Andy Burnham has promised ‘good growth in every postcode’ and a new era of devolution, with power and resources shifted from Westminster to the regions, calling for local communities to have direct control ​over the things that shape daily life such as housing, transport and education – and citing how this worked in Manchester when he was Mayor as ‘Manchesterism in action’.

His experience as Greater Manchester Mayor - and almost a decade of negotiating with Whitehall - is now shaping national policy, including new powers and resources for mayors and a more explicitly place-based approach to economic growth.

The event, on 27 October, will be hosted by Newcastle University’s Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) and will bring together senior voices from the North East, Manchester and central government alongside leading academic perspectives for a panel discussion. It will aim to explore whether Manchesterism is a model that can - or should - be replicated elsewhere and what the North East can learn from Greater Manchester's experience, and the differences in economic structure, institutions, political leadership and opportunities for areas away from London and Manchester.

Dr Emma Ormerod, Director of CURDS, part of the School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology at Newcastle University, said: “With Andy Burnham now in Downing Street, the experiment in regional leadership, devolution and place-based growth that has developed in Greater Manchester is no longer simply a story about Manchester, it is potentially a blueprint for how the UK is governed. This event promises to explore what this could look like in the North East and what lessons can be learned.”

The panel will include Kim McGuiness, North East Mayor, and regional development expert Mirte Boot from think tank Ippr North; leading regional planning and governance expert, Professor John Tomaney, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, UCL; and former government adviser and regional governance expert Professor Andy Westwood, University of Birmingham.

‘Manchesterism: what does it mean for the North East?’’ will take place on Tuesday 27th October at 17:00 at The Catalyst, Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5TG

The event is free, but places must be reserved in advance by registering here.