Significant central government support will unlock the ability of England’s mayors to deliver on complex missions such as a preventing ill-health according to a new paper in Regional Studies.
Researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of Bath explored existing literature and analysed interviews with 132 influential professionals in urban development to investigate how elected mayors could deliver on mission-oriented policies. They specifically looked at how mayors can create healthier urban places as part of the TRUUD (Tackling the Root Causes of Unhealthy Urban Development) programme to tackle non-communicable diseases.
In the context of uncertain times and in a complex system of governance, they found that elected mayors were in a strong position to deliver on government missions but made five recommendations for increased powers and funding to achieve this.
As ‘place leaders’, elected mayors have the potential to contribute to ‘mission-driven government’ thanks to their ability to: galvanise the energy of local actors; clarify problem definition; influence planning, transport and housing policies; convene influential partnerships; and develop local innovation with data.
To realise this potential, the paper recommends that government:
- Make ‘mission boards’ responsive to local priorities
- Build local capacity to align local priorities and national objectives
- Expand powers in areas such as planning alongside funding security
- Free local actors from central siloes to enable deep partnership working
- Embed analytical teams and innovative metrics in national ‘mission boards’
Lead author Sarah Ayres, Professor of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Bristol said:
“We live in turbulent times but not without opportunity to make real progress on national missions. In particular, a long-term preventative approach to public health is within reach.
“Our research highlights how England’s elected mayors can manage the tension between local and national priorities if the right support is in place. They could have capacity to do things differently and set local agendas that cut through complex issues such as making health a priority when planning new urban places.”
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Notes for Editors
How democratically elected mayors can achieve mission-oriented policies in turbulent times by Sarah Ayres, Jack Newman, Mark Sandford, Andrew Barnfield and Geoff Bates is published in Regional Studies.
Tackling Root causes upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development (TRUUD) is a research project, based at the University of Bristol, looking at how urban centres can be planned to reduce health inequalities. The TRUUD consortium includes the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Reading, Manchester, Stirling and the University of the West of England across disciplines of public health, law, psychology, management, systems engineering, environmental and health economics, real estate, planning, urban development, policy and public involvement.
TRUUD has created an economic valuation model – Health Appraisal of Urban Systems, (‘HAUS’) – that allows developers or planners to consider and adjust a range of health factors. HAUS provides unit costs for more than 70 health outcomes, separated so that they can be attributed across multiple agencies from a societal perspective.
TRUUD is supported by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP), an initiative funded by UK Research and Innovation Councils, the Department of Health and Social Care and the UK devolved administrations, and leading health research charities.
