Report launch webinar: “Resetting the South East – Levelling up after Brexit, Climate Change and COVID” – Tuesday 22nd March from 11.00 a.m. to 12 noon
As one of only three regions of the country – the others being London and the East of England – to be net contributors to the Exchequer, the role of the South East region in advancing the levelling up agenda for national renewal remains pivotal.
As the bastion of many of the country’s export-driven growth sectors, the region will be central to hopes of attaining long-term national economic recovery.
However, despite the surface prosperity, the south east contains pockets of deprivation, especially in coastal areas, that are as in need of urgent fixing as anywhere else in the country. So in a sense there is a real need to disrupt existing assumptions about the Levelling Up agenda and the south east’s journey in navigating its post-pandemic recovery on every level and stage: local, sub-regional and national.
Additionally, there are vital investment cases to be made across the south east for public service reform as well as economic growth if we are indeed to champion the region as a national strategic asset in the mutual and interdependent goals of:
- supporting ‘Levelling Up’ to increase national productivity and rebalance regional economies;
- leading ‘Global Britain’ for outward trade and investment;
- driving ‘Net Zero’ clean growth ambitions
Localis has investigated the role of the South East region, and what is necessary for its constituent local authorities to deliver – individually and collectively – this multi-layered and ambitious set of environmental, economic and social transformations.
Join us from 11.00 to 12.00 on Tuesday 22nd March for a webinar to debate what, after publication of the white paper and in the light of Localis’s analysis, what Levelling Up should mean for councils across the South East.
Speakers will include:
- Cllr Susan Brown, leader, Oxford City Council
- Michael Burton, editorial director, The Municipal Journal
- Cllr Nicolas Heslop, chair South East Councils
- Professor Tony Travers, director LSE London
- Jonathan Werran, chief executive, Localis (chair)
To book your place, register here via Eventbrite