East Sussex Local Economic Assessment East Sussex County Council June 2011
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=East Sussex Local Economic Assessment East Sussex County Council June 2011 In association with: East Sussex Local Economic Assessment Contents ______________________________________________________________________ Executive summary........................................................................................................i Foreword........................................................................................................................1 Introducing East Sussex ..............................................................................................2 1 The economy .......................................................................................................5 1.1 The story so far .....................................................................................................5 1.2 The impact of the recession ................................................................................10 1.3 The short and medium term – the future of East Sussex ....................................12 2 Business and enterprise...................................................................................18 2.1 Business dynamism & entrepreneurship.............................................................18 2.2 Business demography: turnover, size, sectors and markets ...............................21 2.3 The impact of the recession ................................................................................26 2.4 East Sussex’s unique business landscape: specialisms and future jobs growth.29 3 People and community.....................................................................................34 3.1 Demography........................................................................................................35 3.2 The labour market ...............................................................................................40 3.3 Well-being & Community.....................................................................................53 4 Place...................................................................................................................58 4.1 Heritage and natural assets ................................................................................58 4.2 Transport.............................................................................................................60 4.3 Housing...............................................................................................................67 4.4 Employment space..............................................................................................71 4.5 ICT infrastructure ................................................................................................76 4.6 Transition to a low carbon economy....................................................................79 5 Drivers, trends and influencers .......................................................................91 5.1 A global perspective............................................................................................91 5.2 A UK perspective ................................................................................................92 5.3 A local perspective ..............................................................................................98 6 Conclusion.......................................................................................................100 6.1 SWOT Analysis .................................................................................................100 6.2 How strong is the local economy?.....................................................................102 Appendix A1: Method notes and additional charts; A2 Document, Strategy, Plan References; A3 Consultees and acknowledgments Appendix B: Local Authority Districts Individual Summaries: Detail on individual local authority areas Appendix C: About Experian _____________________________________________________________________ This output is based on and comprises both your input and information sourced from third parties (which may include public data sources). Whilst we will use all reasonable care and skill in the collection and collation of this output we cannot warrant or guarantee the accuracy of the output. You acknowledge that outputs which use empirical data and/or statistical data and/or data modelling techniques cannot be taken as a guarantee of any particular outcome and are not intended to be the sole basis of your business decisions. Our standard terms of business apply. East Sussex LEA Executive summary With recent changes in the economic and political landscape, it is a critical time to undertake a review of the evidence to reflect a different context, and map out the key future challenges facing the County of East Sussex. Economic performance in East Sussex has historically lagged behind the regional and national average, largely due to a strong presence of generally low-value added sectors such as retail, distribution, hotels and catering. In addition, the business base is characterised by a large proportion of small businesses with a focus on local markets. East Sussex has a number of sectoral strengths it can build on. The County has a number of businesses in higher value added sectors, such as financial and business services, and advanced manufacturing and engineering. Further, sectors such as tourism, health care, and construction, although sometimes overlooked because of their low-value added as mentioned above, can provide much needed future sources of jobs at a time where public sector cuts announced in the 2010 Spending Review will have an impact on employment levels. There are a number of areas, most notably Hastings, where deprivation and worklessness are long-lasting challenges which have been aggravated by the recession, and could worsen with future spending cuts. Low job density is an outstanding issue for the County even before considering potential cuts in public sector jobs. In addition, there remain a number of barriers to business investment. Road and rail links in the County are poorly connected and often congested, impacting on its attractiveness as a place to live, work or visit. Employment land is relatively cheap, but many businesses are not satisfied with the quality or quantity of premises. Residents and businesses of East Sussex are relatively less likely to have access to the internet, whilst large tranches are not served by high speed broadband. Looking ahead, there are a number of factors that will impact on the County economy. For example, public sector spending cuts will force the economy to rebalance away from public sector jobs building a more sustainable economic path. The already strong health care sector in the area will need to strengthen further due to an ageing population. However, there are fears that the austerity measures could increase already high levels of polarisation in the County and that the economy could be left behind as increasing dependency ratios and competition from emerging markets undermine growth. East Sussex will not sit back and hope to weather the upcoming period of fiscal constraint; it will continue to encourage private sector investment and job creation. This Local Economic Assessment provides evidence of the challenges that need to be addressed to achieve a sustainable growth path. i © Experian Plc 2010 East Sussex LEA For further information on this research, please contact: Shelagh Lorne Powell Senior Economic Development Manager Economic Development and Skills Economy, Transport, Environment Department East Sussex County Council Tel. 01424 203941/ 01273 482637 [email protected] ii © Experian Plc 2010 East Sussex LEA Foreword The Local Economic Assessment (LEA) Duty for upper tier local authorities was enshrined in the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 in order to provide the tool to play a stronger role in local economic development. The development of the LEA coincides with the need, under the Pride of Place Integrated Sustainable Community Strategy, for East Sussex to develop a new Economic Development Strategy (EDS) for the County. The LEA informs the development of the EDS as the evidence base. The 5th East Sussex Annual Business Survey took place early 2010 and provides a clear articulation of the local business voice as part of the development of the new LEA. The 2011 Annual Business Survey is also referred to where business views and concerns have significantly changed from that reported in 2010. The development of the LEA also included regular input from officers from relevant ESCC departments and economic development colleagues from the Boroughs/Districts. Two workshops were also held; one to enable business input and one for the East Sussex Strategic Partnership Assembly. A full list of consultees is given at Appendix A3. In addition the development of a robust LEA needed to be linked to, inform and be informed by other relevant policy and evidence documents at various levels, national to local; for example at the local level this included District/Borough Local Development Frameworks (LDFs), their (draft) Core Strategies and supporting documents, and the for County the developing Local Transport Plan 3. A list of relevant documents, strategies and plans is given at Appendix A2. At the same time the LEA was being developed the new Coalition Government came into power in May 2010. This government heralded the introduction and planning for large public sector spending cuts accompanied by increased