11 April 2007
The Government and regional agencies have been focusing too much on eight core cities and city regions as the main drivers of England’s economy when we need to unlock the economic potential of all our areas – city and shire, urban and rural, says a new report.
The report, Making the Most of Our Economic Potential – Looking Beyond the Core Cities, is published today by the Chief Economic Development Officers Society and County Surveyors’ Society, which together represent chief officers of local authorities outside the metropolitan areas with responsibility for strategic economic development and planning.
There is a need for action nationally and regionally but research shows that below the national level, the key layer is the sub-region. CEDOS and CSS welcome the growing recognition of this but are increasingly concerned at the Government’s over-emphasis on the big ‘core’ cities and city regions.
Linda Edworthy, CEDOS Chair, says “City regions may be right for some areas, but they are not a universal solution. Many regions have multiple centres, distinct county regions and economic zones based on particular industries or communication corridors. Imposing city regions as a ‘one size fits all’ solution is inappropriate and runs the risk of failing to maximize the economic potential of many areas”.
“England’s counties are an essential part of our economic life and it is clear that county regions are as significant as city regions as economic drivers and locations for the knowledge economy and business clustering”, she says.
A fresh look at economic policy and delivery is needed. The Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review will provide a unique opportunity to set a new framework to enable us to make a step-change in our regional and national economic performance. The report argues that the Government and the regional agencies should not be prescriptive. They must devolve real responsibility to local and sub-regional partnerships to take action that meets the needs of their areas.
John Deegan, CSS President, says: “We believe that elected local authorities have a key role to play in bringing together, supporting and facilitating the leadership of sub-regional partnerships to achieve improved and sustainable economic performance. If local authorities are given real responsibility for economic place shaping in their areas and have the resources to do the job, Central Government, local government and the regional agencies can together unlock the full economic potential of our nation and all its constituent areas”.
Ends
Notes for Editors
- An Executive Summary of Making the Most of our Economic Potential – Looking Beyond the Core Cities is attached. The full report can be obtained from James Atkinson on 01926 412210
- Linda Edworthy and John Deegan are available for interviews. Contact Linda on 0191 3833699 or John on 01926 412022
- The Chief Economic Development Officers Society and CSS (the County Surveyors Society) are made up of chief officers from counties and non-metropolitan unitary local authorities in England
- Press release issued by CEDOS, c/o Durham County Council Press Office [insert contact details]
MAKING THE MOST OF OUR ECONOMIC POTENTIAL – LOOKING BEYOND THE CORE CITIES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Regional economic performance
The Government’s central economic objective is to raise the rate of sustainable growth and achieve rising prosperity and a better quality of life, with economic and employment opportunities for all. An essential part of this is to improve the economic performance of every part of the UK.
There are as yet few signs of significant progress in reducing regional disparities. There continue to be significant differences in regional performance; the north-south and east-west divides remain a reality; and there can be no doubt that this is holding back the competitiveness of UK plc. The time is right to take a fresh look at policy, including the spatial approach to regional economic development.
Recent research has demonstrated that below the national level, the key economic layer in England is sub-regional. If we are to release the economic potential in every region and in every area of Britain, a step-change is needed with a much stronger sub-regional focus – one that reflects the varied economic geography of this country. .
Core cities and city regions
Our major cities, including those referred to as the ‘core cities’, continue to be vitally important to the economic future of this country and its regions. So too, do all our cities – but there is concern at the over-emphasis in Government policy on the core cities and their ‘city regions’, which are increasingly being seen as the functional areas on which to focus economic development investment and activity.
This is despite criticisms raised by national organizations, local authorities and within academic circles, on the applicability of the city region concept to different areas of the country; its impact on more peripheral areas; and even more fundamentally - on its overall validity and relevance to promoting effective and sustainable national and regional economic development.
A city region approach may be appropriate for some areas but is clearly inappropriate for many. We strongly believe that it should not be followed in a prescriptive way. On its own it will be ineffective as a means of achieving the Government’s stated aim of reducing regional disparities and risks adversely affecting substantial areas of the country that lie outside identified city regions as well as peripheral areas within them.
England’s counties –essential components of sustainable economic growth
England’s counties are vital to England’s economic performance. Alongside the core cities and the other metropolitan areas, the county areas are key sub-regional components of every region in the country outside London. They are a major part of our national social and economic infrastructure. They account for 60% of England’s population; are home to around a million VAT registered businesses, provide around 15 million jobs and account for a large and growing proportion of national output.
Too often, our smaller cities, towns and rural areas are typecast as playing a secondary, supporting role to the core cities. The statistics show this is far from being the case. The recent ‘State of the Cities’ report shows that outside London, the share of job growth is fairly evenly divided between the ‘primary urban areas’ and the ‘towns and rural’ areas. Indeed, the towns and rural areas have been showing a higher ratio of job growth compared to share of jobs.
This must not obscure the very real social and economic problems being faced in these areas. They may be less physically concentrated and therefore less visible than in the cities, but many county areas have problems of unemployment, low incomes, and multiple deprivation.
Sub-national economic development – one size doesn’t fit all
Our analysis shows that all areas – London, core regional cities, smaller cities, towns and rural areas - have distinctive roles to play as part of the complex mosaic that forms the modern economic geography of this country. If our opportunities are to be grasped and problems tackled effectively; and if the Government’s goals of sustainable economic growth that benefits all areas, and reducing regional economic disparities, are to be achieved, a more realistic approach is needed.
A key weakness of the city region approach is its over-simplification of complex spatial economics and its potential to increase intra-regional disparities. In reality, regions depend on the inter-relationships of a series of complementary and competing cities and towns, each with their own hinterland, with ‘boundaries’ varying and indeed overlapping according to the particular mix of definitional factors being used.
County regions, operating as large economies with a clear geographical focus and sense of identity, can be at least as significant as cities in driving economic growth, with a high degree of specialization and knowledge intensive clustering. The reality is that counties, like the core cities, have a strong sense of identity as well as the social and economic cohesion and scale that provides an appropriate geography for sub-national economic development intervention and promotion.
Sometimes, it may also be advantageous for joint approaches that focus on other aspects of economic geography such as polycentricity, economic sector regions and communications corridors.
It is essential that we embrace and not suppress diversity. We must enable all areas to play their full part in the drive for sustainable economic development. The key is flexibility and recognizing that one size really does not fit all.
Making the most of our economic potential
The real key to achieving the Government’s policy aims of sustainable economic growth, reducing regional disparities and providing for sustainable communities is to devolve power and responsibility to sub-regional partnerships in which local authorities with a track record of leadership and delivery on economic development have a pivotal role.
In the non-metropolitan areas of England, the strategic authorities – the County Councils and Unitary Councils - have a particularly important role both within local areas and across local authority boundaries in a sub-regional context. They have an established track record in building, leading and supporting partnerships within and beyond their boundaries for the effective promotion of economic development.
The existing power of economic well-being is sufficient to enable local authorities to undertake their place-shaping role for pursuing economic prosperity. The central issue is not about a need for additional powers but about Government placing a clear responsibility on local authorities for exercising the power of economic well-being. There needs to be a much stronger emphasis placed on this by Government, making promotion of the economy a statutory duty.
Local authorities need to have the resources to do the job. A step change is required to provide a sound basis for effective local authority economic prosperity place-shaping. The financial link between business growth and investment needs to be restored to enable local authorities to retain income derived from business rates linked to the introduction of the new duty. This would be backed by reference in Comprehensive Performance Assessments to joined up working on behalf of the local economy.
The way forward
The way forward for sub-national economic development and regeneration is to maximise the devolution of responsibility to sub-regional partnerships with:
- a flexible, locally-led approach to defining the spatial areas covered;
- partnerships led by democratically elected local authorities, with a statutory duty for economic promotion, backed by the resources to do the job;
- removal of the barriers faced by local authorities in promoting the economic development and regeneration of their areas;
- the links between action by Central Government, regional agencies and sub-regional partnerships being as direct and straightforward as possible, avoiding long chains of decision-making and unnecessary sieving processes and coordinating structures
Chief Economic Development Officers’ Society
County Surveyors’ Society
March 2007
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