Concerns have been raised by North East council chiefs as to whether the Government’s “Levelling Up” initiative has benefited the region economically. It was an issue brought up by Cllr Graeme Miller, Sunderland City Council leader, following a discussion around the economic recovery in the North East over recent months.
At Tuesday’s (July 12) meeting of North East Combined Authority (NECA) economic development digital advisory board, the Labour representative for Washington South queried whether the area had seen the impact of the Government’s “Levelling Up” plans. Cllr Miller said: “There doesn’t seem to be any evidence of any levelling up impacting on our economic picture.
“It’s important that if you’re going to back something as an economic driver for change, which is what levelling up claimed to be, then it isn’t delivered, local authorities are left with trying to do it. There is no movement compared to England of us [the North East] improving.”
