Claims the north of England was lagging behind the South have been dismissed by local government figures. A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) claimed the Government was ‘in denial' that the annual average income per head in the North had moved further away from the national average. But Durham CC leader, Albert Nugent, said the research did not recognise the ‘distance travelled and our future prospects' in the county. ‘For example, the recently-published sub-national review of economic development and regeneration seeks to roll out good practice from the North East, where local authorities and the regional development agency – One North East – already work together very effectively,' he said. And Cheshire CC's director of environment, Tom McCabe, said figures in the report ‘spoke for themselves' on a regional level, but did not show what was happening on a sub-region level. ‘In Cheshire, we have to make sure we are one step ahead of the game,' he said. ‘It's not just Manchester or Liverpool. It's the emergence of Eastern Europe we have to look at. Standing still is not an option.'
