The Future of Regional Development and Public Investment in Wales, United Kingdom
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The Welsh Government has set an ambitious and innovative path for regional development and public investment – one focused on generating growth and increasing productivity, while also reducing territorial disparities and ensuring the well-being of citizens, now and in the future. Yet, it faces significant challenges, accentuated by limited fiscal decentralisation and changes to public investment financing post-Brexit. This OECD Multi-level Governance Studies report provides the Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities with analysis and recommendations on how to achieve regional development and public investment aims. The report offers insight into how the Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities can increase their fiscal and public investment capacity, and strengthen their governance practices. It stresses that the Welsh Government’s ability to coordinate regional development policy and associated public investment is a determining factor in meeting growth and well-being objectives. This report also proposes a variety of mechanisms to strengthen policy and service delivery at the local level. A case study featuring the challenges and benefits of establishing economic regions in Mid and South West Wales sheds a practical light on the various aspects explored throughout the report.
OECD case study: Considerations for economic regions in Mid Wales and South West Wales
This case study on Mid and South West Wales offers an economic analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of establishing three versus four economic regions. It considers the economic, administrative and institutional capacities of Welsh local authorities, examining their fiscal autonomy in terms of spending, revenue and the need to generate economies of scale. The case study then compares the potential of a Mid and South West Wales model (one region) versus a Mid Wales and South West Wales model (two regions). In doing so, it focuses on such aspects as population, demographics, labour markets, community patterns, gross value added (GVA), deprivation, connectivity and local government spending. Using a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, the advantages, disadvantages, risks and opportunities of both possibilities are highlighted. The case study concludes with recommendations for moving forward when establishing economic regions, certainly in Mid and South West Wales, but more generally as well.
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