Creating thriving places starts with opening up opportunity
Creating thriving places starts with opening up opportunity
Amanda Anderson, Director of Place, Operation and Strategy at Business in the Community, reflects on BITC’s Labour Party Conference fringe event, sponsored by Morgan Sindall Construction, exploring how business, government and communities can drive place-based change.
This week the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, set out a vision at the Labour Party Conference for devolving power and reshaping how the country is governed. For those of us working with businesses and communities to create thriving places, this raises an immediate question: how do we turn national ambition into change that people feel in their daily lives?
At Business in the Community’s fringe event, we asked: who is really responsible for transforming the UK’s places?
The answer is all of us! But lasting change depends on national ambition, empowered local leadership and genuine partnership between government, business and communities. Each has a practical part to play.
For me, the conversation became most compelling when it turned to young people. Their experience of trying to enter work makes the challenge tangible. Creating a thriving place means ensuring that young people can see opportunities, access support and find employers willing to give them a start. It also means connecting what happens in education with the jobs available locally.
That is where the ambition to transform places meets a practical test: can we work together to open those doors?
Listen to young people, then look at the barriers
In his keynote, the Rt Hon Alan Milburn, who leads the independent Young People and Work review, challenged the idea that young people outside education, employment or training lack ambition or motivation. He described some as submitting as many as “100 job applications a month”, yet receiving little or no response. Furthermore, he described the current young people as:
“An exceptionally resilient generation facing very difficult circumstances.”
That distinction matters. If we start by blaming young people, we risk overlooking the barriers around them. If we listen to their experiences, we can better understand what needs to change.
Milburn argued that another collection of short-term programmes would not be enough. Improving skills and readiness for work must go hand in hand with creating opportunities for young people to use them. Employers have a direct stake in that challenge, and a practical role in responding.
Milburn also warned that this is no longer a problem affecting “other people’s children”. It speaks to a concern shared by many families: that the next generation may have fewer opportunities than the one before.
Local partnerships need a shared purpose
Labour markets are local. The opportunities available, the support people need and the barriers they face differ between places.
Participants returned to the importance of connecting employers, local government, education providers and civil society around a shared ambition. Howard Dawber OBE, Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Growth, emphasised understanding the system: what people are learning and whether that learning leads to jobs.
The discussion also highlighted the importance of involving partners in planning, rather than bringing them in only when it is time to deliver. And young people themselves must help shape the response.
An “empty chair” gave audience members the opportunity to join the discussion. Their contributions reinforced the importance of involving partners from the outset, sharing leaders’ own journeys into work and making career routes visible as artificial intelligence changes the labour market.
Bringing these contributions together takes local leadership. Mayors can play an important convening role. But local leadership also needs the information, resources and relationships to connect provision with opportunity. Places without devolved powers must have routes to effective collaboration too.
This connects closely with Business in the Community’s place-based approach. We bring business and local partners together over the long term, with priorities shaped by the people who live and work in each place. Building trust and agreeing what partners want to change are essential foundations for action.
Sheffield Pride of Place shows what this approach looks like in practice. Responding to persistent inequalities, it has mobilised employers around social mobility, skills and access to opportunity. The partnership has built a network of 600 employers and, through the See It Be It programme, engaged 16,000 young people in educational outreach in a single year. By connecting schools, businesses and community organisations, it is helping young people understand local career pathways while ensuring employers play a practical role in developing the city’s future talent.
Business has more than one way to contribute
The conversation explored the breadth of what businesses can offer. Matt Hyde OBE, Chief Executive at Lloyds Bank Foundation and a member of the Prime Minister’s Civil Society Council, highlighted skilled volunteering and its value to individuals and organisations. Participants also discussed community engagement and making routes into work more visible.
Timothy Clement, Director of Social Value and Sustainability at Morgan Sindall Construction, introduced the company’s planned Rise & Build initiative. He described an approach that addresses both preparation for work and the demand for workers through local partnerships.
For me, the important question is how these contributions connect. Supporting someone to build confidence or develop skills has greater value when there is a realistic next step into employment.
Building Future Talent and Thriving Places
The group called for a sustained approach that connects education and employment pathways over the long term, bringing together everyone with something to contribute. Listening directly to young people, and involving them in shaping the response, must be central to that work.
I came away encouraged by the willingness to work together. The challenge now is to turn that willingness into a collective goal, with clear contributions from each partner and the commitment to stay involved.
Ambition can be infectious when partners can see both the scale of the challenge and the practical part they can play.
For business leaders, a useful starting point is to identify one contribution your organisation can make, then work with local partners to connect it to a shared goal.
Connect with Business in the Community’s Place team to explore how your business can contribute.
With thanks to Morgan Sindall Construction for sponsoring the discussion.
