BUILDING THE NORTHERN POWERHOUSE: Lessons from the Rhine-Ruhr and Randstad: Paul Swinney, Centre for Cities

Building the Northern Powerhouse:Lessons from the Rhine-Ruhr and Randstad

Paul SwinneyCentre for Cities

@paul_swinney

The Northern Powerhouse: Randstad and Rhine Ruhr Mark II?

Fact 1: The Randstad and Rhine-Ruhr are more productive than the

Northern Powerhouse, and this is driven by their cities

This focus is justified – they both out perform the North of England

But both areas don’t act as single economies: the economy is spiky…

…as is the case in the North…

Source: Census 2011

The Randstad and Rhine Ruhr perform well because of their cities

Fact 2: Commuting links show city

regions to be distinct, rather than operating as part of a

larger, single economy

Commuting containment is similar across city regions…

…And there is little commuting between city regions

Source: Census 2011

Fact 3: Public transport usage is similar across the three areas, but the

modes used are different

Public transport is similar too, and is fairly low…

…But the mode of public transport used is different

Fact 4: It is frequency, rather than

speed, that separates the rail networks

Rail connections aren’t vastly worse in the North

Fact 5: Neither the Randstad or Rhine-Ruhr have institutions that plan

or manage activity or investment at this scale

If the North was a country, it would be the ninth largest in Europe

Source: Eurostat

Country Population (2015)

Germany 81,198,000

France 66,415,000

Italy 60,796,000

Rest of UK 49,705,000

Spain 46,450,000

Poland 38,006,000

Romania 19,871,000

Netherlands 16,901,000

North of England 15,170,000

Belgium 11,258,000

Implications for policy

Policy needs to allow cities to make more of agglomeration…

…And this should be the responsibility of the new city-region mayors

Implications

• The key learning from the Randstad and Rhine Ruhr is that they make the most of their cities

• For the North to fire again it needs to do the same

• The devolution agenda offers the way to do this

Paul [email protected]

020 7803 4305

@Paul_Swinney

…by focusing on skills…