To shift infrastructure investment focus to the north a robust case for boosting the national economy is critical, according to northern authority bosses. 

Local Authorities in the north of England urgently need to make the national case for boosting investment to create a northern economic powerhouse or risk investment being focused on projects in the south.

With the current case for investment in London and the South East still very strong, local authorities in the north last week highlighted the critical need to underline the national value of boosting investment outside the capital.

“The way we organise transport in the UK, for example, has been a national disgrace. One North is about vision and planning not setting up a new bureaucracy. We want the ability to retain the overarching vision for what we want to create.” Sir Howard Bernstein, Manchester City Council chief executive.

“The north needs to make the proposition,” said John Mothersole, chief executive of Sheffield City Council. “What does the north deliver? The answer is not enough so the challenge is a national plan by the north for the nation.”

“We have won the [argument for devolved spending in] theory, now we need to win the practice,” said Mothersole. “Not by demonstrating how badly done by we have been [in the North] but by showing what we can offer the country.”

Mothersole was speaking alongside other northern city authority bosses at a conference to discuss the opportunities and challenges of investing in northern infrastructure organised by KPMG.

At the heart of the debate was the deliverability of the plan set out in last August’s “One North” report by an alliance of local authorities in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield.

This report set out how an interconnected North could benefit the nation in response to the challenge set by HS2 chair Sir David Higgins and the Chancellor George Osborne in his Northern Powerhouse speech in June.

The  £15bn, 15-year investment plan to maximise economic growth across the north, boost transport links and help rebalance the national economy also predicted benefits for the whole of the North of England.

Speaking at the conference last week Manchester City Council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein emphasised the scale and breadth of the devolution challenge but also highlighted the potential benefits 

“The way we organise transport in the UK, for example, has been a national disgrace,” he said. “One North is about vision and planning not setting up a new bureaucracy. We want the ability to retain the overarching vision for what we want to create.”

“It is about gearing up to enable the north to play its part in the future of the UK,” Richard Thelfall, KPMG.

KPMG's UK head of infrastructure, building and construction Richard Thelfall also emphasised the challenge, pointing out that the debate had to be about the future of the north in the context of growing the whole of the UK economy.

“It is about gearing up to enable the north to play its part in the future of the UK,” he said highlighting that the south east still significantly out-performed the north in terms of GDP per capita. 

“There is huge agglomeration potential in the North West but it doesn’t perform largely due to the lack of connectivity,” he said pointing to figures showing that a combined population of the North West was, at 6.7M roughly equivalent to London’s 7.2M but had half the jobs and a third of London’s £300bn contribution to the national economy.

“If we can get northern output up then we will have a Northern Powerhouse,” he said. “But right now we have a demographic time bomb with London attracting the workers and high earners.”

The solution, agreed local authorities speaking at the event was to boost the case for investment in the north as a solution to the national economy.

“We need to win the argument about new rail in the north to avoid more funding flowing into new Crossrail style projects in the south,” said Liverpool City Council chief executive Ged Fitzgerald. 

Newcastle City Council chief executive Pat Ritchie agreed: “This is about creating a step change and it is about leadership. We have much to bring to this partnership.”