The loudest cry from those who took part in our Communities Plan poll last week was for the deputy prime minister to do more for areas outside the South-east. On Monday, this call was answered in the form of the 102-page document Making it Happen: The Northern Way.
An update to the original plan, it promises to "quicken the pace of change" in the North and to be "more ambitious about tackling regional disparities" (pages 7-9). Prescott talked of what he termed the "huge prize" on offer by establishing growth corridors from Liverpool to Hull and from Sheffield to Newcastle. This, he said, would stimulate economic and social ties and so improve the wealth of the region's 15 million people by £35bn a year. It is a hugely ambitious project, one that stretches well beyond the Communities Plan's initial remit.

It would be easy to listen to the naysayers, who dismiss the move as nothing more than another sop to keep the North happy. After all, ambitious intervention in regional economies is nothing new and it has never fully worked before – the list of failed initiatives to "stimulate growth" and "provide jobs" in northern areas hit by the decline of heavy industry stretches from Whitehall all the way up the M6.

So, why should this be any different?

Well, for a start, the initiative is not something that is being forced on the North by policymakers in London. This document, and the whirlwind growth strategy that has to be developed by the summer to deliver it, are the work of regional development agencies One North East, Yorkshire Forward and the North-west Development Agency. They have picked up the baton from the Core Cities network, which has been pushing the case for northern economic hubs for more than a year – and they intend to run with it.

The initiative is not being forced on the North by policymakers in London

It should be borne in mind that the RDAs were pushing at open ODPM and Treasury doors. Prescott was acutely aware that the Communities Plan was a document primarily concerned with the overheated housing market in the South-east, and offered little to other regions of the UK beyond the £500m housing market renewal fund. The supposedly sustainable plan was not living up to its name. However, this new document and the two that are set to follow for the Midlands and the South-west should set the government on a much surer path.

But – and it's a big but – Prescott's rhetoric has to be turned into action plans within just a few months. An interim report is due from the taskforce, chaired by One North East's Margaret Fay, in the spring. The final version is scheduled for July. The idea is for its recommendations for new business parks, roads and homes to reach the Treasury in time for this summer's comprehensive spending review. This is an unnecessarily tight schedule and, given that the spending review process has been running since last autumn, the North should have been given longer.

Source

Housing Today