Atlantic United

The most intriguing business story of the past week as far as I’m concerned has been the announcement of the ‘Atlantic Gateway’ – a plan for historic city rivals Manchester and Liverpool to link up and create a regional zone to stimulate new jobs and investment. The zone, to replicate the ‘Thames Gateway’ would bequeath Liverpool with a deep-water port and include a £10 billion redevelopment of the Mersey waterfront as well as the BBC’s Media City development in Salford. Low-carbon infrastructure projects will be prioritised in the zone that takes in the places in between such as Warrington and Chester.

What was particularly interesting about this story is that anyone with more than a rudimentary knowledge of history, football and contemporary culture knows that the two cities aren’t exactly the most natural of bedfellows. Liverpool FC and Manchester United enjoy the fiercest rivalry in the Premiership. This rivalry stretches to music too; Liverpool has produced the Beatles whereas Manchester has given birth to the Stone Roses as well as the seminal Oasis. Liverpool has Cream, Manchester enjoyed the celebrated Hacienda.

However, the Atlantic Gateway initiative is long-overdue and must be applauded for a number of reasons.  Firstly, the UK as a country has been dominated by the south-east for far too long. Judging by the media’s bias towards London you’d often think that cities like Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle and Leeds were insignificant backwaters instead of the prosperous, attractive and multi-cultural locations that they’ve become over the past 15-20 years. These cities, like many others in the UK, often offer a better quality of life than the capital plus excellent opportunities for career-advancement. If the British economy is to recover its former vigour it certainly has to look outside the capital with its inherent imbalance towards the financial sector.

Secondly, the regeneration of British provincial cities during the 1990s has been crucial in moving the UK’s economy to a more sustainable and knowledge-based model. Both Liverpool and Manchester have strong universities with tens of thousands of students. Many graduates from both cities will undoubtedly contribute to the Atlantic Gateway if and when it comes to fruition. What could be a better way to attract foreign investors than to demonstrate the strength of an eco-system of local knowledge and expertise in infrastructure projects, business and regeneration.

Thirdly, in a world undergoing considerable globalisation, cities like Liverpool and Manchester face challenges from cities far beyond the UK and even the EU. Effectively, they’re fighting for investment from China and the far-east, Canada and the Gulf. Scaling up and joining forces makes a lot of sense.

Finally, this all poses the question as to whether the two cities could join sporting forces with one football club – ‘Atlantic United’? A strikeforce of Rooney and Torres would send a shiver down the spine of any top European club side manager.

Somehow I doubt this will ever happen – and we wouldn’t want it to either…