Lancashire

UDI for the North gets ever closer

UDI

As the Scots get ready to go to the polls to decide if they want total independence from the UK, or simply accept a generous additional devolution package that is on offer, the North of England continues to lobby Westminster in the hope that we can get some extra crumbs from the table that doesn’t include multi billion pound infrastructure schemes that, though much needed and long overdue, are at least a decade away from completion.

Local government cuts may have been necessary five years ago, but it is fair to say that those cuts were not imposed in an equitable fashion across the country, and cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds; and indeed counties like Lancashire, have been tasked with taking more than their fair share of the pain since 2010.

Had the austerity programme been evenly distributed across the country then Manchester would be £1million a week better off. Similar statistics are also true in other northern regions.

But it is not only cash but power and responsibility that the north has been starved of. The Scottish parliament has enjoyed a huge amount of autonomy since 1999, whilst even the Welsh Assembly, representing a population that is fewer than Greater Manchester and many other English city regions, have more say over their nations affairs than we do here.

Downtown has long argued that structural reform of local government is vital. However, with that reform must include genuine decentralisation of real additional powers, not least the ability to raise and spend local taxes, greater planning and regeneration autonomy and the opportunity to spend education, training and employment budgets in a more locally relevant fashion.

These ‘asks’ have been made in a rather hopeful, half hearted way in the past; but the Scottish situation means that English devolution is right back on the agenda and this time political and business leaders mean business.

Already the mainstream political parties are talking far more seriously about how a new English devolution settlement can be progressed post the next election. The job now is to turn talk in to action, and once and for all give big northern cities the chance to shape their own destiny.

Give Your Business a Boost

Boost Business Lancashire

During Downtown’s recent Lancashire Business Week there was much concern raised about the county being overshadowed by the Northwest’s big cities, Liverpool and Manchester.

In terms of profile, political influence and marketing collateral the ‘big two’ have a significant advantage over Lancashire and indeed the rest of the region.

However, the more entrepreneurial and ballsy members of Downtown relish that challenge, and rightly expressed the view that we should just roll our sleeves up and get on with it, because that’s what we Lancastrians do.

I can subscribe to that approach, but would also want to take this opportunity to remind the local business community that  if you are ambitious, and you do have genuine aspirations to grow your business, then Lancashire has something that is a far more effective business support initiative than anywhere else in the Northwest  – BOOST!

The growth hub that has been created by the Local Enterprise Partnership in association with Lancashire County Council is private sector led, easy to access, and offers the most effective business support tools to high growth businesses that are around.

As someone who is involved and aware of similar initiatives in Liverpool, Manchester and indeed Leeds, there is no doubt in my mind that Lancashire has got the business support model spot on – and has a programme that is way ahead of its city rivals.

Nevertheless, I still have businesses saying to me that they are struggling to find the necessary help, guidance and support to grow. My advice to them – and to you – is to do your business a favour and visit the BOOST website today. What have you got to lose?

The BOOST business hub services can be found at www.boostbusinesslancashire.co.uk.

What about Lancashire?

George Osborne

The chancellor announced plans for city region mayors for Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool at an event earlier this week.

His proclamation that economic growth in these three great northern cities is the way to rebalance an economy that is so badly skewered towards London and the South East was welcome in many ways, if only because there appears to be a genuine recognition that power needs to be devolved from Westminster to the regions and we need to be allowed to take control of our own destiny.

But if cities are the future, rather than garlic bread, then where does that leave counties such as Lancashire?

With no city hub, no recognised figurehead for the entire region, and no mention from George Osborne in his speech on Monday, will Lancashire begin to see resources reduced and transferred to the big urban conurbations?

How Lancashire reacts to this new political agenda was the subject of much discussion and debate throughout Downtown’s Lancashire Business Week, which we hosted this week.

Though there was inevitably some concern about the possibility of the cities winning more resources in the future, there was also an acknowledgement that Lancashire had to react in a positive way, demonstrate its own key strengths that can significantly contribute to the economic growth of the North and come up with a positive vision that the county’s private and public sectors can share and articulate.

Cities do not have a monopoly on good ideas, as our not too distant past proves.

It was Lancashire, not Manchester, which established the first arms length local authority managed economic development company. Lancashire Enterprises went on to become a blueprint for council’s up and down the country.

It was Lancashire, not Leeds, which established an office in the heart of Brussels to influence European policy and win significant financial support for a whole range of initiatives for the county. Lancashire House, as it was named, ended up renting space to other local authorities, and made money from what was seen by some as a risky project.

It was Lancashire, not Liverpool, which pioneered the idea of a Northwest Partnership, consisting of the top 20 businesses in the region and the leaders of all the Northwest’s council leaders. This was the forerunner to the Northwest Regional Assembly, a body that was led for a number of years not by the leader of Manchester or Liverpool – but by the Deputy Leader of Lancashire.

When the county is confident, bold and takes calculated risks it is at its strongest. For too long we have lacked the necessary confidence, and indeed collective ambition and unity of purpose, to put the county on any government’s economic growth agenda.

I got the sense this week that the confidence and desire, from the business community at least, is returning. We must now press our politicians to join us, and create a vision that George Osborne & co cannot ignore.

Lancashire United

Lancashrie Rose

Last night over a thousand business leaders packed in to the Winter Gardens for the annual Red Rose Awards to celebrate the success of a diverse and impressive number of companies who have enjoyed a successful twelve months.

The event, hosted by the excellent publication Lancashire Business View, was no doubt a fabulous evening, and one I was really sorry to miss due to commitments today.

As they sat celebrating the wonderful business stories from across the county guests can be forgiven for not giving too much thought to the discussion and debate that I referred to in my blog here last week, whereby cities and city regions are increasingly seen as the future of economic growth in the UK.

So, how should Lancashire respond to the notion of cities exclusively taking the mantle of economic growth hubs, and indeed the idea presented by Evan Davies in his excellent BBC programme ‘Mind the Gap’ that to compete with London a Northern ‘super city’ ought to be created, consisting of Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.

There is much merit in these three giants working more collaboratively, as I pointed out last week, but it then leaves the question as to how places like Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria will be supported.

If national policy continues to drive city hubs as the solution to relative economic decline in the North, then counties can only suffer – unless they create a fresh operating environment themselves.

There has been near irrational resistance from the various components that make up the Red Rose County to accept a hub city or an attack brand that can lead the marketing and business development agenda for Lancashire.

The Local Enterprise Partnership has performed remarkably well in bringing the disparate parts of the area together, but the underlying tensions between Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool still exist.

As the surrounding boroughs of Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds buy in to the inevitability of city hubs being the only way to drive city region wealth, albeit some more enthusiastically than others, Lancashire continues to insist on equal distribution of resource across its vast expanse, therefore diluting the offer that a united Lancashire would offer.

Both the private and public sectors need to address this problem before it’s too late. Ninety nine councils, hundreds of councillors and several Chamber of Commerce organisations representing one county cannot be right. A combined approach to our collective challenge will help enormously, and we’ll be approaching you soon to ask if you’re up for helping Lancashire overcome that challenge.

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.