North West views: ChargePoint’s Chris Eccles on the Northern Powerhouse

With the government’s vision of creating a Northern Powerhouse commanding the attention of the North West business community, particularly in the wake of the UK Northern Powerhouse International Conference & Exhibition, at Bdaily we’ve decided to run a new series of interviews to establish just what the region’s business leaders think of the plans.

Is the North West set for an overhaul in the coming years – one to turn the region into a true example of economic empowerment through business growth, job creation and prosperity?

Today we caught up with Chris Eccles, managing director of Liverpool-based manufacturer ChargePoint.

What does the Northern Powerhouse mean to you?

To me, it’s about enabling entrepreneurialism, innovation and enabling growth away from London.

Are there signs of the Northern Powerhouse starting to bear fruit in the region?

I think it’s still too early and still to be ironed out. That’s my view, from someone in industry looking outwards. There are certainly signs of trends and activity and positivity increasing in the region off the back of the Northern Powerhouse idea. So there’s no tangible results but there is definitely a good vibe about it.

Has the government done enough to convince you of its commitment to Osborne’s vision?

No, not at this stage. I understand most people in London are working on it but with the £300m that has been announced in the Budget last week to improve the infrastructure that will better connect the Northern cities, there is clear direction. Clearly, that money has to be put in the right hands and the spades have to hit the dirt. More should be done to harness and connect the expertise in the north because there’s lots of it and to encourage innovation-led growth.

Transport improvement is intrinsic to the Northern Powerhouse. Do you believe that spending billions on infrastructure will improve Northern productivity?

It’s vital. The commute into and around Liverpool in recent years has worsened and the commute between Liverpool and Manchester where there are a lot of interactions is difficult. I think reducing the time to get between key areas of expertise, whether it be Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, over to Hull and Newcastle, then improving the transit time between those areas will buy people time to do other things and is probably the best place to start.

Are there any other areas which you believe money should be spent on, ahead of transport?

Across the North, education and skills has to be worked on. If we are going to create an area of sustainable growth you’ve got to have people who will step up and are capable of taking those jobs. If we’re not starting early on, we are going to be having a debate in five years’ time, after the transport has been sorted out, about dealing with education and the debate about education will be distracting and undermine the positive work going on.

While Manchester is a key city in the government’s vision, do you think enough is being done to cater for other important North West towns and cities?

Manchester has led the way over the years in terms of pushing on its own to great success. Liverpool now has support through the International Festival for Business (IFB), for example, and I think the other areas will step up to the mark.

Hull is the UK Capital of Culture 2017 and Yorkshire is excellent at promoting its strengths from Leeds to Sheffield. I don’t think it’s a case of being like Manchester, it’s about offering the skillset the city has and working collaboratively across all cities to improve and to create the Northern Powerhouse.

Liverpool and Manchester have complementary strengths. To an extent the other Northern cities are playing catch-up with Manchester, but Liverpool is pushing on with IFB which has national government and northern city support.

For all our latest Northern Powerhouse news and views, click here. Share your views and get involved with our latest interview series by contacting North West editor Richard at richard.bell@bdaily.co.uk