A Better Place

This chapter situates the book’s analyses of the Northern Powerhouse, devolution and Northern economic development more generally within an emerging ‘politics of place’. It argues furthermore that a political economy of place is required to more fully understand the pursuit of economic development in the North by both local and national elites. The chapter distills the key lessons we can infer from the book, including the multiple and long-standing nature of development dilemmas in the North, the problematic framing of the North in national debates, the dysfunctional nature of economic governance in the North (and the messy relationship between devolution and existing institutional structures) and the damaging impact of tax reform on Northern cities and regions. The chapter ends by outlining a set of policy reforms designed to place Northern economic development on a more sustainable, progressive and democratic path, focusing on changes at the centre, and in centre–local relations, as well as at the local level.