For those people who are reading this blog and asking “what is The Northern Powerhouse?” Please bear with me. The Northern Powerhouse is a proposal made by the coalition government back in their tenure of 2014. This proposal was aimed at the ‘core cities’ of the north of England to increase their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and their Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy.
In basic terms the government wants to kick-start the main northern cities to produce more business and help boost the UK economy as a whole by repositioning the English economy away from the South East. This will address the economic imbalance between the north and south of England.
The proposal of the Northern Powerhouse is to give additional investment into infrastructure for the North of England which includes transport links, construction, science, innovation, and the devolution of power in regards to city deals.
Cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield where the main targets for such investments. To encourage new business to be generated, whatever your opinion on the Northern Powerhouse it has taken an effect, just go to the city centre of Manchester and to Peel Port in Liverpool to see the effects of the proposal.
In 2015 the Chinese president Xi Jinping came to visit the UK and it was announced by David Cameron during the presidents visit that the Northern Powerhouse proposal had Chinese backing.
The construction industry has a lot to gain from this proposal as the high speed (HS3) rail network connecting the south to the north is still to be finished. This coupled with all of the new business structures that have been or are planned to be built in the major northern cities are requiring the surge in corporate construction. This has been pointed out to have a small effect on the construction, when the Brexit vote had a negative effect on the industry there was still investment in the Northern Powerhouse which kept some companies afloat at the time.
The Northern Powerhouse proposal has seemed to have slipped out of the news and public eye over the last 12 months, but it continues to be a part of the increase of business in the north.
Have you or your business a part of the Northern Powerhouse? Have you benefited from such a proposal? Please let Fairport know in the comments below.
