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GROWTH BEYOND THE BIG CITIES Thursday 19 March 2015 Ed Cox, Director, IPPR North @edcox_ippr OECD: Drivers of future growth • Highlighting new OECD research on Promoting Growth in All Types of Region • Key growth drivers for fast-growing intermediate regions: – – – – Skills & mobilisation of the labour force Innovation and the business environment Infrastructure & connectivity Strong and stable institutions & policies • Underpinned by access to finance Framework for Northern Prosperity Decentralisation Decade • A call for a ‘decentralisation decade’ – 10-year programme – whole-of-government approach – 40 powers and responsibilities to the appropriate tiers – Fiscal devolution as a central plank – 5-year settlements, tax and independent body – New wave of combined authorities with enhanced accountability – Strengthening the constitutional status of sub-national government • Between the devil and the deep blue sea Problems with the big city narrative • Agglomeration and the big global hubs myth / groupthink • Urban hierarchies and the problem with PUAs • Overlapping geographies and the distinctive and complementary role of place Sheffield City Region is weakly monocentric. There are other centres of employment within the city region such as Chesterfield and Doncaster, but these are not as productive as Sheffield and attract far fewer commuters, making Sheffield the principal economic centre of the city region. However, the city region is weakly monocentric because Sheffield does not exert as strong a ’pull’ as Manchester. Source: Centre for Cities The problems of smaller towns & cities Historical economy / dependency Weak institutional leadership Low skills base Geographical isolation and/or overshadowing (predation?) Stigma / Image Ageing & outmigration Poor transport links Social problems & poor quality of place So what for Small and Medium-sized cities (SMCs)? Maximising local assets Building local economic resilience Enhancing connectivity Addressing institutional weaknesses 1. Building economic resilience • Playing into / challenging the narrative – Mitigating costs and risks – welfare / public services – Building national resilience / rebalancing at lower tier • Adopting a long-term approach • Addressing low skills base Localisation of skills funding / system Links to FE / HE / businesses Resilience as core responsibility of LEPs / CAs 3. Enhancing connectivity • Different places, different issues – Connections to core cities – ‘commuter towns’ – Logistics hubs – Digital connectivity Local economic strategies – big focus on collaborative action Transport for the North / transport devolution Transport for the North Governance 4. Addressing institutional weaknesses • Importance of stability & continuity • Problems with LEPs and Combined Authorities – – – – Underbounded geography Lack of accountability Lack of capacity SMC lack of contact with central government Review of LEP / CA geography New wave of CAs and more systematic approach to devolution Enhanced local leadership & civic engagement Research / analysis / evaluation Summary • Challenging the narrative but not cutting off our noses to spite our faces – Northern Powerhouse plus – Multi-speed devolution across the board – Getting behind new political voices • Leading not pleading – learning from the core cities – Better analysis – making the economic case – Better local planning & promotion – Collaboration with core cities Ed Cox Director, IPPR North [email protected] @edcox_ippr 07961 979 262 WWW.IPPR.ORG/NORTH