A LEADING business group says granting Greater Manchester a pathway towards a London-style city-region risks undermining 10 years of hard work on the North West region’s economy.
Private Sector Partners (PSP) represents more than 100,000 firms in the region.
Its leader, Len Collinson, said he is “instinctively uneasy” about breaking up the region into “aggressively protected and promoted fiefdoms”.
The pilot scheme, announced by the Treasury, will allow Greater Manchester to integrate work across 10 local authorities on issues such as planning, housing, transport, regeneration, skills, and economic growth.
“Allowing local authorities this amount of power and additional funding raises a number of serious concerns,” said Mr Collinson.
“First, it tramples over the work done over several years by the NWDA.
“The NWDA has become more effective in balancing the needs of the whole region.
Its work, and its long-term strategies, will be disrupted and undermined by an additional body of this kind.”
