Transcript Slide 1
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:
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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
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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