IFM Investors Economic Strategy for the East of England Phase 1 Report February Cambridge Econometrics
[email protected] 2020 Cambridge, UK www.camecon.com Economic Strategy for the East of England Cambridge Econometrics’ mission is to provide clear insights, based on rigorous and independent economic analysis, to support policy-makers and strategic planners in government, civil society and business in addressing the complex challenges facing society. Cambridge Econometrics Limited is owned by a charitable body, the Cambridge Trust for New Thinking in Economics. www.neweconomicthinking.org Cambridge Econometrics 2 Economic Strategy for the East of England Contents Page Contents 3 Foreword 5 Executive Summary 6 1 Introduction 21 1.1 Background and context 21 1.2 Objectives 21 1.3 Remaining sections of the report 22 2 The Economy of the East of England 23 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 Economic history 23 2.3 Governance 27 2.4 Infrastructure 29 3 Ambitions for Growth 36 3.1 Introduction 36 3.2 Forecasting methodology and data sources 36 3.3 Results and comparisons 37 3.4 The spatial dimension 52 4 Challenges and Opportunities 59 4.1 Introduction 59 4.2 The Grand Challenges and Emerging Sectors 59 4.3 Assets and Strengths of the East of England 60 5 Regional Constraints and Interventions 88 5.1 Introduction 88 5.2 Constraints 88 5.3 Interventions 89 5.4 Potential solutions 94 6 References 95 Annex A: Literature overview 96 Annex B: Productivity and Employment Density by Local Authority 102 A.1 Productivity 102 Cambridge Econometrics 3 Economic Strategy for the East of England A.2 Employment Density 110 Annex C: Detailed Interventions 118 Cambridge Econometrics 4 Economic Strategy for the East of England Foreword As business and political leaders in the East of England, we welcome this new report by Cambridge Econometrics which showcases both the existing economic strengths of our region and the scale of the opportunity which exists for the future.