What makes growth good?

Andy Burnham’s government has highlighted the importance of good growth in every postcode. Economic growth has long been treated as a measure of success. When GDP rises, we are told the economy is doing better. But does that mean people’s lives are improving?

A recent report by one of the Big Four, PwC, raises important questions about the relationship between growth and wellbeing.[1] It finds that 46% of the UK population lives in areas where growth translates less effectively into a better quality of life for people within their communities. It also estimates that housing costs absorb around a quarter of the potential household income gains associated with growth. So that, for example, London which has a higher gross income, sees this significantly weakened through larger housing costs and larger families.

The report makes a compelling case that economic growth alone is not enough to deliver good growth. What matters is whether it translates into better lives, stronger communities and a healthier environment. It also reveals how differently growth is experienced, even between neighbouring communities.

Crucially, household prosperity is only part of the picture. PwC also measures public value, bringing together economic outcomes with the wider social and environmental conditions that shape our lives. Health, housing, financial resilience, social connections and the quality of our environment all matter. This challenges the idea that wealth can be understood simply through income and spending power. A prosperous society must also invest in the things we share, the opportunities available to everyone and the wellbeing of our communities.

So what makes growth good?

Good growth should improve people’s everyday lives. That means decent work, fair wages, financial security, good health, access to nature and opportunities to participate in the communities where we live. These are not additional benefits to be considered once growth has been achieved. They are central to its purpose.

Yet our economic decisions do not always reflect this.

Consider public procurement. Billions of pounds of public money are spent each year purchasing goods and services. These decisions should be an important means of creating public value. Yet contracts are still too often awarded on the basis of immediate cost, with insufficient attention to their wider consequences.

Is that really good value?

The Procurement Act 2023 provides opportunities to consider wider public benefits, but legislation alone will not change purchasing behaviour. Public bodies must be prepared to make different choices about what they buy, from whom and on what terms.

The same questions arise in employment. More jobs do not necessarily mean better lives if those jobs are poorly paid or insecure. Nor can growth be considered genuinely good if disabled and disadvantaged people remain excluded from opportunities to contribute and shape the economy.

And then there is the natural environment. Green spaces are too often treated as costs to be managed rather than assets to be nurtured. Yet healthy natural environments support biodiversity, improve wellbeing, strengthen communities and help us respond to climate change.

These things are connected. A grounds maintenance service, for example, could provide good jobs, restore biodiversity and involve residents in improving their neighbourhood. One public investment could deliver several benefits.

At Aspire Community Works, we call this Natural Wealth: everything that enables people, communities and the natural world to flourish, growing through the connections between them.

Thinking about growth in these terms encourages us to consider not only how much economic activity we generate, but what that activity achieves and what it leaves behind.

PwC’s report makes an important contribution by bringing household prosperity and public value together. But recognising what matters is only the beginning. The real challenge is to make these considerations central to economic decisions.

Good growth will not happen simply because we measure it differently. It requires us to change how we make economic decisions, so that prosperity is shared, good work is valued and the natural world is protected. Otherwise, we risk giving the same old, tired economic model nothing more than a new name.

[1] PwC, Good Growth Barometer: Making growth count: driving local impact, September 2026