What if nature recovery wasn’t a “nice to have”, but a foundation of regional development? What if parish councils, farmers, and local communities were recognised as national assets rather than peripheral actors? And what if the future of England’s economy depended not only on cities, but on the rural places that quietly sustain them?
In Episode 13 of Placecast, host Nicola Headlam is joined by Professor Jane Wills, University of Exeter and LPIP Hub Delivery Team member and Dr Jack Reed, Research Fellow, University of Exeter, to explore exactly these questions through the Nature Recovery and Regional Development project. Their conversation moves from parish halls to Parliament, from oak trees to economic strategy, and from the hyper‑local to the national, revealing why place‑based leadership matters more than ever.
Placecast is a Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub production based at City-REDI, University of Birmingham. Our new podcast is essential listening for those keen to explore the ins and outs of knowledge mobilisation for influence in central and local government, based on the view that it’s only through animating the power of place-based leadership that the wicked problems of 2026 can become more manageable.
Jane Wills is Professor Emerita, and she previously worked at the Centre for Geography and Environmental Science (CGES) in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science (DEES) at the University of Exeter in Cornwall, UK. She was affiliated with the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) on campus and was its Director between 2020 and 2023.
Jane's most recent research interests have focused on nature recovery and its integration into regional development policy and practice.
Jack Reed is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working at the intersection of nature recovery, regional development and environmental sociology. Jack is based at the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) in Penryn and also works with the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP) in Exeter.
Jack's current research explores how nature recovery intersects with rural economies, emerging technologies and public policy. As part of the ESRC-funded Nature Recovery and Regional Development (NaRReD) project, Jack is collaborating with councils across Britain's Leading Edge to design new approaches for tracking the social and economic impacts of nature recovery, particularly around health, wellbeing, education and place-based development. Through this work, I'm engaging with nature markets like Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and thinking critically about their implications for policy and investment.
Dr Nicola Headlam has over 20 years of experience working across all aspects of the multi-helix innovation system, including central and local government, civil society and campaigning, academic research and knowledge mobilisation, and industry. Along the way, she has honed her expertise in urban and regional subnational economic development, the roles of government in shaping place, and in utilising data and evidence for transformation.
In 2024, she became a freelance economic advisor on the role of leadership and partnerships, urban and living lab forms for research, future of cities and foresighting methods, urban transformations, place-branding and urban regeneration and the spatial consequences of public policy.
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