Greater Manchester Business Board member and Leader of Manchester City Council Bev Craig will speak at an event next week discussing the region’s path to Greater Prosperity.
Hosted by the Resolution Foundation in collaboration with the Centre for Cities, ‘Making Greater Manchester Great Again’ will take place on Tuesday 19 September 2023 at 12:30 pm both in person and virtually.
Joining Bev Craig for the discussion will be Will Garton, Director General for Levelling Up, Jennifer Williams, Northern England Correspondent at the Financial Times, Henry Overman, Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics and chairing will be Torsten Bell, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation.
About the event
In response to the Economy 2030 Enquiry which examines this decisive decade for Britain, this session will examine Greater Manchester’s ambitions for inclusive growth. Following covid-19 pandemic, exiting the EU and progress towards a net zero future, Britain is entering a region of huge economic change which will affect our lives and economic policy and the Economy 2030 Enquiry aims to challenge this.
Over the course of the two-year project, the Resolution Foundation is publishing dozens of reports, briefing notes and comment pieces to both examine the change that the UK is living through and set out a plan for successfully navigating that change. One of these reports is titled “A Tale of Two Cities Part 1” and examines how the UK’s second cities, Birmingham and Manchester must be central to the Government’s strategy to boost productivity but argues there is a lack of “seriousness” about the scale of the challenge.
The findings state that Greater Manchester has always taken centre stage when it comes to sharing visions of a more geographically equal country – from the Northern Powerhouse to levelling up. But many arguments state that the rhetoric has outpaced the reality: as productivity and wages across the city region remain below the national average.
This major project by the Resolution Foundation and LSE uncovers what a new economic strategy for the UK might look like by looking at the second cities of Manchester and Birmingham. A central theme of the Economy 2030 Enquiry asks what it would take for Greater Manchester to become a much richer city – and who would benefit from such a transformation?
The Economy 2030 project finds that Britain as a whole, not just the city itself, needs a more successful Greater Manchester. However, that will require significant change – on everything from housing and transport to how land is used, and the jobs people do.
It will ask questions including:
- What would a more productive Greater Manchester look like?
- Is there a plausible strategy for the city to reach that point – and how does it differ from what is currently in train?
- What difference will recent public transport improvements make?
- Should housing continue to be prioritised in city centre land use decisions?
- And how should we expect success to impact different kinds of residents?
To debate these questions and launch the conclusions of this major Economy 2030 project in Greater Manchester, the Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar. Following a presentation of the report’s highlights, alongside the findings from a deliberative workshop with local residents, we will hear from leading experts on how to deliver greater prosperity for Greater Manchester.
The event will be open for people to physically attend, alongside being broadcast via YouTube and the Resolution Foundation website. Viewers will be able to submit questions to the panel before and during the event via Slido. This project is being run in collaboration with the Centre for Cities.
You can sign up for the free-to-attend event here.
