Headline regional ambitions
Productivity and prosperity
If growth in output per worker increased to just 2.1 per cent each year, by 2031 real GVA per head would be over 70 per cent higher than today.
Workplace-based gross value added (GVA) measures the total economic output of the region. On a per capita basis it is a key indicator of material prosperity. On this measure, the East of England is less prosperous than many other European regions with similar populations and industrial structures.
| Comparison with other European regions | ||
| Region | GVA per capita (PPP, East of England = 100) v | |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 |
2000-2006 percentage growth per annum vi |
|
| East of England | 100 | 1.90 |
| Bavaria | 103 | 1.21 |
| Stuttgart | 105 | 1.36 |
| Madrid | 65 | 1.33 |
| Catalonia | 58 | 1.60 |
| Southern and Eastern Ireland | 145 | 5.61 |
| East Austria | 96 | 0.95 |
| Mainland Finland | 107 | 2.32 |
| Stockholm | 174 | 2.26 |
| Zurich | 212 | 0.00 |
Though growth in GVA per capita in the East of England has been reasonable by European standards, it has been slower than for the UK as a whole over each of the past five years.
The RES ambition for GVA is a statement of consistency between the regional economic and spatial strategies. It is to achieve growth rates over the 2008-31 period that are more ambitious than the government’s current Regional Economic Performance Public Service Agreement (REP PSA) and are consistent with the level of physical development laid out in the East of England Plan.vii On the assumption that the housing supply targets in the Plan are achieved and rolled forward to 2031, average growth of 2.1 per cent per annum on a per worker basis and 2.3 per cent per annum on a per capita basis would achieve this ambition. By 2031 real GVA per head would be over 70 per cent higher than today. The performance of the economy relative to other UK and world regions would also be much improved (see Figure 7).
- v. Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) estimates adjust for differences in the cost-of-living, Cambridge Econometrics (2007).
- vi. Not evaluated at PPP.
- vii. The REP PSA is based on raising the rate of per capita growth over 2003-2012 above the average for the period 1990-2002. The East of England Plan includes a target for a net increase of 508,000 new homes over 2001-2021.
