The way councils can intervene in areas such as childcare, housing, payday lending and energy will be examined in a new think-tank study.
Local authorities and others are being invited to contribute to the report by the New Local Government Network (NLGN), which believes many local economic markets are failing to meet social needs.
A NLGN spokeswoman said: ‘From cheap supermarkets and takeaways selling unhealthy food, to uncompetitive payday lenders, unaffordable energy costs and high rents, some parts of the private sector create expensive problems that councils and their partners must pay to fix.
‘This research will explore the role of local government in challenging and influencing economic markets that are failing to meet social needs, and examine how councils can use their stewardship role to secure economic, social and environmental wellbeing for local residents.
‘This project will examine how and when councils can nudge – and sometimes budge – businesses towards delivering better social outcomes for local places.’
Initial thoughts should be emailed to NLGN researcher Maia Beresford at mberesford@nlgn.org.uk, with ‘market shaping’ in the subject line, before the 9 May deadline.
