Sedgemoor 'vulnerable' to economic turbulence (From Bridgwater Mercury)

Sedgemoor 'vulnerable' to economic turbulence

1:58pm Thursday 9th September 2010 in

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SEDGEMOOR is one of the least resilient areas to job losses and businesses going bust, a shock report is warning.

The district was named as one of the top two areas in the South-West most vulnerable to economic turbulence.

The research carried out by Experian on behalf of the BBC reveals Sedgemoor’s business populations have low proportions of high-growth sectors and the self-employed.

Researchers looked at the ability of each local authority area to endure and react to economic shocks such as public sector job losses and business insolvencies. Four main themes were taken into account when compiling the statistics, including business, people, place and the community.

The data has been released just weeks before the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review in October.

Controller of BBC English regions, David Holdsworth said: “This research and analysis suggests that there are areas much better placed than others to withstand the impact of public sector cuts, and other economic events.

“The study takes into account a wide range of factors to help build a complete picture in advance of the spending review.”

Sedgemoor District Council has reacted to the report by saying economic resilience is one of many way of interpreting economic prospects, which it describes as “extremely unpredictable”.

The authority today issued this statement: “Sedgemoor has shown good performance over the last ten years in the generation of private sector jobs of the type the Government is keen to foster i.e. jobs that are not heavily reliant on public sector expenditure.

“There are other local authority areas where there is heavy reliance on the public sector.

“Having said that, our economic strategy aims to improve the local economy through the development of knowledge based industries, addressing the longer term skill needs and attracting new inward investment to widen the economic base.

“We have been successful in 2010 in attracting Morrisons’ new Regional Distribution Centre to Bridgwater with approximately 2000 jobs and a range of skills.

“In addition, the council is extremely keen that if the EDF proposals come forward we continue to work in partnership with other agencies to ensure that the investment benefits are maximised for the people, business and places of Sedgemoor “The EDF investment also offers the opportunity to support enterprise growth and new business starts on the back of the investment.”

The coaltion's spending review will be debated on BBC One tonight in Spending Review: The Points West Debate.

The programme is hosted by David Garmston with guests including MPs Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Tessa Munt, Claire Perry and Kerry McCarthy, as well as 'Secret Millonaire' Margaret Heffernan, financial expert Mark Dampier from Hargreaves Lansdown and John Savage from the West of England Partnership, who will propose their own ideas about where cost savings could be made.

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