Meeting the Regional Economic Challenge: the importance of cities to regional growth

The former Chancellor, Gordon Brown unveiled a joint Treasury, ODPM and DTI paper as part of the 2006 Budget (22 March 2006), highlighting the role played in driving regional and national economic growth in England's regions.

Devolving decision making: 3 - Meeting the regional economic challenge: The importance of cities to regional growth, provides an important contribution to our understanding of the importance of cities in driving economic growth. It builds on key work, such as the landmark State of the English Cities report, published March 2006, and the Framework for City-Regions, to demonstrate the case for economic analysis and policy making at a city-region level.

Devolving decision making: 3 confirms the key message from the State of the English Cities report. English cities have demonstrated significant economic and social progress since the economic decline of the 1970s and 1980s, but there is still scope for improving performance further.

The report is available on the HM Treasury website (a link is provided on the right hand side of this page).