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Northern Housing Consortium becomes partner to government’s Northern Powerhouse
Housing membership body the Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) has joined the government’s Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) Programme, which aims to improve the economy in the North of England by working with local businesses.
The Northern Powerhouse concept was introduced in 2014 by former chancellor George Osborne in a bid to make the North of England more connected and more economically competitive. In September 2016 NPP was launched by Mr Osborne to maintain momentum for the Northern Powerhouse vision.
The NHC – which counts 145 local authorities, ALMOs and housing associations as its membership – joins 300 organisations now signed up to the partner programme to help drive progress.
Companies signed up to the initiative share “business successes”, the partnership’s website states, as well as opportunities such as apprenticeship programmes and growth initiatives. It currently has more than 300 partners, including Rolls-Royce and Santander.
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Tracy Harrison, chief executive of the NHC, said: “We share an ambition to invest in the supply and quality of the North’s housing offer, supporting our members to create great places to live and enabling the North to become a magnet for new business and talented people.”
Jake Berry, minister for the Northern Powerhouse, said: “The consortium’s commitment to creating housing policy for the North by the North with an improved quality of life at its heart builds on our £3.4bn of Local Growth Fund investment to spur regeneration and build new infrastructure throughout the Northern Powerhouse.”
The sector has long argued for a greater focus on government funding for the North of England, which typically receives less cash than the South East.
Last February, Homes for the North, an organisation made up of 17 of the largest developing housing associations in the North of England, asked for “a new type of deal” to regenerate certain areas.
It also restated its call for a target of 50,000 homes a year in the North, demanded that the government require local authorities in the North to align their local industrial strategies with housing supply plans, and asked the government to establish a pan-northern body to ensure that housing and infrastructure are planned together.
