Rotherham, Hull and Wakefield named Yorkshire’s fastest growing economies

Rotherham, Hull and Wakefield are leading the way as the fast growing city economies in Yorkshire, according to a new report.

The UK Powerhouse study is produced by Irwin Mitchell and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) and provides an estimate of GVA growth and job creation within 45 of the UK’s largest cities 12 months ahead of the Government’s official figures.

The report revealed that Rotherham’s GVA growth of 1.8% across Q3 2017 made it the eighth fastest-growing city economy in the UK. It was joined in the top ten with Hull, which recorded a rate of 1.8%, while Wakefield also had a rate of 1.7% across the same period.

York was only slightly behind on GVA growth of 1.6%, but it took fifth position in the employment league table with growth of 1.1% and has also been predicted to be the region’s fastest growing city in 2018.

However, there was less good news for Leeds and Sheffield, with the two cities lagging behind regional rivals in terms of the Q3 2017 results and forecasts for the year ahead.

Dorrien Peters, partner and head of business legal services at Irwin Mitchell’s Sheffield office, said: “The rate of growth seen in Rotherham, Hull and Wakefield is a great testament to the excellent work being done by businesses across Yorkshire.

“The location of the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Rotherham and its success attracting investment from the likes of Boeing and McLaren makes a significant difference to the assessment of Rotherham’s performance against its peers.  While there has been less good news for Leeds and Sheffield, the study has still emphasised that those cities are home to impressive education sectors which contribute a significant amount to their economies.

“Our latest Powerhouse Report shows that Rotherham’s impressive growth is a huge testament to the vision of our universities, together with Rotherham and Sheffield, to build a world class Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District. It is a decision that is supported by the hard economic data that shows the worth of manufacturing and education to the wider Sheffield City Region.”

This edition of UK Powerhouse examines the impact that the education has on city economies across the UK, with Leeds’ education sector being the fourth largest in the UK. Valued at £364.8m, it also grew by 5% between 2012 and 2015 and makes up 7% of the city’s total GVA.

Sheffield took seventh place in the league table with a GVA of £304.3m which has an 11% share of the total city GVA. Both Leeds and Sheffield were also within the top six education employers in the UK, employing 44,717 and 34,948 respectively.

The report notes the education sector makes a major contribution to economic growth within many areas surrounding universities and also offers recommendations on how it can continue to do so. These include:

·         Engaging in the work of Local Enterprise partnerships, particularly in support for innovation
·         Ensuring cities with a strong outflow of graduate age young workers have policies for retaining talent, with the Government also providing incentives for graduate recruiters to hire more in those areas
·         Encouraging cities to improving infrastructure to optimise the movement of workers
·         Introducing large-scale affordable housing projects to appeal to graduates