Issue Why a second wave of public agency relocation is still justified

Summary

Whether a second relocation is needed at all is contested, but the report sets out its case on three grounds. First, capital-region hyperconcentration and the extinction crisis outside it have deepened since the first wave, turning imbalance into a survival problem. Second, although dispersion fell short, the first wave built foundations such as settled agencies, regional economic hubs and wider local hiring, so the lesson is to fix its failure factors rather than repeat or abandon it. Third, unlike private incentives or tax breaks that depend on voluntary responses, agency relocation is a spatial instrument the state can decide and implement directly, guaranteeing that staff and budgets move to the region. The report adds that relocation can help break a self-reinforcing vicious circle left to market forces, especially when combined with the five-pole strategy and flagship national universities.