Event Summary
By Nigel Cork
On April 15th the latest Northern Powerhouse event took place at The Queens Hotel in Leeds with the Council Chief Executives of Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and a senior executive from Hull on the panel.
The event’s main objective was to provide an update on George Osbourne’s vision of the Northern Powerhouse “not one city, but a collection of northern cities – sufficiently close to each other that combined they can take on the world.”
The speeches were full of positive sentiment and certainly the fact that all the key city councils are working together to drive new business to the North rather than compete individually was very encouraging.
As would be expected the improvement of travel links between the northern cities dominated much of the discussion and the questions the panel faced. It was one the main reasons I attended the event as a number of DPI clients in the north have issues around transport that are directly effecting their future strategic decision making. Although positive comments were made and the priority is clear, I did not come away with any concrete answers as to when improvements will be made.
Overall, a useful and enjoyable event helping to maintain the Northern Powerhouse momentum.
©Nigel Cork, DPI Europe, 2016