The levelling up agenda should focus on improving town centres and connectivity between areas, and ensuring there is a high quality of low skilled jobs available, think tank says.

A new study by the Resolution Foundation brings together the results of focus group research in Leeds, Barnsley, Hull and Scarborough to explore the economic challenges in these northern towns.

The participants of the focus groups said that they expected large-scale economic development to cluster around large cities like Leeds and Manchester. Such development, they felt, would bring more opportunities but would also drive greater inequality and higher housing costs.

Part of The Economy 2030 Inquiry, a collaboration with the LSE, funded by Nuffield Foundation, the researchers were told by participants that good connectivity – through, for example, improvements in public transport – was crucial for maximising the economic gains of investment in places like Manchester and Leeds.

The prevalence of low-quality work in smaller towns means that over a third of 18-year-olds from small towns or villages leave their home area in search of work. According to the participants in the focus groups, this is a positive trend because it enables social mobility.

However, the Resolution Foundation warned that those from deprived areas are less than half as likely to leave home in search of work as those from affluent areas.

Finally, while the evidence and views from participants show that the priorities for levelling up will need to vary according to place, the think tank said that all pointed to the importance of their local town or city centre as an economic hub.

The report – entitled All over the place – said that it was important to give people a reason to visit their local town by reducing the rate of empty high street shops, building more homes in centres or improving transport links.

Lindsay Judge, research director at the Resolution Foundation, said: ‘There is as much support for “levelling up” across Britain as there is confusion about what it actually means. Crucially, closing economic gaps between places means different things to different areas – from making it affordable to live in major cities, practical to commute into them from nearby towns, and possible to enjoy decent, well-paid work irrespective of where you live.

‘Successfully closing economic gaps between places is the right thing to, but it will involve tough trade-offs over where to prioritise investment, and where decisions are ultimately made.

‘The good news is that people understand these trade-offs far more than politicians give them credit for, so there is no excuse not to face up to these challenges and give place far more prominence in a new economic strategy for Britain.’