... the UK is regards a deepening of the north-south divide. Although only politically recognised in the 1980s this divide has a history that stretches back to the original location of major manufacturing activity in the north of the UK. Beginning with the extraction of coal to fuel the industrial revolution, this acted as a catalyst which initiated a process of cumulative causation in northern areas and consequently led to the development of shipbuilding, textile, iron and steel and port-based activities. It was industries such as these that constituted the springboard for British expansion abroad and dominated the functionality of the regions major conurbations (Champion and Townsend, 1990). As Britains position as the leading manufacturing economy changed in the twentieth century and the growth of northern industries was checked by competitors from other industrialising nations a new source of dynamism was needed. This was provided by the boom conditions after the Second ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now