Our vital role in a decade of renewal

Cornwall has much to offer the UK's local growth agenda but risks being sidelined for government investment in favour of city regions. That would be a strategic mistake, argues Lord Hutton

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TUCKED away in the background papers of June's Spending Review was a guidance note for Mayoral Strategic Authorities on how to develop Local Growth Plans.

Economic growth is the 'number one' mission of this government, it says, and England's Mayors will be 'crucial partners' in achieving that mission.

It adds: “Local Growth Plans will be the foundation of this government's growth mission, ensuring the benefits of a growing and future-facing economy are felt across the country.”

So far so good - if you have a Mayor.

But what if, like Cornwall, you don't?

Cornwall isn’t part of a combined authority and doesn’t have a directly elected Mayor. And yet, the guidance offers little reassurance - and hardly any mention - of how non-mayoral areas will be supported in shaping their own economic futures.

The risk is clear: by accident or design, Cornwall could quietly slide off the government's local growth radar.

And that’s not just an administrative oversight. It’s a strategic mistake.

Devolution is a journey. But the current Local Growth framework seems to treat mayoral status as a threshold to serious engagement. That's unfair. Areas still negotiating their devolution path - by choice, by complexity, or by capacity - shouldn’t be penalised simply for not being a Strategic Authority.