Core faces challenge on growth

Planning, 22 June 2007

The search for the right geographical level at which to promote economic development goes on. Regions might be too big and districts too small, but the latest fashion for city-regions may not be the answer either.

According to a report produced jointly by the Chief Economic Development Officers Society (CEDOS) and the County Surveyors Society (CSS), large cities should not necessarily be the starting point for tackling economic disparities within or between regions. CEDOS chairwoman Linda Edworthy, head of economic development at Durham County Council, is concerned that the city-region concept is being widely adopted even though it is largely untested.

"City-regions are seen as a quick fix to tackle regional disparities, even though they have been promoted by only a few academics," Edworthy complains. In her view, this emphasis runs the risk of increasing disparities within regions. "It is taking funds away from other areas, with regional development and other agencies concentrating their money in large cities," she adds, calling for a more dispersed approach.

The report highlights a wide range of approaches to inter-authority collaboration across administrative boundaries to develop joint approaches to growth. In the East of England, medium-sized cities and towns are working together in the absence of an obvious city-region. Councils in London and the East of England have joined forces to manage growth along transport corridors. "This diverse range of approaches requires more support rather than resources being diverted to core cities," Edworthy urges.

The report makes a strong case for county-sized growth initiatives, arguing that these make a greater contribution to the national economy than most city-regions. Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire and Essex have all been drivers of national growth whereas Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, Nottingham and Birmingham have all fallen behind, it contends.

Of all the English regions, it adds, the South West had the highest rate of growth in private sector and overall employment between 1998 and 2004. Yet the region includes some of England's most peripheral areas and only one large city. More than 42 per of its population and 37 per cent of jobs are in smaller towns and rural areas, the report points out.

Alan Harding of the University of Manchester, one of the architects of the city-region concept, finds such arguments overstated. "The government recognises that there is a role for smaller and medium-sized towns," he says. "But it is important that these towns show how they are working together and how they can contribute to overall regional objectives in tackling economic disparities and meeting housing demand."

He also takes issue with the county-based approach. "Arguing for the county regions model is unrealistic," he maintains. "It is important to work across existing boundaries because economies do not respect them. Cheshire is not a separate economic entity. Durham is not a city-region in itself and it needs to look at how it can contribute to the city-regions around it."

Edworthy responds that the city-region concept is restricting growth in medium-sized towns in County Durham because new development is being concentrated on Tyneside. "There seems to be a view that everyone should move into Newcastle to stop urban flight, but some people want to live in smaller towns because of the quality of life," she points out. The county council, she says, is looking at developing hi-tech business parks close to motorways but is being told that employment growth should be in the North East's major urban centres.

Dorset County Council has a partnership with Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch to promote joint working in boosting their regeneration and development. Bournemouth and Poole have now been awarded growth point status. "A lot of towns on the edge of the South East have been undervalued but have great potential," says Miles Butler, the county's director of environment.

The partners are looking at encouraging transport connections between the towns as well as across the wider sub-region. "The growth point initiative may indicate the dawn of a new direction in planning towards a more dispersed approach," Butler suggests. "The initiative must not only be about housing. These areas must look at jobs and infrastructure."

He agrees that initiatives across the regions should be put on a more strategic footing. "At the moment the core city-regions are still the basis for tackling regional disparities, with the growth points tacked on," he says. He presses the case for a national spatial strategy to co-ordinate the various regional and sub-regional growth initiatives: "The only national strategy seems to focus around the core cities."

Towns and cities unite to push for growth

Collaboration is developing in regions without a core city. Groupings of towns and cities are set to become the building blocks for their regional economies. In the East of England, Norwich, Ipswich, Peterborough, Colchester, Luton and Southend have clubbed together under the Regional Cities East (RCE) banner to provide a framework for funding by the East of England Development Agency.

"Medium-sized cities are relatively unnoticed, being overshadowed by the priority areas of the core cities and small town initiatives," says a report prepared for the partnership by Roger Tym & Partners. The consultants highlight the central role of the RCE initiative in promoting growth across the region but also the need for investment in infrastructure and collaboration.

The partnership is developing joint approaches to co-ordinating the provision and funding of the infrastructure necessary to promote growth. It also enables the participating local authorities to share staffing and expertise. "All the local authorities are experiencing the same recruitment problems. We need to avoid poaching from each other," explains RCE director Mike Crouch.

The CEDOS and CSS report concludes that the more dispersed pattern of economic development in many regions presents a challenge to the way in which the city-region concept is applied. "Part of the challenge will be to ensure that the polycentric economy is supported by a flexible and joined-up policy framework that spans intra-regional administrative boundaries," it argues.

Recent proposals from the New Local Government Network for strengthened regional bodies have gained some currency in drawing together a range of partnership arrangements in polycentric regions. Trans-regional bodies such as the Northern Way could help to co-ordinate initiatives and resources to promote such mechanisms and secure a more balanced approach. "It seems that the idea is gaining some support in government," says Edworthy.

Making the Most of Our Economic Potential: Looking Beyond the Core Cities is available at PlanningResource.co.uk/doc

NORTHUMBERLAND

A sub-regional partnership of local authorities along the A19 and A189 from Tynemouth to Ashington in Northumberland is seeking to raise the profile of this deprived area in the context of the Tyne and Wear city-region.

In 2000, Wansbeck District Council, North Tyneside Council and Blyth Valley Borough Council banded together with Northumberland County Council, English Partnerships and One NorthEast to develop a strategy to spread wealth along the corridor. Previously the area, which has a population of more than 300,000, had attracted limited regeneration funding and little private investment.

Jeremy Sherlock, director of the South East Northumberland North Tyneside Regeneration Initiative (SENNTRI), is confident that priorities in the North East regional spatial strategy will help to further the sub-region's renewal. He is also optimistic that the private sector will take on some of the sites along the corridor.

The initiative has identified investment priorities and sought to align regeneration strategies for the various authorities. "The partnership has gained great support from the regional agencies, possibly because the sub-region was in danger of becoming a drain on resources in the city-region due to rising levels of deprivation," says Sherlock.

SENNTRI aims to improve public transport connections to the rest of Tyne and Wear. Town centre revitalisation is a particular focus. The relocation of the port of Blyth and reuse of brownfield sites for a mix of retail and leisure uses are among projects now under way.

LONDON TO LUTON

A 50km territory stretching from King's Cross to Luton could be the building block to support economies on the edge of London by promoting co-operation between local authorities, higher educational institutions and major housing and business developments.

Revisions to the London Plan propose to reinforce connections between north-west London and neighbouring areas outside the capital. The North London Strategic Alliance (NLSA) has taken the process forward by promoting the North West London to Luton corridor, highlighting several growth points.

The alliance and the Greater London Authority want the draft East of England Plan to make connections between towns such as Luton, Hemel Hempstead and Harrow and the inner part of the corridor. It sees links between inner and outer London and surrounding areas as the key to creating an effective polycentric region, generating additional employment.

"Many businesses support the global city economy but do not want to pay central London rents," says NLSA assistant director Stephen King. "We need to consider how outer London can better support these business."

He adds that one of the first tasks will be to improve accessibility. In its response to the London Plan, the alliance pressed for a strong focus on sustainable transport links and investment to develop relationships between its main centres.