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.