Will Andy Burnham’s devolution plan raise economic growth?

Some analysts have questioned whether those recent productivity figures are reliable, in part, because some of the high growth spots are in residential areas, and that they could be explained in part by errors in the data, external.

Nevertheless, many economists do think Greater Manchester has performed better than other UK city regions over the past 15 years – and they argue it’s justified to partially attribute this to the devolution of powers, particularly on transport, planning and housing.

Devolution has helped to deliver this record on housing because the Greater Manchester mayoralty is empowered to set the city-region’s housing strategy, direct housing investment funding and co-ordinate affordable housing programmes. Devolution has enabled the increase in investment because one of the devolved roles of the mayor of a city region is to encourage companies to invest in an area, particularly multinationals, to create jobs and drive local growth.

Some economists also point to the Bee Network of buses which brought the system under control of the mayoralty, and the encouragement of private sector investment in Manchester city centre.

“There’s been a recognition [among the Greater Manchester leadership] that the future of Manchester is a big city that is offering lots of different opportunities, but particularly to higher value added activity,” says Andrew Carter of the Centre for Cities think tank.

“They’re prepared to do what is required – build the housing, support the expansion of the university, support research and development, try to introduce a transport system which really supports all of that kind of stuff. And as a result you become more attractive to investment, whether it’s foreign or domestic.”