NCUB believes the Northern Growth Strategy will succeed only if it takes a genuinely integrated, place-based approach to growth. Transport investment must be aligned with skills, innovation, housing and business support, while recognising the diversity of the North’s towns and cities rather than focusing solely on major urban centres. Universities are central to this ambition as anchor institutions, conveners and drivers of innovation, skills and inward investment, but their ability to fulfil these roles depends on sustained institutional resilience and long-term support for partnership infrastructure. The Strategy should strengthen collaboration between local government, businesses and education providers, improve access to growth capital, build local delivery capacity, and support inclusive talent pipelines that enable people and places across the North to benefit from economic growth.
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