Scrutiny of the Northern Way

More must be done to ensure the government’s Northern Way initiative helps Yorkshire and Humber’s transport infrastructure, says a new report published this week.

And those involved in both the Northern Way and Yorkshire Forward should specifically argue the case for additional investment to develop transport to and from the Humber ports to tackle the £30 billion gap between the North and South.

The report, published by the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly, follows a scrutiny review on the opportunities offered to the region by the Northern Way. It looked at the three priority areas of the initiative- Connectivity, Innovation and the Marketing of the North to the World and feeds directly into the new review: Innovation.

The Northern Way is the latest initiative to come under the spotlight of the Assembly’s “scrutiny” role required by Government to ensure money spent on economic development is well targeted. Information and comments were given by representatives of the business and public sectors and members of the Assembly’s scrutiny panel questioned representatives from Yorkshire Forward.

The Northern Way is a collaborative project between the three northern RDAs – Yorkshire Forward, ONE NorthEast and the Northwest Development Agency – to increase economic growth in the North of England and bridge the output gap with the South.

The initiative, which aims to exploit economic and transport links to boost the North as a business force in Europe, is backed by a £100m Growth Fund made up of £50 million from the ODPM and £50million from the three Northern RDAs. This fund will be used to kick-start the strategy into practical action.

The Panel also made a number of other recommendations. These include:

• The Northern Way should simplify and reduce the number of innovation initiatives to avoid saturating the market;
• Research should be carried out to assess the capacity of the region’s existing support for innovative businesses and demand for premises;
• A regional communications strategy for the Northern Way should be developed to outline how public, private and voluntary sector organisations will be informed of progress and to clarify the role they can have in delivering the Northern Way.

“The Northern Way Growth Strategy is a long term vision for addressing the productivity gap between the North and the South,” said Panel Chair Paul Jagger.

“I believe we’ve provided Yorkshire Forward with constructive views on how the Northern Way is working and identified areas where opportunities need to be maximised for the benefit of Yorkshire and Humber.”

“The outcomes from this review will support Yorkshire Forward, the North West Development Agency and One North East in moving the Northern Way forward.”

* For more details contact Iain Lovell, Head of Scrutiny and Communications, Yorkshire and Humber Assembly, 01924 331583, e-mail iain.lovell@yhassembly.gov.uk.