Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield in the SOUTH: Academic sparks row with new map

Town planning expert Mark Tewdwr-Jones, from Newcastle University, has created a new north-south divide which has ruffled feathers in northern England’s proud heartlands.

Prof Tewdwr-Jones said he had torn up the traditional map and divided Britain based on London’s sphere of influence.

He said: "There are several ways you could define a northern region, including ‘the post-industrial north’ or the ‘north eastern peripheral region’ – but perhaps the most pertinent question is where does London end?

“My map is a northern area defined as being ‘not London’, where London’s sphere of influence extends over most of the country, determined by two-hour commuting patterns to London, which is becoming the norm.”

Drawn in pink across a Google map, the highly contentious Tewdwr-Jones line puts Cardiff and Newport in the south, but most of the rest of Wales in the north.

The Malvern hills are in the north, alongside Grantham, Lincoln, Scunthorpe and Hull.

But Leeds and York have been redefined as in the south along with Manchester, Sheffield and, much to the amusement of its residents, Doncaster.

The town planning expert said policymakers should adopt a more 'nuanced' view of what constitutes the North and hoped to spark a new debate on the north-south divide.

Critics were quick to take to social media to point out that according to Prof Tewdwr-Jones’s logic swathes of the southwest should also be classed as the north.

One Twitter user said: “Anything past Taunton is also ‘the north’ as it’s more than two hours from London. Ridiculous.”

Another suggested the “north” was anywhere with an Ikea while another described the line as anywhere outside the M25.