are prioritising an understanding of lived experiences and gathering those stories of what it’s really like to live, work and do business here.
The commission has just delivered its interim report, with a full report expected later in the year. I am excited to hear how EMCCA can use its work to shape a groundbreaking strategy to bring about that elusive goal of inclusive growth for our region.
Claire Ward was elected Mayor of the East Midlands in May 2024. From 1997 to 2010, she served as MP for Watford.
This feature first appeared in RSA Journal Issue 1 2025.
