Sheffield City Region to turn Britain’s second ‘northern powerhouse’

Britain’s Chancellor of Exchequer, George Osborne, has signed a deal with Sheffield City Region with the aim to turn it into the country’s ‘northern powerhouse’ in line with Greater Manchester.

A £900m devolution deal will allow Sheffield to have its own elected mayor in 2017 and manage local affairs. The mayor will have a number of powers devolved from central government including responsibility over transport, planning, and skills among many others. It will also allow the regional authority to keep up to £30m of extra taxes generated locally for the next 30 years.

Analysts say the measure will help balance economic activities throughout the country and contribute to the British economy.

“I think the north part of England needs some regeneration and Sheffield is a sort of key target for that regeneration. The idea of the northern powerhouse is actually a good one because partly there are much economic activities in the south-east of England that’s very congested whereas in the north, property prices are much lower and economic activities are a lot lower. So, there is an urgent need to rebalance the British economy”, Keith Pilbeam, a London-based Professor of Economics told Press TV.

“A better performance of the British economy as a whole is actually good for the south as well as for the north because obviously there are quite a lot of subsidies going from the south toward the north. And, if the north starts performing economically better it will actually reduce the tax burden on southerners and that’s will help the British economy overall”, he added.

A second northern powerhouse plan has long been on the agenda of Osborne. “Manchester is not a one-off”, the chancellor said while visiting the manufacturing park in Rotherham on Friday. “In becoming the second great northern city to sign up to managing its own affairs with this ambitious agreement, Sheffield City Region is playing a vital part in helping to build the northern powerhouse”.

Sheffield was one of over three dozen towns, cities, counties and regions that had submitted proposals for an increased devolution of powers from Whitehall to local authorities.

Osborne inked the deal with the nine authorities including Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire as well as South Yorkshire which are hub of opposition Labour party. Negotiations over power-sharing are expected over the next few weeks. The move is seen a great triumph for Osborne ahead of the Conservative party conference in Manchester this weekend.

Local sentiments have been reported high over the agreement with communities’ secretary Greg Clark calling it “fantastic news for Sheffield”. Clark said the deal will help drive local economic growth, attract investment from leading businesses and create thousands of new skilled jobs for years to come.

The Sheffield Chamber of Commerce had already welcomed the devolution proposals but warned that a new approach is needed for them to succeed.