Plymouth and Bristol are Britain’s top cities in new index of economic growth opportunities

Plymouth and Bristol have been ranked as Britain’s top performing cities in an influential index based on a number of measures from jobs to new business start-up rates.

Plymouth is the highest performing city in the annual Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities Index, with Bristol rising to second place and Southampton remaining in third place.

These cities scored particularly highly across income distribution, work-life balance, jobs and skills.

The Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities Index ranks 51 of the UK’s largest cities (generally considered those with populations of at least 350,000 people), plus the London boroughs as a whole, based on the public’s assessment of 12 economic measures, including jobs, health, income, safety and skills, as well as work-life balance, housing, travel-to-work times, income equality, high street shops, environment and business startups.

Cities across the South West region lead the latest Index, with Plymouth, Bristol, Swindon and Exeter all being among the highest performing cities, scoring above the UK average for health & safety and skills. Despite this, the region’s cities score less well on new businesses and house price-to-earnings relative to the rest of the UK.

Rachel Taylor, government and health industries leader at PwC, said: “Raising prosperity across the UK is needed more than ever as we continue to see growing inequality in housing, jobs and education. There is an increasing imbalance within and between neighbourhoods, which is being driven by disparities in access to quality education, jobs and housing. This is felt not only across different regions, but also between people living within the same postcodes in cities.

“If we are serious about economic growth as a country we need to provide people and places with the foundations on which they can fuel that growth – access to jobs, skills and education and affordable homes. The public’s priorities are clear and together local and national government, businesses and the third sector need to work together through local growth plans tailored to local needs and opportunities to make this a reality.”