Lesson video

Hi there.

My name is Chloe and I'm a geography field studies tutor.

This lesson is all about the north-south divide in the UK and it forms part of the economic futures in the UK unit of work.

Let's get started.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to evaluate the strategies that attempt to resolve regional differences in the UK.

Before we do that, we're going to review the three key terms for this lesson, regional inequality.

This refers to the differences in the standard of living and wealth between two areas of the same country.

The core, this is the economic centre of a country or a region.

In the UK at least this is London and the Southeast.

And then there's the periphery, this is the area of a country or region that serves the core and therefore has a slightly weaker economy.

There are two parts to this lesson.

We'll first be answering the question, what is the north-south divide? We'll then look at the strategies that are trying to reduce regional inequality.

The north-south divide is an example of regional inequality.

Geographers tend to study the characteristics of the north-south divide and the causes of it.

Geographers think about the north-south divide as an example of a core or the south and a periphery, the north.

So the core takes labour, resources and goods from the periphery in order to sustain itself.

What it then gives back to the periphery, tends to be aid, waste and pollution.

In order to maintain its position as the core, it has to have that relationship with the periphery.

But the core does more than that, because it also attracts foreign investment, which skips over the periphery and injects that money directly into the core.

The core maintains its wealth, because the periphery is able to support it.

Now, there's some disagreement over where the north-south divide actually sits.

The line that I've put on this map is what most geographers believe to be the case.

So, most photographers agree that the north has lower employment and income levels, has poorer health and lower life expectancy, has lower house prices and lower population density.

In contrast, the south tends to have higher income and employment levels, tends to have better health and a higher life expectancy.

There's also higher house prices and a higher population density.

Now, it's important to recognise that even though we have outlined the north and the south, there's gonna be exceptions to this pattern.

Somewhere like Alderley Edge in Cheshire is one of the wealthiest towns in the UK.

If we go into the south, there's also places like Jaywick in Essex.

This is one of the most deprived areas of the UK.

So, both of those places are contradicting what we know as the north-south divide.

Let's start with a check for understanding here.

True or false, everyone living in a region has the same experience of living there.

Pause the video and have a think about what we've just seen and then come back to me.

Okay, let's see what you think.

Well done if you recognise that that statement is false.

Now, tell me why.

Yes, so within any region, there will be variation in the lived experience.

There can be pockets of wealth in poorer areas and vice versa.

Just like the two examples we just saw.

To understand the causes of the north-south divide, geographers tend to look at regional history.

So, let's start with the north.

The north tends to have or did have an abundance of natural resources such as coal and this fed industrial growth.

We're going back here to the kind of times of the industrial revolution.

This meant that manufacturing industries that used coal power could grow rapidly, between the years of roughly 1850 to 1950.

But by the 1970s, those coal mines began to close and the factories themselves began to move overseas where the labour and the goods became much cheaper.

This left behind high levels of unemployment and little to attract new investment.

So, you can see that the history and pattern of things that have happened in the north, have led to where it is today.

In the south, it was a bit of a different type of history.

So, here it's more about is geographical luck if you like.

Ports have direct access to mainland Europe.

This means there's been increased volume and frequency of large scale trade with the mainland continent.

There increased levels of profits and these flow into the south, and this means there can be new investment into businesses and higher paid jobs, most recently in things like financial services.

Let's listen in on this conversation between Izzy and Lucas.

Izzy says, "So originally it was all about the luck of location.

"That is what has created regional inequality." But Lucas thinks there's more to it than that.

"Surely, historical government policies, "must have also favoured the south over the north." Who do you think is right or could they both be right? Let's check our understanding of that.

How did being geographically close to Europe have an impact on the south of the UK? Was it that the south could share resources with Europe? Was it that the south could build manufacturing industries? Did the south profit from trading with Europe, or did it mean the South could reduce its population, through migration? Have a think about what we've just seen and then come back to me with your right answer.

Well, the big advantage that the south had over the north was its proximity to Europe because it meant it could trade and create a lot of profit from those trades.

Our first task here, sort the statements below into those that generally apply to the north of the UK and those that generally apply to the south.

So, you've got five statements there.

See if you can sort them into those that are more to do with the north and more to do with the south.

Then I would like you to try to explain a particular link and that's between the North having Coalfields and natural resources, but today having higher levels of unemployment.

What is the link between those two ideas? Do try and explain that to me.

Pause the video, 'cause this is gonna take a little bit of time and thought and then come back to me.

Right, let's start with this idea of sorting the statements.

Now, I've put mine into a table.

You don't have to, but it's one way of really clearly trying to show the difference between the north and the south.

So, the north of the UK tends to have lower house prices and lower life expectancy.

While the south has slightly higher incomes, better health and higher population density.

Then I wanted you to explain the link, between this idea of the north, having an abundance of natural resources such as coal and then today having higher levels of unemployment.

Here's something that you might have written.

The coal industry in the north allowed the development of coal powered manufacturing industries.

In the 1970s, the coal mines began to close and the factories began to relocate overseas.

This left large areas of the north with high levels of unemployment.

Now, we're looking at the second part of today's lesson, answering the question, how do strategies to reduce inequality compare? Now, the government has tried to reduce regional inequality in a number of ways.

We are just going to look at four different schemes.

First of all, European Regional Development Fund and how that was used from 1975 onwards.

We're going to look at the development of enterprise zones and what they were from 2011 onwards.

In 2014, they began the devolution of power for some cities, particularly those in the north.

So, we're gonna be looking at the impact that had and then we're going to be looking at the Northern Powerhouse, which was a series of infrastructure projects, based in the north of England.

Let's start with the European Regional Development Fund.

This ran until 2020, so that was roughly 45 years.

It invested billions of pounds into the UK, around 25,000 projects benefited from that fund.

Here's one example of it.

It's the Business Energy Saving Team Programme, which is run by North Tyneside Council.

This is a service that provides free energy audits to small businesses to help them identify ways to save money.

Enterprise zones are another scheme that have tried to reduce regional inequality.

They're set up to encourage new businesses to develop their premises in particular places.

And of course they're going to be trying to set them up more in the north.

So, enterprise zones have a number of features to try and attract these businesses.

First of all, grants and loans.

These might be available to actually get these companies started.

There'll be improved digital infrastructure, such as super-fast broadband, again, to promote development.

There'll be a reduction in business rates.

Business rates are a form of tax that businesses have to pay and if you need to build a new warehouse or a new industry or a new shop or something like that, there'll be simpler planning regulations to help that happen.

An example of an enterprise zone is Prestwick International Enterprise Area.

It's on the west coast of Scotland, near to Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

It specialises in encouraging new and growing aerospace industries.

So, let's check our understanding.

Complete the sentences with the missing words.

You're gonna want to pause the videos, so you can have a look through the paragraph and then come back to me with those three missing words.

Okay, let's see what answers you have.

Between 1974 and 2020, the European Regional Development Fund invested in businesses across the UK.

In 2011, enterprise zones were set up.

These encouraged new businesses by reducing business rates and making planning regulations simpler.

Hope you got those right.

Devolution is the transfer of power from national governments to local ones.

In the UK, this meant that northern cities, started to have elected mayors.

These mayors had increased power to run their cities and make decisions tailored specifically to local issues.

The so-called Northern Powerhouse was an initiative to try to boost industrial growth, specifically in the north of England.

It focused on infrastructure projects that would link northern cities together as a form of kind of economic alliance.

Now, there were many cities that were involved in this, but these were the main five; Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Hull.

You can see how close they are geographically, and the idea was that they would form a greater economic alliance if there were infrastructure projects that would encourage that.

They also tried to increase skill development in the region, especially in areas such as engineering.

Now, let's look at what Jun and Alex have to say about this.

Jun says, "Do we really need to worry about bringing industry "to the north? "In the future, "lots of employment opportunities will be digital "and online.

"You won't have to live in the south "to work in a business based in the south." Now, we're not seeing here that I don't think Jun is particularly against the north.

What is saying is there's gonna be so much more flexibility, about how and where we work in the future.

That actually may be where we live, actually doesn't matter as much.

Let's see what Alex has to say.

Regional inequality isn't just about businesses.

It's also about education and healthcare.

All aspects of regional development, affect all other aspects.

Alex has still got a really good point here, although Jun is saying, yeah, there's greater flexibility in future work environments.

Alex is saying, well, actually before we even get there, there's gotta be good healthcare and there's gotta be good education.

So, it's not just about industry that we need to focus on when we're thinking about regional inequality.

So, do you agree with Jun or Alex or neither? Another check for our understanding here.

Why might an elected city mayor be better placed to make decisions about their city? Is it that they can make decisions tailored to specific local problems that they know and understand? Do they have larger budgets so they can spread investment more widely in their area or is it because they've been democratically elected, so that means they will treat all people equally in their city? Have a think about that, pause the video and then come back.

Well, it sounds like all of these could be feasibly true, but the one I really want you to focus on is that first one.

Devolution means that more local people, get to make decisions about their issues in their locality with specific ways of dealing with them, which work for them.

We now move on to our final task of the lesson.

Just to remind ourselves, there are four schemes that we've looked at today.

European Regional Development Funding, enterprise zones, devolution with the elected city mayors and the Northern Powerhouse Initiative.

What I'd like to do is choose a scheme to go in each column of the first empty row in the table.

So, let's have a look at this table.

Let's look at the column headings first of all.

We were looking for a scheme that is the best scheme for training people for new job opportunities.

I'd like you to find a scheme that is the best scheme for making sure local people's needs are met and the best scheme for starting a new and small business.

So, you need to put the name of a scheme of the four that we studied in each of those columns.

Now, there's not necessarily a correct answer here, because there's lots of crossover, between what the different schemes try to achieve.

The second part is then the second row that you can see in the table about justification.

I want you to write a justification for each of your choices in that row.

So, once you've chosen a scheme example that is best for training people for new job opportunities, tell me why you've chosen that particular scheme and then do that for the other two columns.

Do pause the videos.

This is gonna take a little bit of time.

Make sure that you really write in lots of detail for that justification and then come back to me.

So, let's look at some answers.

Now, bearing in mind there are not necessarily a right answer for a scheme that needs to appear in each of those columns.

So, let's see what I've put.

For the best scheme for training people for new job opportunities, I've chosen the Northern Powerhouse.

My justification for choosing that is that the Northern Powerhouse provided skills development in engineering specifically.

So, it's actually really encouraging young people to get into particular fields of work.

Then I'm looking for the best scheme for making sure local people's needs are met.

For that, I've chosen the idea of devolution and elected city mayors.

I've said that city mayors, would have a clearer understanding of local issues and how to solve them.

And then finally, I've chosen for the best scheme for starting a new and small business.

I've chosen enterprise zones for that one.

So, enterprise zones have a variety of incentives for new businesses that may not have vast amounts of startup capital.

So, it's all about getting those businesses started.

So, let's summarise our learning for today.

The north-south divide in the UK is defined by inequality in areas such as income, employment and health.

This has been caused by geographical location and historical policies.

The UK and European Governments, have tried to boost the economy of the north, through a number of schemes, such as the European Regional Development Fund and the Northern Powerhouse Initiative.

Some of you may have family who live in a different part of the UK.

It might be interesting to talk to them, about how they see the north-south divide.

Do they feel it is purely an economic difference or are there cultural differences as well, between different parts of the UK.

They might even know something about some of the schemes that I've mentioned today as well.

Perhaps you could get their opinion on whether they have been successful in their local area.