Northern Power House?

[salou4 10]

To get an idea of Sheffield's status look further than infrastructure.

Like Manchester we have 2 football teams. Theirs are amongst the richest in the world...where are ours.

Look at entertainment. All the big bands and stars that go tour visit Manchester, we are lucky to get "Strictly on Tour"

They have excellent theatre shows, we get snooker for 2 weeks.

 

The whole concept of being a successful, vibrant city is down to more than just what our roads are like, but if those who defend the status quo took their heads out of the sand, they would realise just how far Sheffield is behind others and we need to start catching up. Infrastructure is a start, but it needs more than that....it needs a council who will sell the city, and make it a welcoming place for people and businesses to come to.

[The Joker 10]

No matter what happens, people on here will just cry like little girls when Leeds gets more investment ahead of Sheffield. Probably the people who I have noticed cant quite bring themselves to type the word "Leeds" and instead have to childishly type "L**ds" instead.

 

There's

 

nothing

 

childish

 

or

 

irrational

 

about

 

our

 

hatred

 

of

 

L**ds

[biotechpete 10]

It's an opportunity and you have hit the nail on the head with your second paragraph. If northern cities choose to be mardy and play politics they will get what they deserve.

 

If anyone thinks that Westminster is going to create a Northern Powerhouse by doling out endless grants and subsidies they need to get a grip.

 

It's up to people here to get on with it instead of whining that them down south aren't being fair, although funding HS2 and HS3 while devolving powers and budgets to local decision makers is hardly putting our arm up our back.

 

It's fine not to expect more, but expecting equivalent per capita infrastructure spend would be a start. Look at the costs of cross rail £15bn, cross rail 2 £27bn the Olympics £9bn, London gateway £1.5bn. I know some of that is private investment but much of it is public money.

 

---------- Post added 13-05-2015 at 20:17 ----------

 

Get it built. The existing road links to Manchester are a joke.

 

The coalition government did put forward a plan to start on a bypass for Mottram.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30286736

[Longcol 596]

To get an idea of Sheffield's status look further than infrastructure.

Like Manchester we have 2 football teams. Theirs are amongst the richest in the world...where are ours.

Look at entertainment. All the big bands and stars that go tour visit Manchester, we are lucky to get "Strictly on Tour"

They have excellent theatre shows, we get snooker for 2 weeks.

 

The whole concept of being a successful, vibrant city is down to more than just what our roads are like, but if those who defend the status quo took their heads out of the sand, they would realise just how far Sheffield is behind others and we need to start catching up. Infrastructure is a start, but it needs more than that....it needs a council who will sell the city, and make it a welcoming place for people and businesses to come to.

 

Look at the size of the Greater Manchester conurbation - 2.5 million. That's nearly four times the size of Sheffield/Rotherham conurbation.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom

[smiggs 10]

To get an idea of Sheffield's status look further than infrastructure.

Like Manchester we have 2 football teams. Theirs are amongst the richest in the world...where are ours.

Look at entertainment. All the big bands and stars that go tour visit Manchester, we are lucky to get "Strictly on Tour"

They have excellent theatre shows, we get snooker for 2 weeks.

 

The whole concept of being a successful, vibrant city is down to more than just what our roads are like, but if those who defend the status quo took their heads out of the sand, they would realise just how far Sheffield is behind others and we need to start catching up. Infrastructure is a start, but it needs more than that....it needs a council who will sell the city, and make it a welcoming place for people and businesses to come to.

 

While I agree with your conclusion the way you got there is daft.

 

No one seriously measures the quality of a city by the quality of their sports teams.

Big bands tour the major population centres.

Sheffield's theatres are widely regarded as the best outside London.

 

When measuring the prosperity of an area we should be looking at average wage and unemployment rates, when considering these the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority (aka South Yorkshire) has a big job to do.

[Anna B 1,401]

To get an idea of Sheffield's status look further than infrastructure.

Like Manchester we have 2 football teams. Theirs are amongst the richest in the world...where are ours.

Look at entertainment. All the big bands and stars that go tour visit Manchester, we are lucky to get "Strictly on Tour"

They have excellent theatre shows, we get snooker for 2 weeks.

 

The whole concept of being a successful, vibrant city is down to more than just what our roads are like, but if those who defend the status quo took their heads out of the sand, they would realise just how far Sheffield is behind others and we need to start catching up. Infrastructure is a start, but it needs more than that....it needs a council who will sell the city, and make it a welcoming place for people and businesses to come to.

 

Totally agree.

 

Who's going to tell the council?

[Longcol 596]

If we want to be like Leeds we need nigh on another million people living in a 10 or so mile radius of the city centre. If we want to be like Manchester we need another 1.7 million people living within a 10 or so mile radius of the city centre.

 

Sheffield has never been a regional centre - we need to stop the daft comparisons with Leeds and Manchester and come up with something else more realistic for a sub-regional centre.

[The Joker 10]

If we want to be like Leeds we need nigh on another million people living in a 10 or so mile radius of the city centre. If we want to be like Manchester we need another 1.7 million people living within a 10 or so mile radius of the city centre.

 

On the one hand, this may happen sooner than you think, given the present immigration and birth rates in Page Hall.

 

But. . . even if it did, it wouldn't improve Sheffield's chances of becoming a regional centre one bit. While Bradford are happy to be associated with the village next door, and folk in Salford are proud to be linked with Manchester, this would never work in Yorkshire due to reasons I mentioned in my earlier brilliant post.

[Bilge 34]

People who are interested in this stuff have been going on about the reform of local government for decades. This all seems to be happening in a haphazard, piecemeal sort of way.

 

I understand that (Greater) Manchester is the obvious candidate to be a London of the North and there can be a 'Greater Birmingham' in the midlands. But that model isn't going to fit all towns and cities. When they talk about 'Sheffield' or 'Leeds' do they mean an area that is different to the current local authority areas with those names? Do they mean 'city regions'? It's all a bit half-cocked. If you're going to reform local government do it properly.

[E-Man Groovin 27]

Stop trying to be like other cities. Be ourselves. Let's hatch a plan to be successful in our own way. That way true prosperity lies.

 

Being a second Manchester or a second Leeds will always mean that we will be second rate. Let's be a first Sheffield.

[Eater Sundae 12]

People who are interested in this stuff have been going on about the reform of local government for decades. This all seems to be happening in a haphazard, piecemeal sort of way.

 

I understand that (Greater) Manchester is the obvious candidate to be a London of the North and there can be a 'Greater Birmingham' in the midlands. But that model isn't going to fit all towns and cities. When they talk about 'Sheffield' or 'Leeds' do they mean an area that is different to the current local authority areas with those names? Do they mean 'city regions'? It's all a bit half-cocked. If you're going to reform local government do it properly.

 

I would hope that each area would be the whole region, eg an M62 corridor around Leeds, say Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford, Leeds, Wakefield and Pontefract.

 

Another one could be the M1/M18 area encompassing Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster.

 

In each case it is important to be inclusive of smaller towns and villages in the area.

[smiggs 10]

People who are interested in this stuff have been going on about the reform of local government for decades. This all seems to be happening in a haphazard, piecemeal sort of way.

 

I understand that (Greater) Manchester is the obvious candidate to be a London of the North and there can be a 'Greater Birmingham' in the midlands. But that model isn't going to fit all towns and cities. When they talk about 'Sheffield' or 'Leeds' do they mean an area that is different to the current local authority areas with those names? Do they mean 'city regions'? It's all a bit half-cocked. If you're going to reform local government do it properly.

 

Sheffield is the city region including bits of Derbyshire in South and Doncaster in the North, they have a map. I agree it's a bit haphazard and centres governance around cities ignoring rural communities altogether.