Northern England's Creative Industries: background paper

The Creative Industries are already a driver of growth across the UK economy. There is a clear opportunity for the North of England to develop a cross-regional strategy to support their growth. This background paper sets out how policymakers and industry could work together to realise this potential, via 'creative corridors'.

The opportunity is considerable. As a share of the local economy, the creative industries in the North currently contribute less than 3% to GVA. In London and the South-East, this sector share is closer to 10%. If the North were to grow its sector share even relatively modestly the grow benefits would be considerable. For example, if the sector share rose to around half levels in London and the South-East, this would be equivalent to a GVA boost of around £10 billion by 2030.

If realised, this would make a significant contribution to the Government’s sector vision target for the UK, which is to grow by £50 billion by 2030. Moreover, this growth would benefit the whole of the UK because a stronger Northern creative economy is good for exports and investment which in turn increases demand for content and services from creative businesses in the rest of the economy.

By drawing on the evidence provided in this paper, it should be possible to build a coherent plan which will allow the Northern Creative Industries to thrive over the coming decade and develop into a creative supercluster to complement the London and South-East creative supercluster.

Download Northern England's Creative Industries: background paper (1 MB)

This briefing paper is based on contributions from: Eliza Easton, Hasan Bakhshi, Andy Haldane, Heather Carey, Salvatore di Novo, Giorgio Fazio, Annie Gascoyne, Tom Kenyon, Jonathan Sapsed, Josh Siepel