Our thoughts on The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025
There’s a strong focus on long term growth, productivity and energy in the new UK Modern Industrial Strategy, but not all places are treated equally and some places (and sectors) stand to gain a lot more than others.
We have put together a short summary of the key takeaways and potential implications:
Not everywhere is treated equally
This strategy aims to drive growth and productivity, supporting Mission 1 of the Government’s Plan for Change – kickstarting economic growth.
Local economic development is a building block of this national effort. But not everywhere is being equally treated and Government is looking to focus effort and resources on the places and sectors with the greatest potential to increase UK productivity.
Key drivers to deliver this are reducing energy costs, driving innovation, and boosting skills.
A long term strategy
This ten-year, two-parliament plan aims to bring much-needed certainty to support investment decisions – especially in infrastructure, land, and property. That’s assuming Government stays the course and doesn’t reverse direction midway.
For local practitioners, it’s a hopeful shift away from short-term projects and toward those with lasting strategic value.
Eight key sectors plus a ninth opportunity
At the heart of strategy are the IS-8 sectors with account for 32% of the economy. These sectors are globally competitive industries.
Places should be honest and acknowledge not everywhere has primary activity in globally competitive sectors. There’s a push to drive investment into IS-8 across 10 city regions, including the West of England and Cardiff Capital Region.
For areas outside the big city-regions, IS-9 (the foundational industries and supply chains of other parts of the economy) present opportunities to meaningfully contribute.
A focus on Places
The strategy puts city regions – especially mayoral strategic authority areas – front and centre, adding pressure for more places to adopt elected mayors. Other strategic geographies, like the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor and strong industry clusters such as the Plymouth Defence Cluster, also feature.
Opportunity for places include:
- £500m Local Innovation Partnerships Fund to boost UK-wide productivity.
- £600m Strategic Sites Accelerator to fast-track strategic site delivery.
- Continued backing for Freeports, Investment Zones, and new AI Growth Zones.
- New towns as drivers of growth.
Energy is critical
As expected, energy sits at the core of the strategy, with a focus on reducing energy costs and capturing the economic potential of developing clean energy infrastructure.
Nuclear remains a key focus – through Sizewell C, Small Modular reactors (SMRs), and future fusion – to provide a reliable baseload alongside renewables.
Integrating with the planning system
The strategy reinforces the desire of Government to remove planning barriers to enable infrastructure delivery, with can support economic growth, but again, is not a short-term fix.
At the local level, Local Plans will need to support the delivery of economic growth.
The proposed Spatial Development Strategies (SDS) bring an opportunity for a more strategic approach to meeting housing and economic needs across wider functional geographies – relieving pressure on local authority areas attempting to deliver everything.
Our experience: IS-8 sectors and more
- Great South West Advanced Manufacturing Review
- Cambridge Discovery Life Sciences Campus Socio-economic Impact
- Sizewell C Economic Impact Assessment
- Socio-economics work for Severn Estuary Tidal Scheme
- Environmental Impact Assessment for numerous offshore wind developments
- Plan making and local strategy development
Please contact us if you would like to discuss project development in key sectors or local strategy development.
