Responding to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ speech on growth given today (29th January), Chris Fletcher, Policy Director at Greater Manchester Chamber, said: “There are many things to welcome in the Chancellor’s speech today with a clear ambition to kickstart growth by tackling the barriers that have played a part in holding back critical parts of the economy.
“Confirmation of the recently announced plans for Old Trafford, reference to the great work being done in Stockport and outlining a pilot programme with the Office of Investment and the National Wealth Fund in GM are to be welcomed. There were other announcements around changes to planning procedures and other areas where the pace of infrastructure development will be speeded up and restrictions removed.
“However for many business owners listening to this they will not be comforted at all by the Chancellor’s confirmation of the NIC rise announced in the Budget and set to hit them from April onwards. We are hearing from businesses stating this will cost tens of thousands of pounds and for them the promise of faster developments will seem pretty meaningless.
“The announcement of a review of the Treasury’s ‘Green Book’ – the mechanism they use to assess the ‘value’ of infrastructure schemes and which naturally favours development in high value areas such as the South East, and therefore a major blocker of growth in the North, is long overdue and should help rebalance critical developments across the country.
“The ambitious plans for Oxford and Cambridge and expansion of Heathrow were other critical parts of the speech and we will be looking closely at how these will help local economies here in the north. In fact a lot of the final elements of the speech bore a passing resemblance to what the idea and concept behind the Northern Powerhouse was when it was launched in 2014. That never materialised on the ground and hopefully the plans announced today and going forward will make up that wasted decade at pace and at speed.”