Britain’s Leading Edge SIG - annual report to LGA Board 2025

• Lead Member: Cornwall Council
• Lead Officer: Gemma Mitchell
• Email:  [email protected]
• Address: N/A
• Telephone: N/A
• Website:  https://www.britainsleadingedge.org/

• Cornwall
• Cumberland
• Dorset
• Durham
• East Riding of Yorkshire
• Herefordshire
• Isle of Wight
• Isles of Scilly
• North Yorkshire
• Rutland
• Shropshire
• Somerset
• Westmorland & Furnes
• Wiltshire

To advocate for the collective interests of peripheral communities by increasing awareness of the particular issues facing our populations. These include historic under-investment; lower productivity; greater difficulty accessing services and demographic imbalances. Our cross-party group of local authorities aims to make the most of our natural capital, which provides huge opportunities for food and energy security, and for a net carbon-zero future.

The LGA's Goal 1 is: "To champion and represent local government. We will promote local government as a vital force for national and regional progress, securing its rightful role in shaping decisions, policies, and resources that affect communities." Britain's Leading Edge shows the role that our 14 local authority members have in championing progress for peripheral regions, representing the needs of our communities to national government. We seek to present compelling evidence for national government to reshape its policy decisions, taking into account the particular challenges and opportunities faced by residents and businesses in Britain’s Leading Edge.

Research collaborations: Britain’s Leading Edge (BLE) is working in partnership with Exeter University on a three-year research programme called Nature Recovery and Regional Development. Two post-doctoral researchers are investigating how nature recovery policy and practice affects finance, business growth and development, new skills training and employment specifically in Britain’s Leading Edge. By interviewing officers in member authorities and by conducting original research, the Exeter University team will establish which activities yield the most positive impacts for people and nature. The research team has conducted initial interviews and established baseline data on the economy, population and land use. Their phase 1 report can be read here.

BLE also collaborated with the ONS to produce a tailored data set shedding light on peripheral disparities, which can be read here. These bespoke data insights highlight some of the challenges and opportunities facing BLE as a whole, compared to England and Wales. 

Membership changes: In 2024, BLE updated our membership criteria in line with the latest Census and Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. New criteria:

• Rurality: the local authority must be classified as a “Spacious Rural Living” or “Rural Amenity” output area, according to the output area classification created by the ONS/University College London.
• Low population density: the local authority’s work-day population density must be lower than 375 people per square kilometre. (NOMIS/Census 2021 data.)
• Absence of large built-up areas: built-up areas within the local authority must have a maximum population size of 90,000 usual residents. (Census 2021 data.)

Following the revision of the criteria, Wiltshire and Somerset accepted our invitation to join BLE.

Preparation for and responses to the General Election: Before the 2024 General Election, BLE analysed the manifestoes of the five main political parties in England and compared them to our manifesto’s key themes of powering the UK, feeding the UK and being the lungs of the UK. There were quite striking overlaps between our manifesto and most of the political parties’ manifestoes, particularly around the green energy transition, food supply chain resilience and the importance of biodiversity. Using the manifesto analysis as a starting point, Cornwall Council wrote to the leaders of the five main political parties in England on behalf of BLE, introducing our group and expressing how keen we were to work with the incoming government regardless of their political colour. After the election of the Labour government, Cornwall wrote again to Sir Keir Starmer as well as to the Secretaries of State for Defra and the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.