The government’s Northern Powerhouse initiative needs a “business-led plan”, the think tank IPPR North has said.
Releasing its blueprint for the Great North Plan today, IPPR North called on businesses, local authorities and government to use planners to lead the process and drive investment.
While it said the government was moving in the right direction to boost growth in the North of England, it said the current approach was “piecemeal, partial and parochial.”
The blueprint suggests four key areas for strategic collaboration and mapping: economy; transport and connectivity; environment; and population and place.
IPPR North director Ed Cox (pictured) said: “As our blueprint shows, we have some real competitive advantages in the North: in areas such as advanced manufacturing, the digital economy and energy supply; not to mention quality of life. But we need a business-led plan from the North, for the North, to tie these together.
“It is the kind of strategy that they have in London and in the most successful regions in Europe and the US and now is the time for business leaders to have a bigger role in making the Northern Powerhouse a reality.”
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