The Midlands should not be chasing Manchester when it comes to devolution and the Midlands engine versus the northern powerhouse, says Sir Michael Lyons.
Speaking at CBRE’s Outlook 2016 seminar in Birmingham, the former chair of the BBC Trust, chair of the Lyons Housing Commission and strategic adviser to CBRE, was banging the drum for devolution, for which he said he had been an advocate for the past 30 years.
Asked if he felt the Midlands is playing catch-up with the northern powerhouse initiative, he said: “Manchester has done some good things, but they still have the same problems as the West Midlands in terms of being stuck in a low wage, high benefit experience. We must not think we are chasing Manchester.
“We have done many good things in the Midlands, we have got a history of innovation, big infrastructure projects such as New Street station coming good at the moment. Manchester has made much more effective progress on its early plans than we (the Midlands) has done. There are some lessons to be learned from Manchester but they are not the frontrunners that we should be chasing.”
Instead, Lyons believes the Midlands region should look to other European cities and London for inspiration.
“Birmingham, in the early 1980s spent a lot of time learning from other European cities and I would say that that is still very important. But most of all the West Midlands needs to think about its relationship with London,” he said. “Historically, we have always seen ourselves as competing with London and that is not a very sensible proposition.
“We are not going to become another London. But eating from their table, making sure that transport and business connections are as strong as possible is important. Because London is in danger of overheating, it has not got enough housing to retain young people and that does not appear to be being solved.
“And so by concentrating on quality of life, with a speeded up commuter experience. Actually, we can have a very healthy relationship.”
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