The East of England section includes key facts, Top 25 companies ranked by turnover, transport statistics, political tables and regional contacts.
Rural pressures
How to support economic growth, while retaining the region’s distinct quality of life, is probably the main issue vexing business leaders and policy makers in the East of England. It is already the third best performing region behind London and South East. And on current trends that position is likely to strengthen.
The population of the region is growing fast, fuelled by workers moving to the region from London, the Midlands and the north as well as an explosion in the number of workers arriving from overseas. This rapid expansion may equate to economic prosperity, but it means the rural nature of the East of England, from the tranquil villages of Norfolk to the commuter belt of Hertfordshire and north Essex, is under threat.
The East of England Development Agency has set as its economic priorities increasing income per head and employment levels, but also reducing carbon emissions by the region’s homes and businesses. Research this year highlighted the loss of green spaces in the region, and with more land required for homes and businesses, it is a situation that is set to get worse.
The tension between development and conservation is nowhere better illustrated than by the arguments raging at the public inquiry currently taking place into the proposed expansion of Stansted Airport. In recent years the airport has grown on the back of low cost airlines. Over the past year new transatlantic routes have been launched and the airport badly needs to expand to keep pace with demand. Growth is also taking place at the region’s other main airports, Luton and Norwich as the region looks to develop its international connections.
Development is also afoot at the region’s ports. Felixstowe, the UK’s largest container port continues to grow thanks largely to a boom in deep seas container ships from China. And work began this summer on the Outer Harbour at Great Yarmouth, a smaller but long awaited project, which will open up another route into the region.
Business leaders are now lobbying hard for improvements to the region’s roads, in particular the crucial east-west links such as the A14 through Cambridgeshire and the A11 to Norwich.
The impact of the 2012 Olympics has begun to focus minds in the region. Just 5 per cent of the contracts tendered so far have been won by East of England firms – even though the games site at Stratford is close to the region.
Construction firms are concerned about the drain of workers southwards over the next few weeks, lured by bumper pay packets from firms constructing Olympic venues, a process which might constrain the growth of the region’s economy.
With a largely rural region, food processing industry remains a key sector. The industry was dealt a serious blow early in 2007 with the outbreak of bird flu at a farm owned by Bernard Matthews. The region’s poultry industry has since recovered, but sales at Bernard Matthews are still struggling. Other food processors such as Danish bacon producer Tulip at Thetford, where around 500 jobs were lost, have also been hit by competition and consolidation in the industry.
While food processing may be facing tough times, the East of England is aiming to build on its position as the research centre of the UK and increase the number of highly skilled workers.
More research and development is carried out in the region than any other, with leading research institutions in cities such as Norwich and Cambridge, and plans have been announced to extend and develop new business parks in locations such as Ipswich, home to BT’s main research and development centre at Adastral Park.
The region’s past may have been built on farming and food, but the future looks set to be dominated by leading edge research.
Chris Starkie is the business editor
of the Norwich-based Eastern Daily Press