Why Place Must Be at the Heart of Development

Today’s intervention from Andy Burnham adds renewed energy to a long-standing but increasingly urgent conversation: who should shape the future of our places?

At its core, the argument is simple. Decisions about development — from housing and infrastructure to skills and economic growth — are most effective when they are rooted in the places they are intended to serve. Local leaders understand the character, challenges, and opportunities of their areas in a way that centralised systems often cannot replicate.

A Shift in the Narrative

The suggestion that places should have greater control over their own development reflects a broader shift in thinking. For too long, growth has been guided by frameworks that prioritise uniformity over nuance. While consistency has its place, it can come at the cost of local identity, flexibility, and responsiveness.

What we are now seeing is a growing recognition that place-based approaches are not just desirable — they are essential. When local areas are empowered with both the authority and the tools to act, development becomes more than a set of outputs. It becomes something that reflects and reinforces the distinctiveness of communities.

Beyond Devolution for Its Own Sake

This is not simply a case for devolution as an abstract principle. It is about outcomes.

Greater local control has the potential to:

• Deliver housing that responds to genuine local need
• Shape infrastructure that supports long-term, sustainable growth
• Align skills provision with local economies
• Strengthen the connection between communities and decision-making

In short, it allows development to feel owned, rather than imposed.

Turning Momentum into Meaningful Change

While the narrative is gathering pace, the challenge now is how to translate it into action. Empowering places goes beyond transferring powers — it requires a sustained commitment to capacity, capability, and collaboration.

Key questions remain:

• How do we ensure local institutions are equipped to take on greater responsibility?
• How do we balance national priorities with local flexibility?
• How do we make sure communities themselves are active participants in shaping their future?

These are not small questions, but they are necessary ones if this shift is to deliver on its promise.

A Moment of Opportunity

At All About The Place, we welcome the growing consensus that stronger places lead to stronger outcomes. There is a real opportunity here to rethink how development happens in the UK — to move towards a model that is more inclusive, more responsive, and more rooted in the lived realities of people and communities.

The conversation is moving in the right direction. The task now is to ensure that momentum results in meaningful, lasting change — where place is not just acknowledged, but truly put at the heart of decision-making.

Link to Andy Burnham video courtesy of Associated Press