NORTHERN POWERHOUSE CONFERENCE: If Google decided to locate its headquarters in the North of England, how would the major cities compete for their custom?
That was the question put to the chief executives of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle chief executives at a “business of devolution” debate at the Northern Powerhouse Conference 2016.
Sheffield chief executive John Mothersole said that while in the past there might have been “secret competition” between the different cities trying to lure the company, now they would be open to making “collective proposals”.
The first priority would be to work out the best way of getting the firm to locate in the North; the second would be to agree on which city offered the best proposition for Google.
Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester City Council, said the cities had different strengths which would make different occupiers more attractive to them.
If a big legal firm wanted to relocate to the North, Leeds or Manchester would be most desirable; a big manufacturing company from China would look between Sheffield and Manchester; and a company that needed to be near a port would have to decide between Hull or Liverpool.
Referring to a large North American investment around health and the lifestyle sector which was in the market about 18 months ago, he said Leeds and Manchester produced complementary proposals which he thought went down very well with the client.
However, he said: “Other things happened which meant that the investment went outside of the UK.”
Bernstein also said that in the future we could see more collaboration across the regions within the procurement process.
Newcastle chief executive Pat Ritchie said: “The economy doesn’t necessarily work to local authority boundaries. We have got to collaborate more.”
She said, provided the skills and transport infrastructure were in place, any large company choosing to operate its business in the North would create benefits across the region.
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