Every local growth strategy now includes 'inclusive growth'. The West Midlands has it. Greater Manchester has it. The English Devolution Bill mandates it in Local Growth Plans.

But ask how it will actually be delivered — and the answers get vague fast. Arguably, inclusive growth has become a political aspiration. Too often, schemes are approved on headline job numbers and housing units with no structured assessment of whether the benefits reach those who need them most.

We’re responding to this gap through the development of the Assessment of Local Inclusive Growth Enablers (ALIGN), which is a rigorous diagnostic tool designed to help understand how well place-based growth strategies deliver inclusive growth in practice, not just in principle..

What is ALIGN?

ALIGN evaluates how well the five critical enablers for inclusive growth are aligned and embedded within your strategy or scheme:

1. Affordable housing — quantity, proximity to employment, and rental affordability relative to local wages

2. Community infrastructure — capacity assessment of health, leisure, education, and social facilities using LSOA-based modelling

3. Transport accessibility — 30- and 45-minute travel time testing, route integration, and service reliability

4. Digital connectivity — broadband speed, household accessibility, and digital literacy

5. Employment and skills pathways — gap analysis between local skills provision and likely end-use job opportunities

ALIGN is built on three years of real-world research, making it both scalable and adaptable across different place types. Rather than producing a simple narrative, it delivers an evidence-based verdict — alongside actionable, prioritised recommendations to guide next steps.

It can be applied in full or across selected dimensions depending on your needs. For example:

• A developer focused on a planning application may require only the housing and community infrastructure dimensions

• A local authority stress-testing a viability claim may need a broader, more holistic appraisal

Whatever the scope, our mixed-methods approach — combining rapid evidence review, stakeholder engagement, sensitivity analysis, and scenario modelling — remains robust.

Who is ALIGN for?

Local authorities within Mayoral Strategic Authorities

• Build a compelling, evidence-based case to access Combined Authority Local Growth Fund allocations and government funding streams such as the Pride in Places Fund

Real estate developers and investors

• Provide defensible social value evidence for planning applications and demonstrate credible alignment with local inclusive growth aspirations

ALIGN is based on real-world experience not hypotheticals

We developed ALIGN based on our own research consultancy experience gained across multiple real commissions for both public sector and private sector clients:

• Skills pipelines — we have developed sustainable employment and skills pathway recommendations for the SC1 life sciences district in South London and Earls Court Development Company in West London, and recommended how a new employment and skills hub in the Old Oak innovation district in West London can drive inclusive growth.

• Transport and economic inclusion — commissioned by the Local Government Association to examine how transport provision affects economic inclusion across England, with place-specific policy recommendations.

• Affordable housing and growth — we were commissioned by the National Housing Federation to examine the links between England's housing challenges and inclusive growth outcomes, and were commissioned by the Isles of Scilly to undertake a housing needs assessment.

• Social and community infrastructure - we developed a comprehensive assessment model for the London Borough of Camden to support delivery of the Euston Area Plan as part of a wider project to explore the social and community needs of the area.