This is a major moment for our region. Decisions about growth, infrastructure, housing, transport, skills and investment are moving closer to home. Done well, this could help us build a more resilient, prosperous and fair future for Hampshire, the Solent and the Isle of Wight. But whether devolution succeeds will depend on the choices made now.

The Government’s Rewiring the State paper places “Good Growth” at the heart of its vision. It recognises that economic progress must go hand in hand with social progress, local accountability and better public services. 

But it is much less explicit about the climate and nature foundations that make growth genuinely good, and genuinely durable.

That matters because climate resilience and nature recovery are not side issues for our region. They affect water security, flood risk, health, wellbeing, housing, infrastructure, productivity, tourism, investment confidence and the long-term strength of our economy.

What should Good Growth mean here?

As powers and budgets move closer to communities, the Combined County Authority has a real opportunity to shape not only where growth happens, but what type of growth we want.  

Good Growth should mean more than development numbers, GDP, tax receipts or short-term economic activity.  Under devolution, there is a risk that Outcome Frameworks, Good Growth Funds and fiscal incentives may only reward short-term financial outputs and miss the natural and social foundations that make prosperity possible.

In our view, Good Growth should mean a broader definition of prosperity: one that values economic success, community wellbeing and healthy natural systems together.

Hampshire, the Solent and the Isle of Wight have extraordinary natural assets: chalk streams, estuaries, coastlines, woodlands, wetlands, the New Forest, the South Downs and the Isle of Wight UNESCO Biosphere.  They are part of what makes this region distinctive - but they are more than just a picturesque backdrop.  

These rivers, coastlines, wetlands, woodlands and green spaces are part of the infrastructure that keeps places safe, healthy and economically resilient. They store carbon, manage water, reduce flood and heat risk, support food and farming, underpin tourism and recreation, and improve people’s physical and mental health.

If we fail to value and invest in these assets properly, we will make poorer decisions and pass higher costs on to future generations.

This is where economic concepts such as Gross Ecosystem Product and Wellbeing Economy are useful as they challenge us to recognise that conventional economic measures like GDP only tell part of the story.  We are currently exploring whether GEP would be a useful model for Hampshire and the Solent. 

This thinking is consistent with the wider field of ecological economics, which argues that economies are not separate from nature, but embedded within and dependent on healthy ecosystems. That matters for devolution because it changes the starting point: nature is not simply a constraint to be managed around growth, but one of the foundations that makes long-term prosperity, resilience and wellbeing possible.

The pressures are already visible

Across Hampshire, the Solent and the Isle of Wight, water resources are under strain from climate change, abstraction and pollution.  Flood risk is rising in both inland and coastal communities and drought is threatening food security.  Internationally important habitats and species are under pressure, with many of our iconic birds, mammals, butterflies and wildflowers in long-term decline, and habitats such as chalk downland, ancient woodland and heathland becoming ever more fragmented and vulnerable.   

These are not environmental concerns that sit outside the economy. They are economic, social and public health concerns too. When rivers are polluted, water supplies are stressed, homes are flooded, public spaces overheat or access to nature is unequal, communities pay the price.

That is why nature and climate must be built into the new devolved model from the start. If they are treated as peripheral, we risk locking in future costs and vulnerabilities. If they are designed into the system early, devolution could help us create healthier places, stronger communities and a more resilient economy.

Five tests for nature-positive devolution

If devolution is to deliver Good Growth in this region, I believe there are five practical tests we should apply.

1. Define Good Growth broadly. Good Growth should explicitly include economic prosperity, community wellbeing, climate resilience and nature recovery together. These should not be competing ambitions; they are mutually reinforcing foundations of a thriving region.
2. Use evidence to guide decisions. Local Nature Recovery Strategies, climate adaptation evidence, natural capital data and community insight should shape spatial planning, infrastructure, transport and investment choices from the outset.
3. Measure what matters. Regional Outcome Frameworks should include clear measures of wellbeing, carbon reduction, adaptation, biodiversity recovery, access to nature and quality of place. GEP or similar approaches could help ensure natural assets are properly valued alongside conventional economic indicators.
4. Invest in nature as critical infrastructure. Good Growth Funds, new fiscal freedoms and public-private investment should support habitat restoration, catchment resilience, urban greening, natural flood management, coastal recovery and nature-based solutions to heat, water and flood risk.
5. Treat participation and scrutiny as strengths. Public participation, environmental expertise and independent scrutiny are not red tape. They are safeguards that can help devolution make better decisions, build trust and deliver lasting value.

Leadership matters now

The next 12 to 18 months are critical. The direction of travel for the Combined County Authority, the emerging priorities for the region, and the relationship with new unitary authorities will all shape what future leaders inherit. By the time an elected Mayor is in place, many of the assumptions, frameworks and investment priorities may already be established.

That means the work of designing climate and nature into the model has to happen now. We cannot afford to wait until plans are settled and budgets are allocated before asking how growth will contribute to resilience, wellbeing and nature recovery.

There is also a strong public mandate for this. People across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight understand that clean rivers, accessible green spaces, healthy habitats and climate resilience are part of a good life and a secure future. They do not want nature and growth pitted against each other. They want better places to live, work and invest in.

A practical opportunity for our region

At our Future-proofing our Economy: Nature, Growth and Resilience event earlier this summer, regional leaders came together to discuss exactly these issues: how climate change and nature loss affect our economy, how we strengthen resilience, and how we invest in nature-based solutions and green enterprise. Those conversations now feel even more urgent.

We know what is needed and we have the expertise and partnerships to deliver.  If we get this right, our region could lead nationally in showing what Good Growth really means: growth that improves prosperity, wellbeing and nature together; growth that reduces future risk rather than storing it up; growth that recognises healthy natural systems as a foundation of long-term economic success.

Devolution gives us an opportunity to make decisions closer to the people and places they affect. We should use that opportunity well, and make sure nature, climate and communities are at the heart of what comes next.  At the Trust, we are ready to play our part in that.