I often think that if all the claimed outputs from economic development initiatives and regeneration projects across the UK were added together, we would wonder why the economy wasn’t twice its current size.
In recent months, the UK has released numerous assessments of projects funded through European Strategic Investment Funding and preliminary results from various Shared Prosperity Fund initiatives. After reviewing many of these documents, I am left questioning whether many of these assessments are just attempts to turn ugly ducklings into swans. In particular, claimed economic outputs seem to have been calculated using inflated assumptions and qualitative conclusions, which could provide real value in how future projects are undertaken, have been airbrushed and sanitised.
The crazy thing is that it’s the parts of economic development and regeneration that have failed that we can learn the most from – but this seems to be buried not shared.
There are several reasons why conducting thorough and transparent impact assessments is important.
Justifying Resource Allocation
In any organisation, resources are finite, and this is hardly news to economic development practitioners. Decisions about where to invest time, capital, and human effort are among the most consequential that leadership teams make. Without a rigorous framework for evaluating whether past investments have generated economic value, those decisions are necessarily made on the basis of intuition, political preference, or inertia rather than evidence. How many vanity projects have been undertaken in the UK?
Project evaluation linked to a carefully judged Economic Impact Assessment introduces discipline into this process. By quantifying the economic return generated by each project, organisations build an evidence base that allows genuinely comparative analysis. Which types of projects deliver the strongest returns? Which interventions produce outcomes that persist and multiply over time? Which activities, however well-intentioned, fail to generate economic value proportionate to their cost?
Improving future bids
For economic development organisations and project-dependent businesses alike, the ability to secure funding is essential for delivering additional projects. Funders expect Green Book business cases that can demonstrate impact rather than only claim it.
A collection of completed project evaluations linked to EIA data offers the kind of strong, verifiable proof that sets bids apart. Instead of just claiming a proposed project will generate economic value, an organisation with a solid evaluation record can show that its past projects of a similar kind have reliably produced tangible returns. This shifts the bid process from being speculative to one based on demonstrated performance.
Furthermore, funders are increasingly under pressure to show that the funds they allocate produce economic returns. An applicant organisation that provides strong evidence of impact and delivery not only benefits itself but also helps the funder justify its decisions.
Enabling Continuous Improvement
No organisation delivers every project perfectly. Timelines slip, costs overrun, anticipated outcomes fail to materialise, and external conditions change in ways that undermine even the most carefully constructed project plans. The question is not whether things will go wrong, but whether the organisation has the mechanisms in place to detect what has gone wrong, understand why, and apply those lessons to future activity.
Project evaluation linked to economic impact assessment is the primary vehicle through which this organisational learning takes place. By systematically measuring what each project achieved against what it intended to achieve, and by quantifying the economic consequences of any divergence, organisations build an increasingly sophisticated understanding of their own performance. Patterns emerge: certain types of intervention reliably outperform projections; others consistently disappoint. Certain delivery models generate strong supply chain effects; others keep economic activity contained within the organisation itself.
These insights, accumulated over multiple projects and evaluation cycles, constitute a form of institutional knowledge that is extraordinarily difficult to replicate without the underlying data. They allow organisations to refine project design, improve delivery models, and make more accurate predictions about future impact.
Project Accountability
Perhaps the main reason why organisations undertake evaluations is that this was one of the strings attached to the project funding. This contractual link may explain why the findings so often incorporate favourable economic assumptions and do not fully explore areas of failure. In some cases, the pro-forma evaluation templates even conspire against full disclosure. Of course, if the evaluation is worth doing, it is worth doing thoroughly.
Beyond formal accountability, there is a broader benefit that evaluation can inform communities who in turn may be inclined towards greater involvement in future projects to ensure that benefits are captured as widely as possible.
Strategic Value
Boards, executives, investors, and elected members all face a common challenge: they must make strategic decisions about complex programmes based on incomplete information. Linking project evaluation to an economic impact assessment significantly reduces this information gap. It offers decision-makers a clear, quantified account of what each activity is delivering, expressed in terms that matter most at a strategic level, such as economic return, employment creation, supply chain optimisation, and contribution to broader growth objectives.
Conclusion
Project evaluation linked to economic impact assessment is not a bureaucratic burden or a box-ticking exercise. It is one of the most powerful tools available to businesses and economic development organisations for improving performance, securing resources, building trust, and demonstrating value. It creates the evidence base upon which strategic decisions can be made with genuine confidence, and it provides the accountability framework that allows organisations to operate with credibility in an environment of increasing scrutiny.
Organisations that treat evaluation and impact measurement as core disciplines integrated into project design from the start, rather than as an afterthought, will identify genuine areas for improvement. In a landscape where resources are constantly tightening, a thorough approach to evaluation is vital.
Mickledore is an economic advisory business focused on strategy, sector investment, business planning and evaluation. If you are interested in examining how evaluation or impact work can benefit your own area contact nwilcock@regionaldevelopment.co.uk