THE Bradford Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the recommendations of a Northern Powerhouse report which could potentially give a £100 billion and 850,000 jobs boost to the North of England over the next three decades.

The Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP), an independent group started in September to unite the voice of business and civic leaders across northern England, today launches a report which has been developed following input from more than 200 businesses, civic and academic leaders from across the North of England.

The report has key recommendations in four themes:

  • Education and skills - including the North must improve the educational attainment at age 16 and develop the technical and higher level skills employers need to compete and retain graduates in the region.
  • Infrastructure and journey times - this includes faster journey times between city-to-city and city-to-airport, including Leeds Bradford, road and rail travel times across the Northern Powerhouse.
  • International competitiveness - raising rates of start-up business, innovation and exports to raise productivity.
  • Leadership - use the devolution of new powers from central government to continue, including new powers for the new mayors, to drive faster economic growth.

The report adds that failure to take this opportunity means the North will fall further behind and the UK economy will become more unbalanced.

Bradford Chamber president Andy Caton said: “The initiative to boost the northern economy needs to have teeth, so getting leading businesses to sign up to this partnership is another step forward.

“The pressure needs to stay on in order for the objectives to be realised.

“For Bradford, routing the high-speed trans-Pennine rail line through the city is crucial for our future success.

“The city is currently punching below its weight due to a number of factors.

“Making a step-change across the North in the four themes of this report would allow Bradford to achieve greater success.”

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