With the government yet to trigger Article 50, the results of the referendum on the European Union may still feel intangible. But what does feel real for many of us are the tensions that we are seeing in communities up and down the UK, along with a sense of exasperation at the status quo. How can we soothe some of these tensions, and create a society in which we all want to live?
For years, policymaking has been concentrated on generating economic growth in our towns and cities, with a focus on policies designed to create wealth outside of London and the southeast. Yet, in all our efforts to find new ways to help businesses grow, to establish new industries, to foster innovation, to get us exporting more, are we missing something?There is a growing consensus that if we want a society that works, one in which we can heal some of the rifts we’ve been seeing, then it needs to provide opportunities for everyone. We need a vibrant economy that will help our businesses, communities and people to thrive. While few would say that positive GDP figures, higher exports or rising employment levels are a bad thing, they are not the only things we should be using to measure our success.
That insight is one of the driving factors behind the launch of our Vibrant Economy Index, which measures the comparative performance of towns and cities in England on a range of factors from prosperity, through health, wellbeing and happiness, to inclusion and equality. The data is drawn from over 50 sources, including economic measures such as GVA, educational attainment and average incomes, and combines them with data around fuel poverty, obesity levels, air quality and crime rates to give a picture of how a place is performing not just economically, but also socially.
The index has shown that rural areas tend to have healthier and happier communities, such as parts of Devon and Somerset, the Derbyshire Dales, the Suffolk Coast and the Lake District. It also finds that commuter towns perform well on across a number of indicators. Parts of Surrey and Hertfordshire outside of London score particularly well for health, wellbeing and happiness, while Harrogate outside Leeds and Rushcliffe outside Nottingham are more inclusive and equal than the national average.
However, areas in some of the UK’s most vibrant cities score less well for health, happiness and wellbeing. In Greater Manchester, where there are strong levels of economic prosperity, sustainability and sense of community, its health, happiness and wellbeing score is below the national average. The score, which combines factors from life expectancy and diabetes rates, to anxiety levels and sports participation, stands at 96.93 compared to the national average of 100. Life expectancy in Greater Manchester as a whole is 79.5, almost two years below the national average of 81.4 years.
Greater Manchester’s health problems are not news, but are rarely placed in the context of its booming economy. Generating economic growth and prosperity is important, but so is creating a place where people feel happy and are healthy, that promotes inclusion, equality and a sense of belonging in communities so that individuals as well as businesses can thrive. Many great things are already happening across the region and new organisations such as Health Innovation Manchester have been launched to tackle the problem.
But it’s not just for the city, institutions, and civil leaders to act; businesses, communities and individuals need to get involved too. Devolution provides a great opportunity for deeper collaboration—people across the city and beyond meeting to share ideas and innovate, to feel part of the journey and shape our future. That’s why we’re bringing people from across the region together at an event this week to look at how we can mobilise Greater Manchester to pioneer world-class health. At the event we will be asking over 200 people to appreciate the strengths of our region and to think about how we can amplify great ideas within the region and across the UK.
If we want to create a UK that gives opportunities for all, then we need to widen our focus and work together. We need places that give equal regard to health and wellbeing, diversity and inclusion and economic prosperity. But it won’t happen just because we will it. We all share a responsibility to work towards a healthier, happier and more prosperous UK.
Sarah Howard is a Partner at Grant Thornton UK. See here for more information around the Manchester Live Lab.
