The UK2070 Papers – Series 2

In February of this year, as part of our Final Report, the UK2070 Commission created a 10-Point Plan to tackle the regional inequalities that have blighted the UK for many decades. Subsequent to publishing Make No Little Plans – Acting At Scale For A Fairer And Stronger Future the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has transformed all of our lives, but has also highlighted even further the need for Government to ‘think big’ if economic performance and social conditions are to be improved across the UK.

In October 2020 the UK2070 Commission plans to publish a report to Government proposing a plan with coherent priorities for how to carry out the Government’s stated aim of ‘levelling-up’ the UK economy. The UK2070 Commission is pleased to have received a great deal of support for this initiative, including a range of think-pieces, which we are choosing to issue as the UK2070 Papers.

The first edition was published in August, with the September edition published today. Series Two has nine papers focussing on the impact of COVID-19 on the future of the UK, including:

• An assessment of how COVID-19 could drive changes to local government funding and the ongoing balance between centrally-raised and locally-raised revenues;
• Analysis of both the higher education and further education sectors, both for the vital role both play in addressing regional inequalities, and for how they must now be more related to their local economy seeing as ‘place’ will matter more, and not less, after the pandemic, and;
• Discussion of the impact of COVID-19 on social housing provision and the wider housing market; on the construction industry’s supply chain; and perspectives from Wales and the East Midlands.

To read The UK2070 Papers – Series 2, please click here.

The UK2070 Papers – Series 4

In October 2020 the UK2070 Commission published a report to Government proposing a plan with coherent priorities for how to carry out the Government’s stated aim of ‘levelling-up’ the UK economy.  The UK2070 Commission was pleased to have received a great deal of support for this initiative, including a range of think-pieces, which we are choosing to issue as the UK2070 Papers, this Series Four features six papers focussing on the impact of COVID-19 on the future of the UK.

• The first edition was published in August 2020
• a second edition was published in September 2020
• with a third edition published in February 2021, and features nine papers

To read The UK2070 Papers – Series 4, please click here.

The UK2070 Papers – Series 5

This report presents the post-COVID scenario modelling work from the UK2070 Futures team at the University of Cambridge.  The aim of the working paper is to understand new ways in spatial planning to connect two national policy imperatives: first, to accelerate post-Covid recovery; second, to get the UK back on track with sustainable and vigorous long-term growth.

At the time of writing, there is a major debate about the implications of these two respective policies and how best to ensure that there is a real and substantive connection between them. The paper makes a clear case that by integrating the two through spatial planning, the cities and towns in the UK can make a critical contribution to putting the UK back to a sustainable and green path of growth.

Research lead : Professor Ying Jin

To read The UK2070 Papers – Series 5, please click here.

For a higher resolution version of the report, please use the following links:

High Resolution Report

High Resolution Maps

High Resolution Appendix

The UK2070 Papers – Series 6

The Crook Public Service Fellowships at the University of Sheffield was established by Emeritus Professor ADH Crook. It provides opportunities for future leaders in public and not-for-profit sectors to immerse themselves in a collaborative project on a pressing policy issue or challenge – taking short periods away from their day job.

Each year, the Crook Public Service Fellowships focus on a particular theme that aligns with the strategic priorities and academic strengths of the University.

The recent Crook Fellowship Programme (University of Sheffield) centred around four key themes of the UK2070 Agenda for Action:

• Greater devolution of powers and funding including creating four new super-regional economic development agencies.

• Action to harness new technologies and strengthen local economies.

• A spatial plan to guide the future development of the whole of the UK.

• Long-term investment through a new National Renewal Fund to rebalance the economy over a 25-year period.

The Fellowship has given permission to publish two of the papers as part of Series 6 of the UK2070 papers.