Policy without the pretence

In 2023, North Yorkshire Council was formed, taking the ancient county from a two-tier local government system to a unitary authority. Then, in 2024, the area gained its first Combined Authority Mayor for the York and North Yorkshire area. In 2025, the two most significant urban areas in North Yorkshire (Harrogate and Scarborough) gained their first Town Councils.

In short, this has been a period of considerable change and upheaval in how local democracy in the area is delivered. The exciting part of this shift is that it opens the door for reviewing and reconsidering economic and regeneration policy in a new funding context. Que the policy review montage!

Scarborough is a particularly fascinating case, as its new Town Council is comprised mainly of Reform Councillors who have not previously held public office. Even seasoned elected representatives get fed up with officer jargon and the intricacies of how to make the public sector’s bureaucratic decision-making and funding systems align with local priorities. So, for a group of entirely fresh faces, this was going to be a challenge.

The job of pulling this all together and communicating it in plain English to a lay audience fell to me. The task: take what is usually invisible and make it simple.

Indeed, Scarborough’s local policy context today includes the Combined Authority’s economic framework, which sets out three overarching ambitions, five thematic priorities, and 41 measures of success. The local plan outlines a 356-word vision, and the North Yorkshire Economic Strategy, which encompasses three pillars, nine themes, 22 priorities, and 21 measures of success. At a more local level, the previous town deal plan had a vision of over 250 words. It contained seven objectives and 18 outcomes. In addition, the 2021 Scarborough Blueprint outlined a 500-word vision, nine ‘transformational’ objectives, and three further outcomes.

You can see why the task of communicating this may be a challenge.

It is essential to note that all these documents, their visions, objectives and outcomes, are noble and relevant. But what are they saying? What change are they all steering towards? What vision of the future are they trying to portray?

Ultimately, two themes run through every document, at every level. A simple mission that resonated with everyone and can be understood by almost anyone: Reduce Inequality, Increase Opportunity.

But this raises a bigger question: Are we presenting economic policy effectively enough? After all, it often takes more skill to write 1,000 words than 10,000. It may be time to reject the dogma of orthodox policy presentation, without compromising on the robustness of orthodox policy development. The public, and increasingly elected members, want common sense in simple English.

The world is shifting, and most iED members are blessed to spend time in the space between business, policy, entrepreneurship and social change. An intersection that focuses on solutions, not profits.

So, next time you write a policy, a town plan, or a strategy, instead of setting out yet another set of visions, objectives, and outcomes, it may be time to change tack.

I’ve devised three simple rules that I will follow as I develop policy in the future:

 1. Citizens, not customers or consumers

I know this is heresy, but let’s walk through it for a moment. If the core of our identity and how we perceive others is as customers or consumers, then we would expect a specific set of behaviours.

For example, we would expect to be perceived as independent. The state does things for us, and most of our interactions are transactional in nature. The prevailing narrative of society emphasises rights and choice.

However, if we adopt an identity as citizens, the entire narrative shifts. We are now perceived as interdependent on other people, businesses and nature. The state does things with us, and most of our interactions are participatory. The general narrative of society emphasises purpose and creativity.

With increasing financial pressures on every aspect of the public sector, it is time to reframe our roles.

2. Take what is ordinarily invisible and make it simple

I love the quick mental test: ‘Could I teach this to a group of teenagers in under one hour?’ It is an excellent thought experiment that confirms two things. Firstly, what am I talking about? Secondly, am I sure I know what I’m talking about?

I often encounter phrases such as:

• ‘Multi-Modal Transport Corridor’
• ‘Sustainable growth ambitions’
• ‘Access to facilities and infrastructure to enable economic participation’
• ‘The carbon negative transition’

As experienced professionals, we understand these phrases, but they are not phrases you would use in conversation. So why use them in policy? Writing in plain English is not optional; it’s an actual law (The Plain Language Act 2022).

So please keep it simple, understandable, and step outside your specialism for a moment. Could you teach this? Would a 16-year-old understand this? Would a new councillor understand this? If not, try again.

3. Challenge convention, without compromising quality

Often, we do something because that’s how it’s done.

Everyone wrote business plans, until the world started changing so fast that predictions and set plans became outdated faster than investors could write cheques (especially in the tech sector).

Take the instructions to set up a Starlink connection:

Set up Starlink with just two steps. Instructions work in either order:

1. PLUG IT IN
2. POINT AT SKY

Or my combined vision, mission, objectives and outcomes from Scarborough’s policy review: Reduce Inequality, Increase Opportunity.

I am not advocating shortening all policy to 280 characters, but pithy, whimsical, and to-the-point communication is working for business. Normal people deserve to understand what and how we are investing in their communities. So, we can learn from some of the successes of business and keep it simple.

In conclusion, I invite you to borrow, steal, or ignore these rules as you move forward; they are more like guidelines. But I implore you to give serious consideration to the limits of orthodox policy presentation, without compromising on the robustness of orthodox policy development.

Joe Russell is Principal Regeneration Officer at North Yorkshire Council.

Would you like to write for the iED? As part of iED individual and organisation membership, ALL members have the opportunity to publish articles on our website. We are now seeking ideas for contributions from members, including those in our Early Career Network. These can be around any aspect of economic development, insights on work you are undertaking and project successes you would like to share, or any viewpoint you would like to express. If you have an article proposal please email philsmith@ied.co.uk.