Peer calls for power in regions to boost economy

Baroness Jo Valentine, chief executive of lobby group London First, said English cities should have more powers to set their own spending priorities.

She said the capital was “always at the bottom of the pecking order” for investment until the introduction of the mayoral system which created a strong political champion for London.

The crossbench peer will be promoting the role that the regions can play in rebalancing the UK economy at an international property conference next week.

Baroness Valentine said devolving decision-making powers to the regions “is good business practice”.

She told the Yorkshire Post: “You empower your subsidiaries within a framework and you let them take the decisions and normally you get better results that way because they are more attuned to the local opportunities and challenges and people, because they feel more empowered, apply themselves a bit better.”

Baroness Valentine will join representatives from Yorkshire on a panel at MIPIM, the world’s biggest event for real estate investors.

They include Stuart Howie, a Leeds-based director at PwC, the Big Four accountancy firm, and John Mothersole, the chief executive of Sheffield City Council.

Mr Howie said: “Devolution is about giving cities and regions the tools to do the job.

“We have a highly centralised finance system and to grow the regional economy we need to attract private sector investors into the localities.

“The private sector thrives on certainty, clarity and quality of supporting infrastructure, both hard and soft.

“The more we can give the regions the ability to create these conditions... the better they are going to be positioned to attract the private sector investment to grow the local economy.”

The investment agency Leeds and Partners has organised a series of events at MIPIM to promote the Leeds City Region – covering 11 local authorities – to international investors.

The city region will also showcase the investment opportunities from the Government’s £50bn high-speed rail project.

Civic leaders are hoping to use the planned HS2 transport interchange in south Leeds as a catalyst to drive wider economic regeneration across the area and bring much-needed transport improvements to the surrounding network.

Lurene Joseph, the chief executive of Leeds and Partners, said that HS2 could lead to “a renaissance of the city centre”, from the existing train station to Leeds University.

She said the city region can work with London to help the capital compete globally by providing a talented workforce and opportunities to relocate staff via “northshoring”.

Leeds and Partners will be promoting opportunities in Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, York and Wakefield and showcasing sector strengths including professional and financial services, health and innovation, digital and information, retail, leisure, food and drink and manufacturing.

Roger Marsh, chairman of the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, said the focus at this year’s MIPIM will be about “accelerating investment to drive good growth and to create jobs and prosperity in and across the city region”.

Baroness Valentine, a former corporate financier who joined London First as managing director in 1997, said her organisation advocated the creation of a strong mayoral model for London and since its creation in 2000 has campaigned for greater devolution to the capital.

She said: “We find that someone banging the drum for what London strategically needs is much closer to business needs than the individual local authorities would be or indeed central government.”

Baroness Valentine said that greater urbanisation is creating challenges for cities by putting pressure on infrastructure.

“Our view is that all cities, in particular where the population is growing, should have more powers to sort out their own lives and physical fabric,” she said.

MIPIM takes place in Cannes from March 11-14.