OECD finds the Northeast trailing

20 Jul 06
The Northeast is lagging behind the rest of the UK in terms of economic growth and prosperity, according to influential international analysts.

21 July 2006

The Northeast is lagging behind the rest of the UK in terms of economic growth and prosperity, according to influential international analysts.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's report is the body's first review of a medium-sized 'city region', and the first of its kind to be undertaken in the UK, and has left civic leaders with some hard-hitting conclusions.

Speaking to Public Finance ahead of the report's publication on July 21, Newcastle City Council chief executive Ian Stratford said the report spelt out some hard truths.

'We're lagging as a region economically and if we continue do the same as we have for the past 20 years, we'll continue to lag,' he said.

But Stratford added that the region accepted the OECD analysis and stressed that it would act as a catalyst for change. 'We're not going to run away from it. It's got some very strong messages we need to heed,' he said.

The city council, along with neighbouring authorities and the regional development agency, One NorthEast, hope to produce a considered response to pass to ministers by the autumn.

The report states that the Northeast shows limited prosperity and growth compared with other UK regions, with most economic and innovation indicators trailing the national average.

The unemployment rate was 6.7%, compared with a national average of 4.9%, and there were 19 start-up businesses per 10,000 population against 37 in the UK as a whole.

But the region shows some encouraging signs of growth in creative industries and knowledge-intensive businesses such as computing, architecture and engineering.

The OECD concluded that stronger regional government was needed to improve decision-making and suggested that a directly elected mayor for the region might be a good option.

PFjul2006

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top