This region, surely the most diverse in the UK - encompassing the great mercantile cities of Manchester, Salford and Liverpool, the Lake District and key regional centres such as Preston, Lancaster, and Chester - lacks identity as a single entity.
While there is no doubt this diversity can have some upsides - the region's economy could never be accused of being one-dimensional - how can a single agency play to the strengths of all the different sectors and locations?
The answer is that it can't, at least not without spending a king's ransom.
In the long term, there will have to be change, with more autonomy being given to vibrant regional economies such as Manchester, already the hub of the region's financial, professional, media and scientific centre.
This vital reform will bring an end to the inter-regional conflicts, evidenced by the ludicrous status quo where Greater Manchester finds itself often facing competition from within the north west as well as from other European cities - the result of an inaccurate perception - held by some in the RDA - that Greater Manchester has had its fair share of success.
The new chairman - be it the favourite for the job, Robert Hough of Peel Holdings, or another leading candidate such as Manchester Airports Group's chief executive, Geoff Muirhead, or retired banker John McGuire - needs to nip this in the bud. As well as a consumate doer, he or she has to be a leader - a visible and high-profile figure - not just another `suit'.
He must recognise that Manchester is the key commercial centre in the region, and if the region is to live up to its potential and close the productivity gap on the south east, then Manchester should be the fulcrum of efforts.
To the average working man or woman, the North West Development Agency does not mean a great deal.
As the key government agency in the region, with a budget this year of more than £450m (£644m, if European regeneration funding, which the agency controls, is included), this is not ideal.
In an era when there is a huge disconnect between the public and those in power, the new chairman must bring personality, verve and dynamism to the role and ensure that the north west is seen nationally and internationally to be what those of us living here already know - the best place to live, work and invest. Tweet
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"Greater Manchester finds itself often facing competition from within the north west ... the result of an inaccurate perception, held by some in the RDA, that Greater Manchester has had its fair share of success."
There would be no problem if it really were GREATER Manchester that had had its "fair share of success".
The fact is that the success is much more narrowly confined - largely to Manchester city centre and the already relatively well-off Cheshire fringe to the south. The RDA would like to see a bit more investment in that huge swath of Lancashire towns in northern GM, who together dwarf the city, but whose sole role currently seems to be to boost Manchester's population claims. So much thanks for producing the region's wealth for a century and a half.
Can we have someone who appreciates the value of the powerhouse that is Manchester instead of having these diluted schemes which do not benefit anyone in the long term.
I don't think the north-west as a whole is suitable to be governed as a single entity simply because it is so diverse. Although there are some cultural similarities between, say, Manchester and Liverpool, the two cities have such strong identities of their own that to lump them together strikes me as futile.
Then again, Athertonian displays perfectly the kind of self-destructive separatism that's rife even within Greater Manchester. "[Bolton's, Wigan's, etc.] role seems to be to boost the population claims of Manchester"? What kind of rubbish is that? Manchester's official population statistics are constantly undervalued due to the city's long-irrelevant boundaries -- they don't even include Trafford -- so I don't know where you get that from. Regarding your other claim, I can only apologize profusely on behalf of the whole of the rest of Greater Manchester for sponging so mercilessly off Bolton, Wigan and the like for the last century and a half.