The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, will call for an “ambitious and trailblazing devolution deal” for the north when he delivers a key speech on Levelling Up and the Northern Powerhouse at next week’s prestigious Manchester Lecture.
Mr Burnham, a leading advocate of Levelling Up for the north of England, is giving the opening address at the event, in a session entitled: “Levelling Up and the Northern Powerhouse – Where are we heading?”
The theme of this year’s Manchester Lecture, hosted by the North West Regional Committee of the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (CICES) and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, is “Northern Powerhouse: Levelling up in the North West.”
Andy Burnham will say:
“We can’t continue to allow the gap between the north and the south to grow. For levelling up to become a reality, local areas need to have the funding and powers they need to close the gaps in living standards and grow their economies.
“This means full devolution of adult skills and the ability to be able to deliver a technical education system and the Government’s new T-levels. This needs to be supported by continued investment into housing, so we can deliver the affordable, good quality and net zero carbon homes we need for our growing population in line with our Places for Everyone strategy.
“Travel is also key to support a thriving economy and the quality of people’s lives. In September this year we will start to bring buses back under public control which mean services will work for passengers, not for profits. This is part of our wider Bee Network plans to deliver a London-style integrated transport network with buses, trams and active travel all joined up.
Devolution has made this possible and we want to go further by bringing local rail into our Bee Network so Greater Manchester has the fluid, reliable and affordable public transport system it needs to grow.
“All of this needs to be supported by a single flexible funding settlement from government and I’m pleased that the Department for Levelling Up is working closely with us to try and deliver an ambitious and trailblazing devolution deal which will allow us to build on the progress we’re already making at a local level.”
CICES, based in Sale, Greater Manchester, is a long-standing proponent of Levelling Up and is campaigning for a level playing field between the south and the north of England when it comes to infrastructure development.
Simon Hamlyn, CEO at the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors, said: “We are privileged to have the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, delivering the opening address at our 2023 Manchester Lecture.
“We must see a fairer distribution of funds and services across the UK, and to end the traditional southern bias.
“In 2023, there’s still a north-south divide and with the news recently that there are renewed clouds hanging over developments such as HS2 and other planned rail routes in the north, nothing seems to be changing.
“With Andy Burnham’s help, and with the support of our excellent panel of speakers, CICES will keep banging the drum on the urgent need for a level playing field, ensuring that the north is heard loud and clear.
“Many thanks to Mark Hudson, Regional Chair for the NW, the NW committee and our head office team for organising the lecture.”
The role of the institution is to advance the science and art of civil engineering surveying for the benefit of the public, by upholding and advancing the standards of education, competence, practice and conduct of its members.
Other speakers attending the event include Steve Cooper, senior survey engineer from Network Rail on the ‘Transpennine Route Upgrade – On Track to Better’; Simon Navin, Geospatial Services Lead at Jacobs, on ‘How geospatial solutions are enabling the North to level up’; and Genna Rourke, Commercial Director, GBC Services – United Living Group, on ‘Levelling up in the North, Women in the Industry’.
The Manchester Lecture takes place on February 16th, 2023 at Emirates Old Trafford, Talbot Road, Manchester, M16 0PX.
The last remaining tickets are available for sale on the CICES website at www.cices.org until 5pm on Wednesday 8th Feb.
