Marching forwards

It feels as if the North East is slightly under assault at the moment as major organisations within our region have been at the centre of media storms, ‘disk-gate’ looks like a story which will run and run while we all hope NR manages to stabilise as around 6,000 jobs in the region rely upon the business.

While issues such as these often become politicised it makes it all the more important that the North East’s policy is driven by evidence and not just opinion. This month we’ve been releasing the results of two major projects which provide a good example of how to move forwards.

Along with Centre for Cities we reviewed Newcastle City Council’s performance against OECD recommendations and criticisms from last year, based around the city-region’s economy and lack of leadership. Amongst other things we found that the city had to find a bigger role for business leadership and improve a fragmented regional transport system.

There is a need for leadership and shared focus, the time for territory and tribalism is over, with higher expectations demanding sharper and more strategic alliances between local, regional and national players. We must also look to pull in more high value public sector jobs.

The latter point is also reinforced in our latest research The Northern Economy in the Next Decade which will lay down a blueprint for the region for the next 10 years. For more information on any of our work email north@ippr.org