The
other night I put a question to twitter:
“The
'Leeds City Region' - good for Bradford, bad for Bradford or makes no
difference?”
I
received responses to this question from @simonmagus (who went on to
write a blog on the subject), @them_apples, @adamhepton,
@bradfordodeon, @hiddenbradford, @bd_angry and @poddi.
The
main points seemed to be:
- Bradford is not in Leeds
- Does the Leeds 'brand' overshadow that of the rest of Yorkshire?
- More joined up thinking
- Good if it brings more money into Bradford
- Yorkshire means something to everyone in the city region, Leeds doesn't
So,
what is a city region?
A
city region is a grouping of local authorities who work together to
make decisions on big projects, like transport and to bring together
the public and private sector to work together to deliver
regeneration projects and pursue economic growth. City regions first
formally appeared in Northern England as a result of John Prescott's
baby 'The Northern Way'. The idea of this initiative was to seek to
reduce the gap between Northern England and the south east, and for
England to have successful cities outside of the capital – like
Toulouse in France, Munich in Germany or Milan in Italy. The demise
of regional governance brought in by the coalition government has
lead to city regions getting more power in the form of the 'city deal'.
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Where
is Leeds City Region?
The
City Region covers the local authories of West Yorkshire (Leeds,
Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield), as well as Selby,
York, Harrogate, Craven and Barnsley. Barnsley also sits within the
Sheffield city region. There is a strong view from people in
Bradford that they are not Leeds. One imagines that people in
somewhere like Masham (Harrogate District), Ingleton (Craven) or
Walsden (Calderdale) would feel the same, or people in the ancient
city of York.
Would
West Yorkshire City Region be a better name?
West
Yorkshire, as we've known it since 1974 includes the five districts
that make up the old Metropolitan County, but doesn't include
districts like Harrogate. But all the places in the Leeds City
Region were historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and I'm
sure the residents of all the area could identify with being in
Yorkshire and not Leeds.
Is
the Leeds thing just a name?
Investment
in the city region will be bringing things like superfast broadband
to Bradford, supporting the and a billion pounds to be spent on
transport and highways across the city region area. But Leeds is
getting the Trolleybus scheme and the enterprise zone in the east of
the city. Leeds is of course the biggest city, with the biggest
economy out of all the districts, but one could be forgiven that the
Leeds name, is mainly a positive thing for Leeds but not the other
nine districts.
How
does the Leeds-Bradford relationship compare with those in other city
regions?
Bradford
– with a population of half a million is by far the biggest 'junior
partner' in all of the Northern England city regions, not to mention
there are five cities in the Leeds City region (Leeds, Bradford,
Wakefield, Ripon and York). This compares to two cities in
Manchester city region and two in the Tyne/Wear city region and one
or none in the others. The Leeds City Region seems to be a much
bigger area than the other ones, the City Region website boasts it is
the second biggest city region outside of the capital. Leeds does
not sit seem to sit comfortably at the centre of a city region like
Sheffield or Manchester do... and I wonder how many Mackems would be
happy at being part of the Newcastle city region. I think West
Yorkshire is the way to go on this one!
So
the answer to the question is:
The
city region itself is not a bad thing, it helps bring money into the
city of Bradford. It is just the name, that
a)
it makes it a harder thing to sell to local businesses
b)
it diminishes the pride of Bradford, as well as Wakefield and York,
and;
c)
Potentially helps reinforce the gap between the Leeds economy and the
rest, rather than helping the rest catch up and helping the local
area as a whole capture more growth.
I
don't think its a parochial thing to stand up for the city the size
of Bradford. I think there is a far more compelling argument for the
Leeds city region to have a name reflecting a wider area, than the
likes of Manchester or Liverpool.
