These are really exciting times for the North East: Councillor Nick Kemp

These are really exciting times for Newcastle and the North East, writes Nick Kemp.

As the leader of Newcastle City Council, and with responsibility for the economy on the combined authority, I am absolutely clear of the alignment of the city’s priorities and our new mayor’s manifesto pledges.

To deliver “an economy that works for all” we intend building an economy on strong foundations, to supercharge our industries of the future and empower our whole region to become more productive.

This is growth with purpose – inclusive growth – so that as our wealth and wellbeing improve, inequalities narrow.

This drive to address the structural inequalities embedded in our region is the driving force of our collective thinking.

Our city region is the home to some of the most innovative, dynamic and exciting economic activity anywhere in the world, from world-class centres in printable electronics, subsea offshore oil and marine, automotive and battery development, data and health care to name but some.

There is an entrepreneurial spirit in the region and we have a responsibility to unlock this potential.

To do this, we must encourage access to all.

This means addressing the barriers that exist, creating routes and training to enable all our residents the opportunity to participate, while, at the same time, supporting those existing industries and anticipating the emerging sectors, working closely with our world-class, research-intensive universities and excellent further education colleges.

We know huge structural challenges remain; deindustrialisation, economic inactivity, unstable and insecure employment, productivity that lags behind the rest of the UK, accelerating technological change, slow diffusion of innovation, costly sickness, in-work illness rates and the challenge of an ageing population.

But there are external challenges too.

Exiting the EU will fundamentally alter the shape of our trading relationship with the rest of the world.

The transition to a low-carbon global economy is underway and we need to take advantage of this opportunity to increase our competitiveness, while also building resilience to the impacts of climate change.

Meeting those challenges and turning them into new and exciting opportunities for inclusive, fair and sustainable economic growth is the defining political and economic challenge of our age.

The mayor’s manifesto sets out clearly the ambition for the region, turning these challenges into exciting opportunities.

The commitment of the mayor, and I as leader of Newcastle City Council, is bold but it is grounded upon the principle of place.

We are committed to an inclusive economic plan that ensures the fruits of growth are felt fairly across all our communities.

We want to create a prosperous and fair society where businesses and public services are constantly looking to create new products, services and ways of helping people get what they need and want.

The engine of this economic growth and social progress is research, innovation and the development of the right skills for a changing world.

To promote and encourage these activities we need to invest in research and development and improve the links between our universities, companies, public services and community organisations.

The plan also sets out a new approach to supporting key strategic areas of the economy.

Since 2009, our approach has been to support individual sectors, many of which – like creative industries and advanced manufacturing – have become huge success stories.

However, forces such as decarbonisation, automation, artificial intelligence and other forms of digitalisation are already transforming industries and individual firms, breaking down the traditional boundaries between different sectors of the economy.

The opportunities of the data revolution, for example, are increasingly driving new collaborations across sectors.

This plan sets out to re-cast our support in a way that can help build the industries of the future.

An important additional element of our approach will be in supporting new foundation sectors of the economy, because sectors such as care, tourism, food and retail are the backbones of many local economies.

By developing new models of support and partnerships in these areas, we can help small and often fragile enterprises embedded in local communities increase their productivity, encourage skills progression and develop more sustainable business models.

All of this means challenging ourselves in government too.

We have already begun to develop stronger regional partnerships, as well as re-shaping the advisory structures and business funding support processes to make them simpler to understand and more focused on delivering on our shared goals.

It also means government stepping up to the plate and taking a lead in areas like decarbonisation and demonstrating our intent to create more sustainable economic infrastructure.

The challenges of the coming decade are significant, but our size and scale give us the opportunity to be smart and to work together in turning them into new economic opportunities.

This plan has principles and purpose at its heart – to deliver an economy in which the spirit levels beneath both our wealth and wellbeing rise together.

This is a plan to deliver prosperity for all by encouraging participation for all.

To tackle the structural challenges we face, and to turn threats into opportunities, we call on all who have an interest in our future prosperity to be involved.

The big structural and strategic challenges we face, from economic inactivity to productivity and inequality, demand approaches and new relationships that bind us to a common purpose.

Increasing our wealth and wellbeing requires us to work effectively with people and business.

Together, we can foster conditions that drive inclusive growth and a fairer distribution of opportunities.

By working together, we will build a strong, resilient and diverse economy that delivers for the people of the North East.

The foundation economy provides essential goods and services – from the provision of care to the old and young, to the food we consume and the retailers in our high streets.

It is the backbone of our local communities across the city region; in some parts, the foundation economy is the economy.

 

Councillor Nick Kemp

Leader of Newcastle City Council