A partnership has been launched between mayors and council leaders representing non-mayoral areas in the North of England.
They met at the first Northern Mayors and Leaders’ Summit yesterday, agreeing to focus on plans set out in a new Manifesto for the North.
Plans include establishing a ‘Bank of Creativity’, hoped to become a £50m fund offering loans to creative businesses, although leaders have yet to set out where the money will come from.
The partnership also agreed to work with the Government to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail in full and safeguard land associated with the scrapped HS2 route north of Birmingham.
Leaders said they would develop a northern trade and investment strategy, build on the North’s potential for clean energy, and boost research and development.
They said collaboration in these areas could add £118bn a year to the North’s economy by 2050.
Lancashire County Council leader Phillippa Williamson said: ‘As northern leaders, we are united by our belief in the North’s huge economic potential and the need to unlock this for the benefit all our residents and businesses.
‘This new partnership will enable us to work collaboratively on areas of common challenges and create new opportunities, both for the places we represent and for the country as a whole.’
