The spatial response
Introduction
In addressing the unique economic geography of the region, the regional economic strategy examines three key contextual issues, all of which have direct impacts on the spatial response to future economic development. The three distinct but related aspects, all crucial to the prosperity and well-being of the region, are as follows:
- the relationship to London and the role of the East of England in the Greater South East, the powerhouse of the UK economy
- a network of small and medium-sized cities and market towns
- geographical differences in performance.
The Greater South East - the relationship to London and the South East (see Figure 13)
London as a leading global city has major effects on the East of England. This is most visible through the high levels of commuting from areas in the south of the region.
However, there is also evidence of an increasing functional relationship between cities within the East of England and London. Examples include the role of Norwich, Ipswich, Peterborough and Southend-on-Sea as centres for wholesale financial and insurance services that complement London’s global head office function in financial and business services. The relationships between London, the East of England and the South East of England are deepening, with growing integration of labour and housing markets, economic and leisure functions.
The challenge for the region is to capture the value of its proximity to London as a leading global city, and increasingly Milton Keynes as a centre of core city scale in the future. London itself will benefit from improved performance and growth in the network of surrounding towns and medium-sized cities, given their assets, economic functions and collective market scale. However, to realise these benefits, coordinated investment is needed to improve infrastructure to the level of other world-city regions, and foster greater knowledge and technology transfer.
A network of cities and towns
It is immediately apparent that the East of England is quite distinctive in terms of the scale and distribution of its towns and cities. In most other parts of the UK, individual core cities such as Birmingham or Manchester dominate where people live and work, where businesses locate and how transport systems operate. In recognising the benefits of agglomeration, the government has increasingly sought to invest in and plan for the future of these places as major regional and national economic drivers.
The East of England is heavily influenced by its close relationship with London as a world city. It does not contain any core city scale conurbations within its geography. Given this position, the key is to understand the role that the East of England’s urban areas can play both in relation to London and each other in accommodating the levels of growth required in the region, and in responding to the benefits of agglomeration.
The Sustainable Communities Plan (2003) identified four national growth areas. Substantial parts of three growth areas fall within the East of England, including:
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London-Stansted-Cambridge-Peterborough, which now includes Chelmsford and Bury St Edmunds
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Milton Keynes-South Midlands, including Luton and Bedford
- Thames Gateway South Essex
Consultation is under way on the inclusion of Dacorum, St Albans and Welwyn Hatfield within the growth areas. In addition, Haven Gateway, Norwich, King’s Lynn and Thetford have been identified as new growth points. The region’s growth areas and growth points are important in improving the balance of housing supply, affordability and economic growth.
The East of England Plan sets out 21 key centres for development and change. Whilst all are a focus for growth, they vary greatly in their economic scale, role and drivers. The urban framework identifies distinct typologies within the key centres within the East of England:
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centres that act as independent centres of regional-scale cities, such as Norwich, Peterborough, Cambridge and Ipswich
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regional cities and larger settlements that have greater integration with London in terms of the labour market, such as Luton, Southend-on-Sea, Colchester, Chelmsford and Watford
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smaller settlements that act as sub-regional centres largely independent of the London effect, such as Bury St Edmunds, King's Lynn, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft
- sub-regional urban centres in Essex and Hertfordshire with high levels of commuting and connection to London, such as Hemel Hempstead, Harlow, Stevenage and Thurrock.
These typologies are important in planning for the economic future of places, and have influenced the identification of engines of growth' set out in Figure 14. So too is a recognition that collaboration between places, both within the East of England and the wider Greater South East, can be effective in sharing best practice, advocacy and presenting a critical mass in international markets.
Geographical differences in economic performance
The East of England is not one economy, but instead is made up of a number of overlapping economies. The complex economic geography of the region changes through time and is not confined to administrative boundaries at regional or local level. Growth has played out differently in different cities and across sub-regions and the region is characterised by an increasing gap in productivity and employment rates.
Raising productivity and employment rates in under-performing parts of the region is critical to our future prosperity. To do so requires concerted effort to address economic drivers and enable the transition to a strong and adaptive economy, able to compete in global markets. Different places will require a different mix of interventions, appropriate to their economic history, structure and location. Performance is a product of 'supply-side' drivers such as skills and innovation, and their interaction with demand. The prosperity of places is therefore dependent on the size of local markets, and crucially, connectivity to wider national and international markets.
In particular, local and regional partners must take action to improve poor skills performance. The region also needs to engage with the government on the infrastructure investment required to improve connectivity between major economic drivers in the region.
Clearly, this is a complex question that will require interventions to support employment rates, skills, innovation, business registrations, economic structure and quality of life factors. However, there are different levels of performance relating to the geography of the East of England. There is a need to develop responses that are specific and allow each place to meet an identified role in a successful economic future.
Spatial economic planning in the East of England
In responding to these issues, the regional economic strategy identifies the following as requiring distinct economic and planning approaches:
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engines of growth - the cities and urban sub-regions where success will increasingly drive regional economic growth
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coastal renaissance - maximising the performance of the region's coastal settlements and assets and addressing Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft as particular regeneration priorities
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market towns and rural areas - recognising the essential contribution of the rural economy and the role of market towns as key sub-regional centres.
