Merseyside case studiesMerseyside’s Economy as a Business Classroom
Examiners reward students who apply theory to real businesses. The county has clear examples across investment funds, growth plans and combined authority powers, and we use them in lessons.
Pricing & demandA £2bn fund and 520,000 sq ft
Real Asset Insight reported on 15 June 2026 that the Liverpool City Region, whose combined authority covers Halton as well as Merseyside’s five boroughs, had set out a strategy for a £2bn Investment Fund. Its first tranche was over 520,000 sq ft of office, laboratory and light industrial space with over 2,800 jobs, about 186 sq ft per job by our arithmetic. Six priority projects with a combined value above £200m moved to the next stage, and over £1bn of schemes had been submitted. The page names no projects or amounts for them, and the jobs are targets, not results.
What would you need to know to judge whether demand will fill 520,000 sq ft of new space, and how far can a pipeline figure be trusted? Practise this in AO2 Application.
Interpreting numbers£10bn on a £43.3bn economy
Halton Borough Council’s newsroom reported on 13 October 2025 that the Liverpool City Region Growth Plan, a 10-year blueprint, could add more than £10bn to an economy of £43.3bn a year, 23.1% by our arithmetic, and that lifting productivity to the national average alone would add £6bn, 13.9% by our arithmetic. It named the £550m Health Innovation Liverpool development with 2,200 jobs, £250,000 a job by our arithmetic. It gives the overall jobs effect only as tens of thousands, the figures are forecasts, and the article says nothing about funding being secured.
Why might a forecast of £10bn over a decade and £250,000 a job each need checking, and what would you want to ask? Step by step in AO3 Analysis.
Strategy & stakeholdersSchools, powers and a missing sixth form
Brit Brief reported on 14 September 2026 that Knowsley has had no A-level centre since 2017, when Halewood Academy’s sixth form closed. A cabinet member said there was no demand because outstanding providers were within easy travelling distance, and that 98% of learners were offered a post-16 place, mainly vocational. A spokesperson for the combined authority said local leaders had very limited powers over secondary education, and that it had asked, through the government’s Right to Request, for the Regional Schools Director to report to the Mayor. The article gives each side’s view and no independent assessment.
Should a combined authority have more control over schools, and who gains or loses? A real judgement for AO4 Evaluation.
Sources: Real Asset Insight, 15 June 2026; Halton Borough Council newsroom, 13 October 2025; Brit Brief, 14 September 2026. The 186 sq ft, 23.1%, 13.9% and £250,000 figures are our arithmetic. The fund page names no projects, the Growth Plan figures are forecasts, the Knowsley article reports council and combined authority views, and we haven’t checked investment, jobs or outcomes.
