The government pays too little attention to place when it comes to economic growth, cities minister Greg Clark has claimed.

Speaking at The MJ Growth Agenda conference in central government today, the Treasury minister said local circumstances were not considered enough. He said: ‘The cities we need to contribute to growth are varied, so we need to be sensitive to place.'

The architect of City Deals, Mr Clark added that the centralising tendencies of Whitehall do no not help.

However, he claimed the first eight city deals had ‘gone way beyond expectations'. Greater Manchester is expected to have an uplift in GVA, and will receive a dividend for transport infrastructure as a reward.