DIB’s ‘Northern Power Towns’ event at the Hyatt Manchester attracted business leaders and entrepreneurs from various sectors across the Manchester city region and beyond.
We were fortunate to hear from Alison McKenzie-Folan, Chief Executive of Wigan Council, and Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of Warrington Borough Council.
Drawing from their leadership roles within local government, they spoke on their personal experiences overseeing regeneration and development projects in their areas and provided attendees with some invaluable insights into some of the work being done to promote economic growth in areas like Wigan and Warrington.
Steven Broomhead began the discussions explaining the formation of the Northern Power Towns group. Born off the back of a discussion about how to promote inclusive economic growth, the NPT are made up of representatives from companies and local councils who are passionate about promoting those areas outside cities which don’t get enough recognition and meet to discuss policy and other issues.
Key among these is devolution. Steven believes for the most part, devolution is progressing well, but he pointed out that often, no one truly measures or evaluates it. Devolution isn’t seen as much outside big cities, although Angela Raynor wants everywhere to have some sort of devolution deal in the next three years.
Steven feels the Government is mostly getting on with delivering their manifesto, but there is still some disconnect between Government and Local Councils, for example is it realistic to be bringing back housing targets of 1300 homes a year in Warrington?
Steven feels we need to adopt an ‘Infrastructure first housing second’ approach when it comes to development- “There’s no point building new housing if you’ve got no infrastructure to support it.”
Alison agreed that although councils can often meet housing targets if they budget well, for every one house they build they’ve often got twenty people waiting.
She filled us in on some of the projects Wigan City council has been embarking on including buying the town shopping centre and building a brand-new market hall, with new residential units and space for open-air events. They are also looking at building an integrated ‘Station Gateway.’
Alison pointed out while devolution is important, Local Councils will still be under enormous pressure with budgets for regeneration projects and often funding has been a real partnership effort between councils and the private sector. Working with Private sector partners and having honest conversations, particularly about speed of delivery of projects is important.
There’s more recent interest from international investors in getting into this space. It’s been an exciting time for Wigan. Capital and centric are in the process of turning the old civic centre into an innovation hub opening more space for start-ups.
There was then a Q&A session where attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and share their views and experiences.
There was an interesting discussion on the importance of Sport and the culture economy.
From a cultural perspective, Wigan has mostly historically been a non-investment area and it’s now further up the list to receive any funding from Arts Council England.
Alison wants to see more done to help people connect through arts and culture as this would also benefit communities from a well-being perspective.
Steven also wants to see more done to drive the local economy through investment in culture as there is a big legacy of community sports clubs in Warrington.
There was a consensus that the arts are often not respected, and businesses could benefit from becoming more creative and more creative thinkers.
Chris McKenna, Director at Downtown, said: “I’d like to thank everyone who attended today’s event. It’s been fantastic reflecting on Greater Manchester’s many successes but also looking ahead to the future and what’s required to maintain and keep the region thriving.” For information about future Downtown events, you can contact beth.mckenna@downtowninbusiness.com.
