ABSTRACT
The North West region extends over 14,140 square kilometres and has a population of 6.9 million and a labour force of 2.6 million, making it the secondlargest region in Britain (Figure 7.1). Three-fifths of its population live in the major conurbations of Greater Manchester (2.6 million) and Merseyside (1.4 million) – both with population densities of over 2,000 person per square kilometre – with further concentrations in the largely Victorian industrial towns of Central and east Lancashire and north Cheshire. One of the world’s first industrial regions, and still one of the country’s leading manufacturing locations, it has been particularly badly hit by the process of deindustrialisation. It has a poor reinvestment record, the lowest rate of new firm formation in Britain, and poor regional performance in terms of inward investment (Tickell et al., 1995). The region is peripheral to existing and emerging European markets, and has been hit hard by contemporary changes in defence-related industries.
