Northern cities 'need funding'
Northern cities 'need funding'
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Monday, 24, Apr 2006 08:41
UK cities in the north of England should receive regeneration funding from the EU, a report published by the Institute for Public Policy Research has claimed.
Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester are the cities recommended for the funding by the Centre for Cities-authored report because they have the greatest potential for further regional growth.
Some £3 billion worth of funding from the European Structural Funding (ETS) program has already been appropriated for the development of Cornwall, west Wales, Merseyside and the Scottish Highlands, but £3.5 billion still remains up for grabs.
"We should spend this last slice of EU money on high potential areas outside the south east," urged Centre for Cities director Dermot Finch.
"Concentrating EU funds in big northern cities, such as Newcastle and Leeds, will help to drive economic growth not just in those cities but across those regions."
Debate over where to spend EU money is taking place within the context of a reduced budget after Brussels decided to cut the UK's regional development funding from £11.5 billion in the seven-year period before 2006 to only £6.5 billion in the next seven years.
Mr Finch responded to this 40 per cent cut by saying that "we will need to do more with less".
Successful completed projects achieved under ETS funding include Tyneside's Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Birmingham's International Convention Centre and Liverpool's Kings Waterfront area.