High achieving small firms drive Warrington and Burnley

WARRINGTON and Burnley have performed strongly in a national assessment of the contribution small and medium-sized businesses make to the economy.

The Centre for Cities’ annual Small Business Outlook report ranks the town as 10th in a list of UK cities with the highest start-up rate.

Warrington and Burnley are classified as a ‘cities’ in the report by population size.

According to the data, London has the highest concentration of SMEs in a top 10 dominated by the South East. Most of the locations with the lowest concentration are in the North, including Liverpool in 60th place out of 64.

Warrington is also one of the best performing locations in terms of SME job creation, coming third with an average of eight jobs created per growing SME between 2010-13.

Warrington was also rated as having one of the highest employment rates in the country at 77.5%, behind Reading and Gloucester in the Centre for Cities Cities Outlook report, published in January.

Burnley came eighth in a list of towns with high growth SMEs, meaning they are more likely to compete on quality rather than price, pursue innovation, offer customised good or services, and operate in competitive markets. Warrington was 10th.

Steve Park, managing director of Warrington & Co, the towns economic development agency, said: “SMEs are the lifeblood of a local economy and so for Warrington to be ranked number one in the UK is a clear sign of business confidence in the town and its investment potential.”

Mark Crabtree, managing director of Burnley mixing desk manufacturer AMS Neve and chair of Burnley Bondholder focus group, said: “This is more positive economic news for Burnley. This indicator is about businesses which innovate, produce quality products and operate in competitive markets, all things that in my experience position the businesses to be more productive and profitable in the long term.”