The upcoming Budget must deliver long-term investment in skills, innovation and infrastructure if the North is to fulfil its economic potential, according to one of the North West’s leading entrepreneurs.

Roger Line, who leads Doncaster-based engineering specialist Structural Repairs, says the Government must do more to help Northern businesses innovate, manufacture in Britain and create skilled, well-paid jobs.

Line believes the priority should be to move beyond broad commitments to regional growth and deliver the long-term investment, accessible funding and consistent policies that businesses need to innovate, expand and create skilled employment.

“The Northern Powerhouse should be about giving the North the confidence, investment and infrastructure to fulfil its economic potential,” he says.

“That means creating the conditions in which Northern businesses can innovate, grow and create skilled, well-paid jobs. The Budget needs to support that ambition with practical measures that help businesses invest for the long term.”

Line believes Britain has a strong record of developing new ideas but has not always been as successful in translating them into large-scale manufacturing businesses. He argues that the Budget should help close that gap by encouraging investment in manufacturing capability, testing facilities and the technologies needed to bring new products to market.

“We should be creating an environment where a business can develop an idea, test it, manufacture it and scale it here,” he says.

“That creates skilled jobs and builds long-term economic resilience.”

However, Line says securing the funding needed to turn innovative ideas into manufacturing businesses remains a significant challenge, particularly for companies looking to develop specialist technologies and invest in their own facilities.

“Getting an innovative product off the ground is difficult enough, but securing the funding to develop it, test it and establish the manufacturing capability to bring it to market can be a real struggle,” he says.

“We have experienced those challenges ourselves. Businesses are being asked to take risks, invest in new technologies and create skilled jobs, but accessing the finance needed to make that happen is not always straightforward. If the Government wants more British innovation to become British manufacturing, it needs to make it easier for businesses to secure the funding to grow.”

Structural Repairs’ own investment in manufacturing and testing facilities in Doncaster demonstrates the approach Line wants to see replicated more widely. The company has developed specialist engineering solutions, including a patented RAAC repair system using Regrid carbon reinforcement, approved by Network Rail, alongside technologies designed to restore the strength of deteriorating concrete structures.

The company is also expanding its manufacturing operations, with a second factory now being opened in Wales. The move represents a further commitment to UK manufacturing and demonstrates the potential for engineering businesses to grow their production capabilities while creating opportunities beyond their existing base.

For Line, businesses making these investments need a policy environment that rewards innovation and gives them the confidence to commit capital to UK facilities and skilled employees.

He believes targeted support for research and development, manufacturing equipment, testing facilities and factory expansion would help more businesses bridge the gap between developing new technology and producing it at scale in Britain.

Line also wants the Government to recognise that economic growth depends not only on building new infrastructure, but on protecting and extending the life of existing assets.
Ageing buildings, car parks and critical infrastructure require investment, but wholesale replacement is not always the most sustainable or cost-effective solution. Repair and strengthening can preserve existing assets, reduce waste and make public and private investment go further.

“The priority should be investing not just in new infrastructure, but in maintaining and extending the life of what we already have,” he says.

“Repairing existing infrastructure can often be more sustainable and cost-effective than replacing it, while also reducing waste and making scarce investment go further.”
Line believes the Budget presents an opportunity to connect the Government’s ambitions for regional growth with the practical measures businesses need to deliver it: investment in skills, support for innovation, access to funding and a long-term commitment to UK manufacturing and infrastructure.

For Northern businesses, he says, the potential is there. The challenge is ensuring they have the resources, confidence and policy support to turn that potential into sustainable economic growth.