Organisation Membership: Leeds City Council

Leeds City Council has been an Organisation Member of the Institute of Economic Development (iED) since 2023. It uses its membership to connect with good practice across the profession, support staff development, strengthen its voice within the sector and showcase its work on inclusive growth and social progress.

The council’s Economic Development team comprises around 60 people, with a further 15 across the Place and Regeneration team. For Graham Ponton, who specialises in Sector Development, Innovation and Economic Policy, membership of the Institute provides an important connection to the wider profession and an opportunity to benchmark Leeds’ approach against other places.

“We were looking for opportunities to reinforce our high professional standards to what we were doing and ensure our approach was grounded in good practice,” Graham said. “We wanted to connect with organisations that are leaders in the field, learn from the best of good practice and make sure we were on the right pathway. We saw iED membership as an opportunity to do exactly that.”

The timing of joining the iED was particularly relevant as Leeds looked to raise the profile of its key strategic initiatives.

“We were looking to showcase some of the work we were doing on inclusive growth and social progress, which was becoming increasingly cutting-edge, and the iED was a natural fit,” Graham explained. “We had a mature, well-led and experienced team doing some really good work, and membership gave us an opportunity to reinforce that – to benchmark what we were doing against good practice across the profession and demonstrate that we were moving in the right direction.”

Staff training and development was another important motivation for becoming an Organisation Member, with Leeds City Council colleagues able to access iED professional development programmes. “Very importantly, there were many training opportunities for staff members to be able to go and do some of the training and make sure that we’re on point with what we’re trying to do and the way we’re doing things,” Graham commented.

Staff have subsequently undertaken iED training, providing an additional route for professional development within the economic development team. Feedback on the CPD opportunities has included “some pockets of very good and innovative ideas”, with the training offer one of the areas the council considers when reviewing the value it receives from membership.

The council is also benefiting from informal professional development and networking opportunities. Colleagues have participated in the iED’s relaunched North East and Yorkshire online regional network, providing another way to connect with fellow economic development professionals and share experiences and ideas.

Organisation Membership has given Leeds a stronger connection to the iED’s work representing the economic development profession and responding to issues affecting practitioners.

“Networking and having a voice is another big part of membership,” Graham said. “To have the listening ear out to all the things that are going on across economic development. Certainly when the iED started the Grow Local, Grow National campaign for councils to be given statutory powers over economic development, that got a great deal of visibility very quickly. We want to be part of that, because we agree with it.”

This connection to wider sector debates complements the practical ‘day-to-day’ membership benefits available to Leeds colleagues, including news and policy updates, job postings, professional development and opportunities to engage with other practitioners.

A further benefit has been the opportunity to showcase Leeds City Council’s own work and contribute to wider discussions around economic development. The council has also developed a strong track record around its innovative approaches to youth unemployment and district heating, as well as the use of data to help guide work with communities. Leeds leaders have used professional networks and events to share the city’s inclusive growth journey and the practical lessons emerging from its work.

Graham sees both sharing and accessing case studies as particularly valuable, with practical examples from elsewhere helping to inform the council’s own future direction.

“The opportunity to share successes is another huge benefit,” he said. “Highlighting those fantastic case studies from start to finish where there’s a story to tell comes across really, really well and gets referenced quite a lot in the work we do. Especially on inclusive growth, where there’s a good case study, we’ll use it a lot. We’ve also benefited from recognition through the iED Annual Awards, including previous success in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative of the Year category.”

Taken together, Organisation Membership provides Leeds City Council with access to professional development and peer learning, connections with practitioners and good practice across the sector, a voice in wider debates affecting economic development, and opportunities to showcase its own achievements. Reflecting on the council’s experience of the iED, Graham concluded: “From my point of view, Organisation Membership serves us very well indeed.”

Case study developed: September 2026