Regeneration in Greater Manchester: City deal is an approval of strategy

GREATER Manchester’s £1.2bn City Deal is “the first public acknowledgement that Manchester is different and its economic contribution is better than any other city”, according to the city council’s chief executive, Sir Howard Bernstein.

Speaking at a BusinessDesk.com debate for a special Regeneration in Greater Manchester guide in association with Addleshaw Goddard, Sir Howard said that the deal was recognition from the government that “we have got to move away from where you get penalised for being successful”.

Mike Emmerich, chief executive of strategic body New Economy Manchester, said the way Manchester’s city deal works, where Manchester has the chance to earn back extra tax revenues created as a result of investment in major projects,  means that the city has an obligation to focus on the type of schemes which will generate the greatest economic growth, in order to build a permanent infrastructure fund which can then be recycled.

“It’s the first time anyone has done anything like that,” he said.

Manchester Airport Group chairman Mike Davies also spoke about the prospects for the £690m Airport City schemes, which had been planned for more than five years before the announcement that it would be granted Enterprise Zone status.

“It’s not a child of the Enterprise Zone,” he said. “The reason people will go to Airport City or Medipark is  because of the total environment – it’s totally self contained. The Enterprise Zone is an additional fillip.”

The panel also discussed the prospects for major regeneration schemes such as Medipark, First Street, NOMA and the Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus, where a joint bid from Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region’s Local Enterprise Partnership led to it being granted Enterprise Zone status in August 2011.

Felicity Goodey, who sits on the Government’s advisory panel for Regional Growth Fund bids, added that it was keen to see more “major businesses” submit proposals to the fund for major investment schemes.

“The challenge is to get big and innovative projects to come forward and bid,” she said.

Click here to download our Regeneration in Greater Manchester guide in association with Addleshaw Goddard.