Advancing the North

Great North Plan

In partnership with Newcastle University, we were instructed by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) to produce the high-profile People and Place Spatial Framework.

The framework we created will form part of the Great North Plan. This project seeks to overcome barriers and enable planning to play a wider role in delivering a better future for the people and places of the Northern Powerhouse area (the former Yorkshire and Humber, North West and North East regions). Together, this area is home to over a quarter of England's population, contains over a quarter of England's workforce, and achieves £304 billion annual gross value added. It also contains five of the eight English core cities, and five of the 10 English National Parks; and contains many of the country's most affordable cities.

The outcome? Together with RTPI, our report Ambitions for the North: A Spatial Framework for People and Places launched in May 2019. It sets out the findings to our investigations, ensuring plans for transformational infrastructure investment across the North of England will succeed in bringing economic, social and environmental benefits to this part of the United Kingdom—it also suggests key recommendations for the future.