Reviewing the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review

Transport for the North (TfN) commissioned Steer Economic Development (Steer-ED), supported by Cambridge Econometrics (CE), to undertake a Review of the 2016 Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review (NPIER) in order to inform a potential Refresh of the NPIER and accompanying 5-year work programme.

The emphasis of the Review was forward looking, focussed primarily around identifying stakeholder’s current perspectives and requirements around the future of the NPIER. The scope of the Review comprised: 

• Review lessons learnt from the process of developing the 2016 NPIER;
• Assess the usage and application of the 2016 NPIER and relevance against a changed political and economic context;
• Assess how a Refreshed NPIER could be augmented and whether additional questions need to be addressed, over and above those covered in the existing evidence base;
• Engage effectively and extensively with stakeholders to obtain their insights, understand their requirements for long-term economic scenarios and secure their support for an updated NPIER; and
• Develop a package of options for developing a long-term NPIER, comprising a 5-year work programme including a Refresh of the economic scenarios in 2019/20.