Following yesterday’s budget, presented by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling it looks like Manchester and Liverpool will slug it out to become what many commentators are dubbing, “Whitehall of the North”. Darling said that the governmnet were on track for £11 Billion worth of efficiency savings by 2013, and that part of these efficiency savings would be delivered by relocating up to 15,000 civil servants out of London. Possibly, the biggest one off opportunity for the economies of Manchester and Liverpool are the 1,000 civil servants that will be relocated by the Ministry of Justice.

So which of these Northern cities is best placed to take on the additional civil servants?

Manchester must be the favourite and already has plans for Civil Servants campus near to Manchester Picadilly train station which will be able to house up to 5,000 government workers. Manchester is the larger of the 2 cities and is arguably better equipped to deal with the influx of workers. The city will make a big step forward when it delivers Media City in the Salford Quays area. 

Although Liverpool can point to the successful move of the Health and Safety Executive to Bootle on Merseyside (on the outskirts of Liverpool) and the city plans to adopt the Pall Mall area (with the financial district) as it’s civel service hub.

Both cities can point to quick rail links to London as well as cheaper housing and local labour markets.

Whichever city is chose for the Ministry of Justice relocation it will prove to be a massive boost to the North West regional economy with added visitors, project workers staying in Manchester hotels who have travelled from London and so on. The initial relocation will likely pave the way for additional civil service jobs that will inevitably follow on.

Chris Rose, Managing Director at Serviced City Pads commented, “Although our company is based in Liverpool, we see ourselves very much as a North West company and as such we will be delighted whichever of the 2 cities is given the go ahead by the governmnent. We have serviced apartment in Manchester and Liverpool and by 2011 expect to be taking bookings for manchester hotels and hotels in Liverpool. Both cities could benefit from this news.”

For more information about staying in serviced apartments Manchester as an alternative to bookin a room in a Manchester hotel (or any other UK city for that matter), please have a look at our compnay website www.servicedcitypads.com. Alternatively, feel free to call Serviced City Pads for a chat.

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