MIER - real benefits for the Borough or falling further behind?

Andy Zuntz

The recently published Manchester Independent Economic Review (MIER) highlights the strengths weaknesses and opportunities of the economy of the Greater Manchester region. Its findings will help shape policies for the region for the next two decades. Rochdale Borough, as one of the ten districts of Greater Manchester will participate in the discussions over the next three months as a new Greater Manchester Strategy emerges.

The review found that the Greater Manchester region has the potential, because of its scale, to be the ‘economic engine of the north’, but that currently it is ‘punching below its weight’ and must ‘boost productivity and its long term growth rate’, whilst ensuring that opportunities are ‘shared across the communities of Greater Manchester.’

The review recognises the challenges that many deprived areas of Greater Manchester, including those in Rochdale Borough, face. Of the 15 Local Authority areas in the region, three – Manchester, Salford and Rochdale – are in the worst 10% of deprivation in the country. Manchester is the 4th most deprived Local Authority area, Salford the 15th and Rochdale the 25th, despite Rochdale having received more than £191,000,000 of regeneration funding since 1992.

The report does acknowledge that levels of deprivation have fallen, in absolute terms, in all neighbourhoods across the city region and that there has been an increase in access to better public services and a fall in crime across all neighbourhoods. However, some neighbourhoods have seen living standards improve at a faster rate than others, hence the most deprived areas have fallen futher behind.

Andy Zuntz, Executive Director for Rochdale Borough Council said: “The Manchester Independent Economic Review is a far reaching piece of work looking at the recent past and, more significantly the longer term future for the Manchester City Region as a whole. MIER recognises the challenges that Rochdale Borough, like many parts of the Greater Manchester still face, but it also offers real practical policy ideas for the City Region. Rochdale Council and its partners will be discussing the ideas in MIER over the next few weeks and developing ideas to make sure that improvements in the economy of the City Region that MIER proposes bring real benefits to the people of our Borough.”

The review makes recommendations across a range of areas including:

• Increasing skill levels, starting with the early years experience, with a particular focus on children in isolated areas.
• Reviewing housing policies to make the city region more attractive to incoming skilled workers.
• Reviewing transport policies to improve productivity and to connect areas where employment is concentrated to other areas. 
• Making planning policies permit expansion of businesses premises in areas where demand is strongest. Broadly, this demand seems to be stronger in the south, although such locations are found elsewhere in the city region. 
• Moving as quickly as possible to a unified regime for planning, regeneration and neighbourhood renewal. 
• Pursuing opportunities for government investment in new scientific and other public sector activities.

The findings of MIER will now be discussed by policy makers for Greater Manchester, including the ten local authority leaders who meet regularly under the AGMA (Association of Greater Manchester Authorities) banner.