A regional regeneration index to track socioeconomic ‘Levelling Up’

This project will construct an annual index and a real-time dashboard which track regional inequality in the UK.

Reducing regional inequalities is crucial in tackling the persistent inequalities in the UK, which hold back both economic growth and social-wellbeing. Inequalities in income, wealth and health have a strong geographic dimension and vulnerable groups tend to be concentrated in more deprived areas.

The Levelling Up White Paper proposed a range of policies aimed at reducing regional inequalities. However, existing indices and dashboards are either complete or misleading, lacking a robust conceptual framework or required level of granularity. This limits the ability of the government and wider public to measure the impact of actions to reduce inequalities between areas.

This project will build an annual Regional Regeneration Index (RRI) that measures living standards and well-being at a regional, local and household level. It will also build a dashboard that combines economic and social indicators to monitor changes at local levels in real time. The aim is to arrive at a single headline value of regeneration that is transparent and can be compared over time and across different areas.

The research team have three objectives:

• Create a robust evidence base for regional and local needs and the potential for regeneration.
• Evaluate policies aimed at addressing geographic inequalities.
• Inform the design of policies for vulnerable groups and improve policymaking at national, regional, and local levels.

The RRI and dashboard will be constructed following international best practice. Data sources will include several established surveys as well as ONS national statistics; the collection will occur at the finest possible spatial scale. Machine learning methods will be used to aggregate the grouped data into the overall index.

The research team will evaluate existing policies and simulate the effects of potential interventions. The focus will be on clustering effects in Leeds and Bradford, connectivity in less densely populated UK cities and suburban areas, and three coastal areas.

The research team will work closely with decision makers in HM Treasury, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities during the development of the RRI and dashboard. They will also develop their connections with the governments of the three devolved nations and regional and local government in England.