Manchester

An Unhealthy Imbalance

Outlook for Cities

Another report, another confirmation of the economic chasm that exists between London and the rest of the country.

The Centre for Cities report ‘Cities Outlook 2014’ highlighted the growing gap between North and South, in particular planet London and the rest of us.

London accounted for a huge 80% of private sector jobs created between 2010-2012, while Britain’s nine next largest cities combined created only 10% of private sector work.

In actual terms 216,700 jobs were created in London in the two year period, compared to the next best figure which is Manchester’s 13,200.

Cities like Liverpool can partially celebrate the news that more private sector jobs have been created than in previous years, but then we have to accept the low base from which the city was starting from; and the yet to be fully felt impact of massive public sector cuts across Merseyside, and indeed the North of England generally.

Successive governments have tried, and quite clearly failed, to address what has been an unhealthy imbalance in the UK economy for far too many years, and it is now surely time for our politicians to accept that only radical, structural reform that allows genuine decentralisation of power to our great city regions and counties is not just desirable, but absolutely essential.

Poorly funded Local Enterprise Partnership’s, a scattering of city mayors and combined authorities are the existing vehicles that are in place to give the regions a better chance of competing with the London beast. As the figures show, they simply aren’t working.

The problem is that whichever colour the government, Westminster finds it incredibly difficult to give up the patronage it has held over the rest of the country for centuries.

‘How can we trust those Northerners to elect politicians who will do the right thing’; or ‘We know best’ is the long held view in the corridors of Westminster power. Crumbs off the table for the odd city deal here; the much trumpeted but ineffective Regional Growth Fund; and other poorly funded one-off initiatives are apparently all we deserve.

It is time we in the north started to demand more. Private/ public sector partnerships have thrived in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Lancashire for many years now, but to maximise the potential of this collaboration we need a genuine transfer of powers AND resource.

The models of governance can be debated and discussed within the regions, and one size may not fit all, but we can’t go on like this.

For me the starting point is adopting an economic strategy that recognises the dangers and absurdity of more than 80% of the nation’s wealth being created in one city; a meaningful redistribution and decentralisation of funding for major city regions and counties, including an increase in borrowing limits and control over council tax and business rates; plus the establishment of regional investment banks.

What is going on at Elland Road?

Elland Road

From Peter Ridsdale through to Ken Bates Leeds United Football Club have endured what can most kindly be described as a rollercoaster ride in recent times. But even by its own incredible standards, this week must go down as one of the most bizarre in the clubs history.

The manager was apparently sacked on Transfer Deadline day, with the club captain going onto the Sky Sports channel to tell viewers of his own personal distress at the news. The following day, with the help of a hat-trick from the skipper, Leeds comprehensively beat Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield by five goals to one. Post match it was announced that Manager Brian McDermott had been re-instated, or perhaps never really, officially, sacked in the first place.

To put the icing on this very messy cake, a winding up petition was issued by one of the clubs sponsors on Wednesday, claiming none payment of fees.

If you are a Leeds fan all of this must be humiliating and extremely concerning. But football supporters across the country should be equally horrified and equally concerned, because it could be your club next.

The number of people who have used the phrase ‘well, it’s only…’ when talking of the decline at the hands of incompetent owners of ‘smaller’ teams like Portsmouth and Wimbledon now need to wake up and smell the coffee.

Blackburn Rovers, West Ham and Coventry City are among a growing list of great clubs who have been grossly mismanaged as the wealth and excitement of the Premier League has disguised some of the more financially questionable activity in and around the game.

It is not only ‘small’ clubs’ who can fall victim to gross mismanagement. Bigger clubs can be hit just as hard, if not harder.  Ask Liverpool, who escaped the clutches of two Yankee cowboys by the skin of their teeth. And Leeds – they don’t come much bigger than Leeds.

In the halcyon days of the 60’s and 70’s under Don Revie they conquered all before them in England, and were a whisker away from becoming the champions of Europe too.

As recently as 1992 Leeds were League champions and they won the League Cup in 1996. They were Champions League semi finalists just over a decade ago.

The attendances at Elland Road average around 30,000 even in the Championship and they are genuinely a big club – but it hasn’t stopped them from becoming a laughing stock at the hands of a series of owners who are clearly not ‘fit and proper’ people to run a football club.

It is time that the ownership of our football clubs became an issue. It is time for the Football Association to actually do something worthwhile. And it is time for our politicians to intervene.

I get that football is a business now. But it is not beyond the wit of the powers that be to come up with a set of official rules and regulations that would prevent the further abuse of football ownership in this country. Maybe it is something Greg Dyke should tackle as part of his commission on English football?

Meanwhile poor old Leeds, once the scourge of English football, and hated by supporters up and down the land, await for the next instalment of what is turning out to be a never ending nightmare for a once mighty club. And the rest of us replace that hatred of Leeds with a far more insulting emotion –pity!

What would Scottish Independence mean for the North?

Scot Independence

2014 could see Scotland separate from the rest of the UK. The Independence referendum takes place in September, and having been way behind in early polling, the Scottish Nationalists appear to have gained some momentum in recent months with an effective charm offensive from its leader Alex Salmond, combined with a lacklustre approach from the ‘NO’ campaign which is being led by former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling.

The resurgence of support for Independence reminds us once again of the importance of charisma and personality in modern politics. Salmond has both in abundance, and whilst Darling has a huge intellect he is hardly likely to match Scotland’s First Minister when it comes to rallying the troops.

In the end my gut instinct tells me that, despite Salmond’s best efforts, the Scots are too cautious to take a leap of faith into the unknown, and that the lack of economic clarity offered by the Nationalists, coupled with doubts over what Scotland’s relationship with the EU would be if they were to opt out of the union will see the status quo maintained.

Nonetheless, the discussion and debate in the run up to the autumn poll will be fascinating, and will continue to highlight the fact that, even without total independence, the Scots have enjoyed significant devolved powers through its own parliament for over a decade now. How long will it be before the regions of England begin to demand similar devolution that would enable the charismatic and big personality politicians to take on the Alex Salmond or Boris Johnson role in areas like the North West and Yorkshire?

That the North is still suffocated by London’s financial and political power is irrefutable. It is no good us moaning about London though. We have to take advantage of the fact that one of the most successful global cities is on our doorstep and demand the political tools that will help us do it.

Metro mayors, regional parliaments and county commissioners have all been debated and discussed. Perhaps it’s time for us to turn one or more of these ideas into reality?

2014 is going to be a good ‘un

2014

Unemployment down, inflation down, predictions of growth up and Everton riding high in the Premier League playing a brand of football not seen at Goodison Park sine the halcyon ‘school of science’ days, 2013 has ended up being quite a decent year – but I’ll predict that 2014 will be even better.

The economy has turned the corner, business confidence has returned, and during the next twelve months that confidence will deliver enterprise, jobs and growth for UK Plc and for the North of England.

In the regions where Downtown operates, there is even more reason to be optimistic.

Leeds will host the Tour de France, a tremendous coup for the city region and an event that will elevate Leeds’ international standing and generate significant interest in Yorkshire. With the new Trinity shopping mall now open, and a 13,000 seat arena, Leeds will be looking to build its visitor economy, whilst maintaining its position as a leader in the professional and advanced manufacturing sectors.

Lancashire has been working hard to put in place a business support package that is private sector friendly and can deliver for ambitious companies in the county. Its BOOST initiative is the most comprehensive project of its kind that I have seen, and Lancashire County Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership deserve huge credit for genuinely listening to business and establishing a programme that will really work for Lancashire firms.

Manchester continues to deliver major regeneration and infrastructure schemes, and its plans for Airport City will take the city to another level again. Greater Manchester continues to demonstrate the importance of good civic leadership, private-public sector partnership that work, and the ability to avoid complacency and continue to drive forward with visionary strategies that build on past successes. I expect Manchester to lead the pro HS2 campaign and lobby for the acceleration rather than cancellation of a project that will benefit the North, but arguably Manchester in particular.

Liverpool will host the biggest international business event the UK has seen since 1951. Max Steinberg and his team at Liverpool Vision are organising a six week jamboree of activities that will take place in June and July of next year, with Downtown holding a significant series of high profile events during the International Festival of Business’ ‘Cities & Enterprise’ week. Over 140 countries are already signed up to IFB, and some top speakers have been booked. Again as a showcase for what the Liverpool city region has to offer, it couldn’t get much better.

As for Downtown, well 2014 see’s us mark our tenth anniversary. As you can imagine we have a whole host of special events, parties and celebrations in store for you, so watch this space.

Have a fantastic Christmas – and look forward to an absolutely fabulous New Year.

We should all be concerned about decline of regional newspapers

The Liverpool Post

This week it was announced that a Liverpool institution, The Post, would be ceasing publication. The newspaper, which switched from a daily to a weekly in 2012, has been running for more than 158 years, and has been particularly good at business coverage, in depth reporting of some of the bigger issues that have affected the Liverpool city region and local sport, namely Everton and Liverpool.

In recent times, as with all regional papers, its quality has declined along with its circulation figures, but nonetheless it is a significant news platform that will be missed.

Its closure, though sad, was not entirely unexpected, and the city will still be served with a regional newspaper via the Echo, though this is more tabloid in its approach to reporting.

However, the Echo too has seen a significant drop in its circulation figures in recent years, and it seems that even giants like Trinity Mirror, who own a healthy chunk of the regional newspaper market, are struggling to find a way of overcoming the challenge of the World Wide Web.

Digital editions have been launched and scrapped, news teams have been cut back and dumbed down, increased amount of content is ‘scraped’ from other rival news agencies. The days of investigative reporting, considered and constructive analysis and local exclusives are, at best, hanging by a thread.

Readers of the Lancashire Evening Post, the Yorkshire Post and the MEN will be conscious of the decline in the quality of what they are reading in general news terms. As far as business news is concerned, it is pretty woeful.

Those journalists assigned to ‘do’ business often have several other roles within the paper and are increasingly reliant of PR agencies to fill their daily e bulletins or their weekly business supplements. Otherwise, it is those with the big advertising budgets that tend to enjoy lots of column inches.

Does this matter? I think it does. For a lobbying organisation like Downtown, we were highly reliant on the Post to shake things up in Liverpool when we launched nine years ago. The shambles of the management in the run up to Capital of Culture year, poor planning policy and too many QUANGOS were all issues that we were able to have debated and discussed through the pages of our local newspaper.

We have grown enough to be able to use other tools to raise such issues now, but are they as effective as print media to hit the wider community?

And in terms of the broader agenda, who will be holding to account our big Corporates regionally; speaking up for our towns and cities; highlighting the good and the bad; scrutinising what our local politicians and officials are up to? Is this an agenda that will interest the London centric press?

I think regional papers are caught in a vicious circle. To maintain economic viability in the short term, they cut overheads. In doing so they make their proposition less unique and less attractive. This leads to a fall in circulation. This leads to the next round of cost cutting. And so it goes on.

I believe there is a market for quality regional publications that have an agenda for good solid reporting, sticking up for their local area and providing good business coverage. There are few if any of the existing stable of regional newspapers that do this nowadays, and as a result I expect that the Post will not be the last one to be announcing closure.