Deputy prime minister draws up plan 鈥� with high-density, mixed-use development at top of agenda

Deputy prime minister John Prescott this week set out a plan for the Northern Way, his vision to regenerate the north of England.

The latest ambitious proposal aims to narrow the 拢29bn prosperity gap between the North and the rest of England.

Rather than a continuous swathe of development along the M62, Prescott charged eight major conurbations to prepare growth strategies to fit in with his wider 鈥渘ew urbanist鈥� agenda of creating high-density mixed-use communities as well as turning around areas of housing market failure.

The eight areas are Leeds, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Sheffield, Hull and Humber, Tyne & Wear, Central Lancashire and Tees Valley.

The Northern Way steering group also recommended:

This is the first ever combined growth strategy for the great northern regions

John Prescott

  • A 拢100m fund to put in place development frameworks, on top of the 拢7bn already earmarked for the North
  • Helping 100,000 more people back to work by 2014 via six northern pilot schemes to widen the help available to the long-term unemployed in the North
  • Targets to be delivered next March for affordable homes as a proportion of all housing schemes
  • Improving the Manchester鈥揕eeds rail link
  • Setting up key 鈥渃lusters鈥� of economic development: chemicals, food and drink, energy and environmental technologies, advanced engineering, financial and professional services
  • A Northern Airports Access Plan to improve the area鈥檚 airports.

Prescott said the Northern Way agenda was a 鈥渕ilestone鈥�. He said: 鈥淭his is the first time there鈥檚 ever been a combined growth strategy for the three great northern regions. The North-east, Yorkshire and the North-west have 14.5 million people 鈥� that鈥檚 double the size of London.鈥�

The steering group, chaired by Sir Graham Hall, has worked over the past six months to produce the report. The three northern regional development agencies 鈥� One North East, the North West Development Agency and Yorkshire Forward 鈥� will now join forces to set up a delivery team to implement the plans.

The RDAs will each be asked to produce regional spatial strategies for the next 15-20 years鈥� worth of development. The strategies will look at which areas could become new housing market renewal pathfinders, which are growth areas to be developed 鈥� particularly city centres 鈥� and how private finance could be employed in the region.

  • The ODPM is to announce a five-year strategy next week aimed at getting more people on the property ladder and increasing the amount of affordable housing in high-demand areas.