Bradford best location for levelling up opportunities

Bradford best location for levelling up opportunities

New research by Etopia Homes has highlighted the towns and cities in England which could make the best use of the government’s levelling up funds.

The Levelling Up Opportunity Index compares the performance of the 34 largest towns and cities outside of London to identify places which might have traditionally underperformed economically up to now, but which have the size and capacity for substantial future growth.

The Index focuses on data around potential growth, business rates, commuting patterns and land use. It gives an overview of which cities not only require economic development in order to ‘level up’, but which may represent critical opportunities, too, in terms of their potential to grow clusters of high-growth, future-facing industries and sustain larger working populations if their economic growth can be enabled by development.

Bradford emerged top of the list, indicating it has the strongest case for economic support as part of the levelling-up agenda, as well as significant capacity for new economic growth. Wolverhampton was second, Coventry third, Sheffield fourth and Luton fifth.

Dr Tom Arnold, of the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at the University of Liverpool, said: “This study gives a good indication of the economic gap between our most successful towns and cities, and those that could benefit most from targeted support to unlock their true economic potential.

“The economic benefits of creating thriving, self-sufficient city-regions – not just for those that live there, but those who live within commuting distance – have been well understood by previous governments. Improving the economic fortunes of large towns and city-regions is crucial to the prosperity of places within commuting distance.

“The forthcoming white paper must explain how the economic potential of city-regions across the North and Midlands can be realised. If levelling up is to be successful and if it is to be of long-term benefit to the nation, then it must clearly include levelling up the economies of places like Wolverhampton and Bradford.”