In March, economic think tank Centre for Cities published Lord Sainsbury’s report on how to Level Up England.

Senior Analyst Elena Magrini presented some of the highlight data to give dimension to the study. Rural settings are slightly more productive in the south-east region than the rest of the country (16%), whereas towns and London are 47% more productive. With less than 10% land mass, but home to 50% businesses, levelling up is broadly a question of improving the industrial structure of cities. They’re also where 60% of all jobs across the country are located, and GVA is low compared with European cities.

Comparison made between Reading and Bradford was made - they have GDP per worker of £84k and £54k respectively. This relates to higher claimant counts for unemployment (4.9% v. 9.4%).

Magrini also showed a visual indicating how satellite towns also benefit from the growth of city growth.

Recommended investment amounts over the next 30 years in the eight Mayoral Combined Authorities are provided, broken down into categories for investment: £600m for Cambridge & Peterborough, Liverpool City Region (£900m) and North of Tyne (£600M).

Visit centreforcities.org to watch the presentation, access the report and download the slides. Photo from Benjamin Elliott, based in Sheffield.