Greg welcomes Work Foundation's report into how cities can tackle recession

11.55.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 6th Jul 2009

Newcastle East Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman Greg Stone has welcomed the publication of a report by the highly influential Work Foundation into the effect of the recession on major cities.

The report, published today, identifies the importance of innovative city leadership in formulating an effective response to the economic downturn, and highlights a number of actions taken by Lib Dem controlled Newcastle City Council as examples of best practice.

The report also endorses the recent call by the Core Cities group of major cities for Government to support Accelerated Development Zones to kick-start city centre development schemes, such as the Newcastle Brewery site.

The report notes that Newcastle has undertaken measures including speeding up payment of invoices to suppliers and extending business rate relief for small companies, and particularly commends the work of the Newcastle Futures partnership in establishing three new resource centres to provide jobsearch and other support for people made redundant.

Greg said "As chair of Newcastle Futures I am delighted that the Work Foundation has recognised the efforts being made in the city to support employability. I am also pleased that the report has identified the need for Accelerated Development Zone status as a key priority, along with the need to extend the city-region powers pilot beyond Leeds and Manchester to areas such as Tyneside".