Growth that improves life chances
The world is changing faster than ever before – thousands of times faster in the fourth industrial revolution than in the first.
Across the UK, councils are grappling with the challenge: how to deliver meaningful economic growth that improves residents’ life chances.
That a key priority of local government should be to spur and lead place-based growth, and that it is the only arm of government capable of building genuinely inclusive economic ecosystems, is proven by councils around the country, including ours in Hammersmith & Fulham.
On taking office in 2014, we pivoted to a new economic strategy focused on the industries defining the coming decades: science, technology, engineering, maths – STEM –medicine and media. This was not just an economic bet; it was a social commitment to ensure local people, especially young people, can access emerging opportunities.
In 2016, we set out our vision of building Hammersmith & Fulham into an ‘innovation borough’ and a global economic hotspot. A year later, we launched the White City Innovation District, in partnership with Imperial College London, as the epicentre of what we envisaged would become a broader ‘WestTech’ corridor.
We defined our approach as ‘entrepreneurial municipal government’, rooted in agility and creativity.
We brought together businesses, academia and the council – combining soft powers to convene and build consensus alongside our hard powers on planning, placemaking, infrastructure development and skills.
We coalesced people around a common vision of a localised industrial strategy, now known as Upstream London.
The results? Since 2017, Upstream London has attracted £6 billion in high-growth investment and curated more than 17,000 STEM jobs. We’re number one in London for economic growth.
But if growth is to last, it must be inclusive. That conviction drove our development of the Pathway Bond, a first-of-its-kind initiative bringing innovative businesses, educators and the council together to create routes from classroom to career – so every young person, whatever their background, can find a place in the industries of the future.
One sixth-form student, Ely Hyman, recently joined us in Parliament to reflect on how access to researchers and entrepreneurs in our innovation district helped build his confidence and clarity about his future.
Through the Pathway Bond, he’s gained work experience with cutting-edge biotech firms, meeting people from whose career paths he can learn. Ely’s story demonstrates how practical exposure shifts opportunity from the abstract to the tangible.
The principle that talent, not background, determines who progresses is at the heart of our approach. Local councils are uniquely positioned to connect business expertise, institutional influence and community insight, making inclusion the foundation of long-term economic success.
The question is not whether we can influence economic outcomes, but how decisively we choose to do so. Growth that excludes is fragile. Growth that includes – shared prosperity – is transformative.
Where local authorities set a clear mission, adapt planning, mobilise partnerships and put inclusion at the centre, growth can be measurable and lasting.
For more than a decade, that’s been our experience in Hammersmith & Fulham, and the best is still to come.
- See www.lbhf.gov.uk. See also ‘A force for growth’.