Regional cities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are outshining the UK’s largest cities when ranked by both economic success and the factors which the general public value, according to an assessment by management consultancy PwC in conjunction with think tank Demos.
For the second year in a row some of the UK’s medium-sized regional cities, including Reading, Aberdeen, Preston, Southampton and Belfast, rank higher than they would be in tables based on economic size alone, which are usually dominated by London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.
The largest cities fare less well for ‘good growth’ due to challenges with transport congestion, housing affordability, income inequality, and other quality of life indicators.
That’s the message highlighted by the PwC analysis and set out in its ‘2013 Good Growth for Cities index’.
The PwC report measures the current performance of 39 cities on a wider range of measures than GDP alone, capturing the characteristics of a city which the UK public considers important for judging medium to long-term success. The basket of measures, identified by the public and business as key to economic success and wellbeing include jobs, health, income and skills.
Cities like Reading/Bracknell, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Southampton, Cambridge and Belfast all scored higher than London and other major cities like Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.
John Hawksworth, chief UK economist at PwC, said: ‘Our analysis demonstrates that there is a rising price for economic success for many of the largest UK cities. Medium sized cities with better quality of life tend to score better on our index based on what the public says is important to them.’
The report stressed that big cities faced major challenges on congestion, pollution, transport and housing. ‘Councils and Local Enterprise Partnerships need to address these issues as they develop their growth plans,’ it concluded.
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