City leaders’ greener vision for future
CITY leaders have promised a bold and “distinctive” vision to ensure Newcastle can recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, ahead of a huge predicted spike in unemployment once the furlough scheme closes.
Up to 20,000 people could find themselves out of work in the city once the government ends its commitment to pay 80% of people’s wages in October, according to council officials.
Newcastle City Council chief executive Pat Ritchie warned on Wednesday of an economic shock “the likes of which we have never seen before”, as early plans were unveiled to deliver a brighter future.
A council report states that the number of Newcastle people unemployed could increase to “perhaps 18,000-20,000 post the furlough scheme ending”, compared to 13,775 people out of work according to Universal Credit claimant figures in the city from June.
But hopes for a post-pandemic renewal presented to the City Futures Board set out ambitions for a greener and more prosperous Newcastle as a “post-industrial city that has adapted to climate change and maximised its strengths as a place to attract and retain talent”.
However, the plans contain little detail on how to meet a short-term pledge to “minimise business failure and unemployment” in the coming months or later goals to stabilise the city’s economy and deliver “signature projects”.
Ms Ritchie said a more detailed plan would be published in September, adding that Newcastle should not aspire to copy cities like London or Manchester but create a “unique” vision for itself in the way that places like Bristol, Gothenburg and Vancouver have.
The chief executive warned that the city still faced major systemic problems such as the impact of lost industry, an ageing population and climate change - but also had many distinct advantages such as having a Premier League football ground, two universities, a world class hospital, and mainline train station all in the city centre.
Newcastle Labour leader Nick Forbes said: “We are all very concerned about the prospect of significant rises in the unemployment rate and significant numbers of businesses really continuing to struggle as we emerge from the furlough scheme and the other support mechanisms that have been put in place for a temporary period of time over the last few months. “There are some real challenges we will need to overcome.
“But we also know that Newcastle has many great assets - it has fantastic people, brilliant businesses.
“We used to describe Newcastle as the Goldilocks city - not too big, not too small, just about right.”
Coun Nick Cott, the city’s Lib Dem opposition leader, said the plans were a “useful baseline”, but feared Newcastle was falling behind other areas in pushing ahead with more detailed recovery efforts.
He added: “It is obviously important for the council and the various agencies across the city to start to put in place these measures.
“In Newcastle, we are behind other authorities in establishing the formal parameters of the various aspects of this work, so the sooner this begins the better.”