A Northern Big Bang – or - The Idea of Which The Rt. Hon. Jake Berry MP Dare Not Speak Its Name!

The Centre for Policy Studies has produced a thought provoking paper setting out ideas for unleashing investment in the north of England, entitled A Northern Big Bang.  As to be expected from a centre right organisation, it espouses the benefits of private sector investment, and argues against big government.    It is probably because of that particular perspective that the paper overlooks one of the natural conclusion of its arguments, and fails to answer the question of best how to achieve its stated aims.

The paper sets out a number of positive ideas, but is highly suspicious of the role that government could or should play in helping those ideas succeed, stating that “politicians, both local and national, have often been the cause of, not the solution to, the North’s problems”.  

Yet, the paragraph that follows the above comment begins by stating that “something needs to be done to bring economic development and strategic planning closer to the people of the North”.  And in that sentence, Jake Berry MP and Nick King, the paper’s authors, accidentally hit upon the solution to the problems they identify.  

Although the paper is both anti-government and anti-planning, describing the planning system in the UK as “sclerotic and ineffective”, the reality is that what the paper is suggesting is a strategic planning board for the whole of the North of England.  It later describes that notion as a “Growth Board for the North”, “working with local politicians, national government and independent third-parties”.   

A Planning Board that straddles across the entire Northern England Region would bring together the key people that the paper identifies as necessary to promote growth.  The paper argues strongly that the composition of the Board would be of “people whose personal, political and professional lives rely upon the North being successful”.  

The idea of a growth board is therefore something to welcome – but it should have powers to create strategic wide plans that would help direct inward investment to where it is needed.  If such a board were backed with statutory force, it would provide certainty for investors, and create a framework for outside agencies to work with northern organisations to identify how and where to invest in order to meet the aims of a regionally supported growth agenda.  

The Rt. Hon. Jake Berry MP and colleagues of the Northern Research Group should have the courage of their conviction, and acknowledge that a government backed strategic planning board for the whole of the North of England, with plan making powers, would provide the vehicle to help deliver the very things that the Paper he has co-authored is asking for.  

 *Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are mine and do not reflect the official policy or position of any part of Savills plc or any of its associated companies, nor are any assumptions made reflective of the position of Savills plc and its associated companies.