This study has been commissioned by One NorthEast to examine the relationship between ‘city regions’ and the rural areas in the North East region.

• Project Dates: 2005 (5 months)
• Project Leader: Neil Ward
• Staff: Neil Ward, Jane Midgley and Jane Atterton
• Sponsors: One NorthEast

Increasing interest in city regions amongst academics and policy makers had led to their being adopted as an important part of the spatial framework for ‘the North’ (the North East, the North West and Yorkshire and Humber regions) within the Northern Way Growth Strategy. The study examined the links between two city regions (Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley) in the North East region and the rural areas within and surrounding them. It identified the types of linkages, and available data sources to quantify the scale of the flows. It estimated the current economic significance of such linkages, and suggested recommendations for how such benefits might be enhanced.