East Cambridgeshire LOCAL REPORT FOR THE GREATER CAMBRIDGE GREATER PETERBOROUGH ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIP AREA-BASED REVIEW.

Transcription

1 East Cambridgeshire LOCAL REPORT FOR THE GREATER CAMBRIDGE GREATER PETERBOROUGH ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIP AREA-BASED REVIEW November 2016

2 Economic context East Cambridgeshire has average earnings across all industries of 24,168. From 2003 to 2016, there was rapid 14 per cent jobs growth, with 4,000 net new jobs. Projected to 2022, a further 5 per cent jobs growth is expected, representing 1,700 net new jobs; together with replacement, there are an expected 9,000 job openings over that time. Jobs are weighted towards labour-intensive roles: plant operatives and elementary occupations, with fewer high-skilled roles than much of the region. Jobs growth has been driven by services at high and low end: administrative and support services stands out, but is followed by professional, scientific and technical activities. Job losses in manufacturing and public administration have been moderate. In terms of niche industries, packaging stands out as an extremely concentrated activities (LQ 59.93), but with agricultural machinery manufacturing, electrical cable manufacturing, plastic packing manufacturing, and electronic board manufacture and corrugated paper manufacture also all figuring, alongside a large concentration of agriculture and fruit and vegetable processing. For niche occupations, farm workers and farmers lead, followed by packers and LGV drivers. Other occupations have relatively low specialisms but range widely in skills and earnings from fork-lift drivers through to production managers. Strategic and residential developments East Cambridgeshire has seen substantial growth over recent years and is developing a new local plan. A significant variable is the potential to construct the proposed Princess of Wales Hospital in the next 3 to 5 years. Infrastructure developments include the Ely southern bypass now in development for its first construction phase, a project valued at 35m and expected to be complete early A feasibility study is under way to improve the A10, but this is a longer term consideration. The redevelopment of Soham railway station should be completed in 2019/2020. In terms of local developments: n Lancaster Way Enterprise Park in Ely is a 40 ha Enterprise Zone with five current building projects. Over 10 years the site will create 2,500 additional jobs across B1, B2 and B8 uses, with a mix of professional, technical and logistic skills. n Octagon Business Park in Ely is a hybrid 15 ha retail and commercial scheme. n Elean Business Park in Sutton has outline planning consent for a data centre campus with some 600,000 sq ft in space, with the first building (around 100,000 sq ft) due to commence building in the next six months. There are a number of other developments including a 5 ha site for biotech and pharmaceutical use in Fordham, the first sake brewery in Fordham now under construction, and the potential for the purchase of an Associated British Foods site in Ely. Commercial availability is a serious issue, with the district having some of the poorest availability within Cambridgeshire. Residential needs are also substantial the existing local plan has a target of 11,500 new homes to be built across the district, with 3,000 in North Ely. Skills and industry outlook The lack of FE or HE provision in the district presents concerns about skills provision and particularly a brain drain as talented young people have to leave to seek further study. The labour 2 East Cambridgeshire November 2016

3 market is very tight, with 250 registered unemployed people, and high demand skills typically being advanced business development, mathematics, teaching, ICT (particularly Java) and management. The local plan envisions 9,200 new jobs in the area, but the tight labour market is already resulting in a severe shortage of nursing and catering staff. As well as agritech and cleantech, East Cambridgeshire has a high presence of advanced manufacturing, construction and logistics and warehousing employment. The local authority sees the areas as having a diverse economy ranging from manufacturing through to equine industries. The local service economy is also important, with strong and growing retailing, tourism and hospitality. 3 East Cambridgeshire November 2016

4 4 East Cambridgeshire November 2016

5 5 East Cambridgeshire November 2016

6 6 East Cambridgeshire November 2016

7 7 East Cambridgeshire November 2016