Council chief: Mcr wants ‘genuine devolution’
MANCHESTER will look for greater devolution from central government as public sector purse strings tighten, according to the chief executive of Manchester City Council.
Sir Howard Bernstein has argued that fundamental reform and greater control at local level is what’s needed to improve public sector efficiencies.
“Places like Manchester will be subject to intense pressure to increase efficiencies,” he told an audience of more than 150 Pro.Manchester members at the Hilton hotel yesterday.
“I would particularly like to see the genuine devolution of power and influence to Manchester, so we take increasing control.”
Sir Howard said that to maintain competitive advantage, the city and wider city region needs greater control over priorities such as employment and skills.
He said many in the room might not understand what a city region is, and admitted it took him a while to understand the concept.
“It’s another way of describing economic geography,” he said.
“As Manchester continues to drive itself forward there will always be a requirement to penetrate the labour markets outside of Manchester.
“For me the city region is about how we recognise that and how it becomes a consistent reflection of how the government prioritises its sources and services.”
He added that the Oxford Road corridor will be the most important focus for Manchester for as long as the next 20 years and said it was about “creating the capacity for growth”.
