Tyne and Wear City RegionPaul RubinsteinAssistant Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Policy,Newcastle City Council

Distinctive assets and opportunities• Compact, attractive, well-connected, with good

natural and built “place” assets• Concentration of HE with makings of critical mass in

commercially relevant disciplines• “Brain gain” – students and migrants• Several great companies “of” the CR• Airport• Biggest room for improvement on most indicators –

“polarisation”

Collaboration

• Emerging “triple helix” – HE, business, public agencies – in science, design and more widely

• LAs engaged in discussing how best to achieve CR working/outcomes – economic performance now properly “on the map” – but a way to go

• Private sector not yet adequately involved• Genuine debate about what “collaboration” means

and can achieve

Evidence and analysis: howeconomic geography of CR helps• CR analysis helps understand how markets work at

all levels• Focuses thinking on role in economic development

of– density/ agglomeration/ “critical adjacencies”– housing-transport-employment interactions/ trade-offs– asset base – universities, gateways, people

• Raises awareness of poly-nuclearity and need to focus on growth in major urban centres

• Forthcoming OECD review will hone and deepen analysis

Evidence (I): urban flight

Population change 1971-2004, NTWCR districts, % adjusted for general out-migration

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

GA

TE

SH

EA

D

SO

UT

HT

YN

ES

IDE

EA

SIN

GT

ON

NE

WC

AS

TLE

UP

ON

TY

NE

NO

RT

HT

YN

ES

IDE

DE

RW

EN

TS

IDE

WA

NS

BE

CK

SU

ND

ER

LAN

D

CA

ST

LEM

OR

PE

TH

DU

RH

AM

CH

ES

TE

R-L

E-

ST

RE

ET

TY

NE

DA

LE

BLY

TH

VA

LLE

Y

%

Evidence (II): commuting

Implementation

• Still quite green – seen by most as a long-term process

• Newcastle Science City – massive strategic economic development plan with pan-North East ‘nodes’

• Regional Funding Allocations – good ‘tester’ of CR approach, partially successful

Barriers

• Too much focus on how much investment and not enough on how we use it differently – fewer, bigger things; leverage from elsewhere, linked to financial flexibilities

• Some specific ‘pinch points’ – HEFCE funding, strategic roads, skills strategy

• Have to look wider than money – e.g. long-term impact of RSS

• Mustn’t be governance blind - how do we ‘gear up’ our institutions to be competent on economic policy?

Added value of The Northern Way/City Regions• The Northern Way a useful brand and focal point• Shared investment priorities worthwhile – but mustn’t

get too focused on spending• CRs answer pressing question not dealt with by

national/regional/local on how economies work• Current CR debate risks over-complicating simple

concept• ‘Distinctiveness’ arguments overdone• Visionary or incremental: which is it?

What success might look like

• Tyne and Wear CR recognised as one of the top ten international centres for translational scientific research and business agglomeration

• Productivity, earnings and employment all running at UK average levels in 2020, with less cross-CR polarisation

• More people living in urban centres, travelling less• Clarity for citizens and businesses about who does

what, when• Capacity and responsibility for leaders to decide

and finance priorities without needing to corral fragmented funding or seek ‘permission’

What we’re doing next

• Accelerating delivery of long-term science and HE-based development strategy

• Developing sustainable managed migration and retention strategy

• More muscular ‘foreign policy’• Evaluating long-term planning and transport policy

principles and delivery frameworks• Scoping comprehensive regeneration delivery ‘pot’

and vehicle• Digesting outcomes of OECD review, business

case feedback

…leading to smarter, realistic, genuinely prioritised, genuinely long-term investment programme through revised CRDP

Tyne and Wear City Region Development ProgrammeNeil MurphyNewcastle City Council

Tyne and Wear City Region: SWOTStrengths• higher growth and employment

than for decades• successful regeneration• several world-class companies• connectivity … but see threats• ‘place’ assets: cities, rivers,

coast and countryside

Weaknesses• bottom of the league on many

economic indicators• peripherality and relative lack

of scale• low levels of human capital and

aspiration• high rates of worklessness,

deprivation, ill-health• housing

Opportunities• economic potential of high-

performing, innovative HEIs• tourism and creative industries• ‘brain gain’ – population &

migration• public sector potential• continuing airport growth

Threats• economic polarisation• continuing industrial

restructuring• tightening labour market• congestion• slowing pace of regeneration

Tyne and Wear CRDP: starting point

• not ‘year zero’ – but previous work informal and bespoke

• understanding how the economy works

• focus on urban competitiveness and critical mass – overcoming lack of scale

• acceptance of ‘polynuclearity’: a CR with a several employment hubs and overlapping TTWAs with variable ‘reach’

• getting away from spreading the jam and arguing for the patch

• CR working about functionality: not governance-led, but not governance-blind either

• complementarities and tensions with regional strategies

Tyne and Wear CRDP: 5 prioritiesBusiness

• what kind of knowledge economy?

• growing the private sector base

People

• raising the employment rate

• nurturing, attracting and retaining talent

Place

• increasing the pace of regeneration, focusing on urban assets and quality of life offer

Tyne and Wear CR: what next?

• CRDP already influential: priorities integrated in RES; ‘keystone’ for ongoing work

• from technocratic to political agenda

• integration with ‘city summit’ follow-up. Generating momentum, but plenty of caution. Core cities or City Regions?

• agreeing function; debating form and powers

• incrementalism

• developing ‘business case’ = evolving CRDP

• a New Deal for Cities?

• how to inform CSR 2007 process?

Tyne and Wear CR: priorities forThe Northern WayAlready…

• Northern Way Growth Strategy supporting important Tyne and Wear CR priorities:– enhancements to Pathways to Work areas– contributions towards the Design Centre for the North and Newcastle Science City– developing evidence for investment in A1

Looking ahead…

• added value in developing case for broader policy change supporting closing the gap: need strong and prioritised Northern Way ‘ask’ by CSR 2007, including on powers

• under-explored potential synergies e.g. in tourism, HE policy

• also facilitating cross-North best practice – performance measurement, dealing with ‘fuzzy boundaries’ etc