Shaping the Future: A Regional Strategy for the South West

What if the South West could show the world how government and communities can work better—together—for people, places, and the planet?

That’s the ambition behind a bold new approach agreed by the One South West Senior Engagement Group: to create a South West Regional Strategy—shaped with the region and our people. We want to bring to life the Government’s aim to transform how we work together, in partnership, to drive national renewal.

The South West is England’s largest region, contributing £140 billion annually to the UK economy, home to over 5 million people, world-class universities, thriving industries—from aerospace to marine tech and green energy—and extraordinary natural capital. Our communities are innovative, civic-minded, and deeply connected to our places, with a collaborative spirit that makes it ideal for piloting new ways of working.

Yet despite these strengths, the region faces serious challenges: deep inequalities, with some of the UK’s highest and lowest wealth areas side-by-side; poor transport and digital connectivity; and fragmented government presence. Outcomes in areas like health, education, and productivity often lag behind national averages.

No single organisation can solve this. That’s why we’re working to bring together regional leadership and government at all levels around a shared strategy, focused on real priorities, shaped by the people who live and work here, and delivering better outcomes—locally, nationally, and globally.

The government’s Head of Place for the South West, Tom Surrey, said, “I was really pleased that the Senior Engagement Group have taken a pro-active approach and agreed to take the initiative on this exciting piece of work”

Three Goals

This is ultimately about shaping our system so that we can serve people better–and have a real impact on people’s lives. To that end, we have three ambitions:

1. A Collectively Owned Regional Strategy

Created with local government, business, civil society, and communities, our strategy should deliver tangible benefits for people and places, bringing us together around shared missions.

It should align national priorities with regional strengths and ambitions. It should focus on bringing us together around shared missions that get real-world outcomes and on enabling everyone to take part.

2. A Regional Mission for Government

We’ll seek to align departments, local authorities and regional partners to deliver the strategy and shared missions across the whole region—focusing on regional strengths in Innovation and Sustainability.

3. An Exemplar for Future Governance

By “testing and learning,” we aim to develop a new model for collaborative, mission-led government—integrating people, places, and systems, and using tech and public engagement to deliver more open, accountable and effective governance.

Real Impact: What Could This Look Like?

This is about doing government differently—how we approach this is more important than what we do ourselves. By bringing together all layers of government, sectors, and communities to unlock potential and tackle challenges we will create an environment and system in which everyone can contribute–so that together we deliver the impact that none of us can achieve alone. We already have great examples to build on in our region:

● Clean Maritime Innovation. In Plymouth, local councils, the MOD, marine tech innovators, and central government departments collaborate to pioneer clean shipping. The result? New jobs, thriving exports, lower emissions—and UK leadership in sustainable transport.

● Community Health Hubs. In rural Cornwall, NHS, local authorities, tech companies, and residents co-design mobile health services. Government aligns funding and support across levels, improving lives locally and creating models for national healthcare transformation.

Our aspiration is to scale these examples and learn from others to drive impact. We want the South West to become a national and global exemplar for how place-based, mission-led government can deliver real impact.

Get Involved

We’re building this strategy with colleagues and partners across the region—and we want you to be part of it. If you want to help shape how we work differently—and better—join our community, or reach out to nita.murphy@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

Let’s show what’s possible—together.

Catherine Day is a Deputy Director in the Cabinet Office based near Axminster and a member of the cross-government South West Senior Engagement Group.