As Andy Burnham prepares to address his first Labour Party Conference as Prime Minister, a new book by economic development practitioner Dr Glenn Athey argues that the argument over whether to devolve power is over. The question now is whether the institutions receiving power can use it well, and quickly.

Prosperity in Every Postcode, published on Amazon and The Great British Bookstore today, is written for the leaders and officers of strategic authorities, combined authorities and councils now responsible for turning the government's pledge of "good growth in every postcode" into results.

The book argues that devolved institutions face a ten-year test, with the first serious political appraisal around year five. England's Regional Development Agencies lasted thirteen years from statute to closure. They returned between £4.50 and £6.40 for every pound spent, and were abolished anyway. The Local Enterprise Partnerships also lasted thirteen years.

Drawing on more than thirty years of practice and his research for the University of Birmingham's Local Policy Innovation Partnership, Dr Athey identifies what he calls the "delivery gap": the space between the strategies institutions publish and the outcomes they produce. His research found business case development to Green Book standard among the most acute skills shortages in economic development teams.

The book is built around five questions that every leadership team should be able to answer about every major commitment:

What is the cause, and are you sure you know?
What is possible?
What will you build, and what will you stop doing?
If delivery isn't working, why?
How will you know it worked, and that it benefited who you said it would?

Cases include Hull's success in winning Siemens' £310 million turbine blade factory against richer European rivals, Greater Manchester's thirty years of joint working before its 2014 devolution deal, and the lessons of London Docklands and Salford Quays on who benefits from regeneration.

Dr Glenn Athey said: "The places that benefit most from devolution are never the ones that lobbied hardest for powers. They are the ones that are visibly ready to use them. Fiscal devolution, mayors across England and a No10 North are real opportunities, but powers granted by ministers can be withdrawn by ministers. Delivery is what keeps them."

Professor Ron Martin, Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Cambridge, described the book as "a cogent, informed, hard-hitting but eminently practical book on how 'prosperity in every postcode' can actually be achieved."

Rob Huntington, Chief Executive of Rossendale Borough Council, said: "If you are building a strategic authority or a new unitary council and you want it to deliver, not just announce, read this now."

Prosperity in Every Postcode is available now in paperback and ebook from economicdevelopment.world/piep, and internationally through Amazon.

Notes to editors

Dr Glenn Athey is an independent economic development consultant with more than thirty years' experience. His roles have included Scottish Enterprise, the London Development Agency, Centre for Cities and the East of England Development Agency, and Interim Executive Director of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership. He is an LPIP Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham and author of The Local and Regional Economic Development Handbook (2026).
Prosperity in Every Postcode, Economic Development World, 2026. ISBN 978-1-0676371-9-4.
Dr Athey is available for interview and comment on devolution, local growth, fiscal devolution and the Labour Party Conference.
Review copies and articles tailored to individual titles are available on request.
Contact: Glenn Athey, glenn@economicdevelopment.world