Northern England, known simply as the North. There is no exact definition but it is normally taken to extend from the Scottish border in the north, taking in
Cumbria, Northumberland, Yorkshire and Lancashire to South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, incorporating northern areas of Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and
Cheshire.

The regional character varies greatly across the North with large areas of protected countryside sitting between areas or major urbanisation.

The North West is home to internationally famous football clubs, Liverpool F.C., Manchester United and Manchester City.

The region includes 5 of England’s national parks; the Lake District, the
Peak District, the North York Moors, the Yorkshire Dales and the Northumberland National Park. Tourism in these areas being the larger part of the economy.

Other areas such as Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Tyneside,West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire are large and in some parts contiguous urban populations. Their combined economy if joined through good infrastructure and transport could potentially rival that of London.

In an attempt to create economic growth in the North government investment has involved a number of development programmes, the most recent being the Northern Powerhouse funded mostly from the European Regional Development Fund and European Investment Bank.

The concept of the Northern Powerhouse is to create a collective force of the large number of cities and towns together with the rural areas by linking them with improved transport and communication infrastructure. Its dependency upon European funding in recent years may have an impact of regional growth following Brexit.

TThere is debate, however, about the benefits of not investing sooner in improving transport links within the region that will undoubtedly increase productivity in the region compared with investment in the major rail scheme HS2 linking the larger cities of the North with London in the longer term as late as 2033.