Cheshire and Warrington Economic Development and Devolution Overview

Enterprise Cheshire and Warrington (ECW), a council-owned organisation, works alongside elected leaders to make the region the healthiest, most sustainable, inclusive, and growing place in the country.

We collaborate with the three local councils, industry leaders, and community partners to shape economic and transport strategies, deliver skills training and business support, and ensure that the voice of business is heard in local decision-making. Through its Marketing Cheshire division, ECW also champions the region as an outstanding place to live, work, invest, study, and visit.

Working in collaboration with local government, businesses, educational institutes and other public, private and community sector organisations, we keep Cheshire and Warrington firmly on the map. Cheshire and Warrington is on the government's devolution priority programme, expected to form a new Combined Authority in Spring 2026.

It is also a member of The Great North pan regional mayoral partnership, which replaced NP11.

The area has recently published its Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Strategy (SIES 2025-2045), which sets out the importance of key sectors and clusters to driving transformational growth opportunities, and makes a commitment to set out a roadmap to securing these opportunities through its future 10 year Local Growth Plan which will form the delivery plan for the SIES.

The government's National Industrial Strategy introduces a new taxonomy for nationally significant growth-driving sectors, and highlights key strengths within Cheshire and Warrington, including as part of a Supercluster for life sciences, digital and technologies with neighbouring areas.

Existing devolved areas such as neighbouring city regions have been working with government on a series of sector plans, which update their understanding of key sector and cluster growth opportunities, including interlinkages and dual-purpose properties across diverse sectors, and set out how the area will secure those opportunities.

Therefore, Enterprise Cheshire & Warrington (ECW), working with and on behalf of, Cheshire and Warrington Local Authority Growth Directors, requires a set of sector evidence bases and investment proposition content for priority high-growth industries, as well as a baseline refresh of the wider sector evidence base.

This work will form Phase 1 of a programme to update the Cheshire and Warrington economic, spatial and investment evidence base as well as providing quality and impactful content for The Great North Summit and UKREIIF in May 2026. Further phases will produce the full Sector Plans for the transformational sectors that will drive growth.