Western Morning News (Saturday)
Slow growth – but SW has work to do
Coronavirus rates are low – but our region is still suffering, says William Telford
THERE is more than one way to measure the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Looking at the figures for infections, hospitalisations and deaths tells one, grim story. But business growth, employment and wage increases are another aspect of our lives that have been hit.
Here in the South West we have avoided, so far, the worst of the health effects compared to many other regions. The economic impact, however, looks to be severe. Devon and Somerset, for example, lag behind the rest of the UK and the region is among the hardest hit economically by the coronavirus pandemic.
The recent annual meeting of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (HotSW LEP), heard that business growth in the region is still around 10% behind the UK average. It was also told the area, which includes 16 local authorities including Plymouth and Torbay, is one of the places hardest hit since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK due to its dependence on sectors most affected by lockdown.
Consistent data analysis from a number of business representative organisations, the Office of National Statistics, Oxford Analytics and the Bank of England has shown that whilst the incidence rate of the Covid-19 across the area to date has been low, the economic impact has been high and far-reaching compared to other regions.
The meeting was also told that since 2014, when the HotSW was formed, employment has risen in the region by 5.6% – but this compared with the national rise of 6.5%.
Productivity, however, has risen by 12.6%, which is higher than the national rate of 9.8%, and “which goes some way towards closing the gap”. But the meeting was told “there is still much to do”. Average earnings per week have risen by 12.2% compared with 12.8% nationally. About 32,000 new homes have been built, and lower-paid wage growth has been better than average wage growth, meaning the region is progressing towards “more inclusive growth”.
The LEP’s Recovery Plan focuses on key opportunity sectors and skills for the future in order to build back better. It puts forward a set of propositions for the key sectors in the recovery of nuclear, marine, aerospace, high streets, culture, construction, tourism and manufacturing.
The annual meeting was attended by the chair and selected board members at Exeter Science Park with 66 virtual attendees. It reported on the LEP’s achievements of 2019/20 and the impact on the economy over the past six years.
Chair Karl Tucker summarised the LEP’s progress on its investment programme of infrastructure, business support and skills projects; and sent a strong message to the Government to back the Great South West as part of its much publicised levelling up agenda.
Mr Tucker also thanked the previous chair, Steve Hindley, for his six years of dedicated service, as well as the retiring board members Martha Wilkinson and Steve Smith.
New Board member Professor Lisa Roberts, Vice Chancellor and
Chief Executive of Exeter University, was welcomed, and a recruitment process was announced for the appointment of four new board members, with a closing deadline of October 14.
The meeting heard how the LEP is on course for delivery of its investment programme by 2025, which will directly create about 23,000 jobs, 19,000 homes, train 58,000 people and support 31,000 businesses. Also, headlines were presented on the economic climate of the Heart of the South West and the LEP’s impact on the wider community since 2014 in terms of employment, productivity, infrastructure and wages.
The meeting heard the Heart of the South West has a £35billion economy – as big as Birmingham or Liverpool – a population of 1.7million and 72,000 businesses. It has experienced historic low levels of productivity with a relatively high employment rate, but with higher than average house prices.
Mr Tucker said: “We’re very proud of our achievements and this year has inevitably thrown an additional challenge to mitigate the effects of the lockdown and uncertainty around EU Exit; so with renewed impetus we aim to build back better with clean and inclusive growth. We strongly urge the Government to commit to its levellingup agenda and reverse the decades of under-investment in this region by spreading opportunities more evenly across the country; not just in metropolitan areas in the North and Midlands.