Radical Reformers ep 122: Manchesterism (Part 3) with Warren Heppolette, Director of the Prevention Demonstrator, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
- Andrew Laird
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
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In part three of our "Manchesterism" series on the Radical Reformers podcast, I am joined by Warren Heppolette, Director of the Greater Manchester Prevention Demonstrator and one of the leading figures behind Greater Manchester’s health devolution journey. It’s a fascinating conversation that gets right to the heart of what Manchesterism looks like in practice.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been exploring what Manchesterism really means and what the rest of the country might learn from Greater Manchester’s approach to devolution and public service reform.
In this part, Warren identifies some of the defining characteristics of Manchester’s health devolution journey:
A deep culture of collaboration, built up over decades rather than created through a new structure or governance model.
Putting “people and place above institutional interests” and designing public services around a shared purpose rather than simply aggregating organisational responsibilities.
Coming to the table asking “what can I bring?” rather than “what can I get?”. This deceptively simple but hugely important mindset sets the scene for genuine collaboration.
An expectation of ambition. As Warren puts it, in Greater Manchester you should “expect the inconceivable to become routine”.
There’s also a brilliant reflection on Warren’s early career as a neighbourhood housing officer and how the arrival of New Public Management and specialist teams gradually broke the connection between the public servant, the person and whether their problem was actually solved.
In Warren’s words, it started “taking the joy” out of public service.
We recommend you listen to this in conjunction with parts one and two to get a full flavour of “Manchesterism”! There's Eve Holt discussing Greater Manchester's long-standing commitment to collaboration and person-centred reform through the Live Well programme, and Thomas Johnson reflecting on the value of long-term place-based leadership and local knowledge.
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