Sheffield’s low productivity shows how Levelling Up has failed to deliver

Sheffield is renowned for its industrial heritage, steeped in cutlery and steel, but it also has a strong cultural history as well.

And Sheffield is known as the outdoor city for very good reasons with the Peak District right on its doorstep and its leafy suburbs.

The city is also undergoing a quiet transformation with regeneration underway, evident from public realm improvements. However, Sheffield is not a city without challenges.

In the same ‘Local Heroes’ report by advisory firm OCO Global, Sheffield performed less well on economic measures with relatively low growth in productivity, disposable household income and weekly wages. It serves to highlight just how the Government’s Levelling Up policy has failed. Levelling Up was supposed to be about giving places like Sheffield the tools and means to be able to break out of this low productivity trap.

Instead Levelling-Up and unequal distribution of funding from Westminster is exacerbating inequalities, according to the report.

As this newspaper has called for on numerous occasions, the report says more decision making and control is needed at city level.

The report found wide disparity in the amount of money each city received from Levelling Up, City Deals and Shared Prosperity funds. Of the £6bn allocated from these sources, cities that are considered to be booming received on average £748 per head compared to £420 for ‘solid performers’ and just £133 for those performing moderately. This points to an emphasis on quick wins from the Government, which has used Levelling Up as an electioneering tool.