Economic Development Newsletter September 2012

Transcription

1 Economic Development Newsletter September Economic Development Strategy Econom

2 INTRODUCTION Welcome to our October round up of news and our September results from Milton Keynes Council Economic Development Team. MK IN THE NEWS MK invited to submit City Deal bid Milton Keynes has been invited to enter direct negotiations with the Government to explore options for a city deal that would incorporate innovative approaches to creating jobs and boosting the local economy. The City Deals initiative sees central and local government working together to reach a series of unique deals which will help places create jobs, support local businesses, control budgets and improve local infrastructure. The first phase of City Deals involved the Core Cities (Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield). Now Milton Keynes has been invited to be part of Wave 2 of the City Deals programme, which includes cities which are well placed to deliver significant economic benefits to the UK; helping the whole country recover from the recession through local growth. Council Leader Andrew Geary said: Once again Milton Keynes has been rightly recognised as an economic powerhouse. We have pushed hard for Milton Keynes to be involved in City Deals and I very much welcome this opportunity to work in partnership with the government and with local enterprise partners on our proposals. Jobs Boost for MK Fantastic news that the unemployment rate in Milton Keynes fell by 0.2% from 3.9% (6,255 claimants) in August to 3.7% (5,942 claimants) in September This decrease in MK was not only greater than experienced in the SEMLEP area, but also the South East and the rest of the UK! Bletchley Park the Code is cracked again Bletchley Park, the home of the famous Codebreakers welcomed Foreign Secretary, William Hague, this month. Mr Hague announced that a donation from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office would be given to the Trust to enable a significant Heritage Lottery Fund Grant to be secured which will save the historic buildings and renovate Bletchley Park into a world-class heritage site. The FCO kindly gave a contribution of 480,000 to complete the

3 million matchfunding element to crack the code to the 5 million Heritage Lottery Fund Grant. This means that the Trust can start work on the restoration of this amazing historical site. Invest MK message goes global On the back of the amazing Red Bull Racing success in winning four consecutive F1 races in Asia, Invest Milton Keynes has been raising the profile of the city in key target audiences using social media. The MK/Red Bull success story has been picked up and supported by UK Trade & Investment teams in India, Germany, United States and Korea. Using twitter, we have been able to solicit the support of the UK Ambassador to Korea who helped spread the message to thousands of people in an important source market for inward investment. We will be developing this campaign further in the coming months, as well as boosting our online connections through LinkedIn. COMPANY NEWS Irn Bru facility progressing I was delighted to view first-hand the progress being made at the AG Barr construction site at Magna Park. The makers of Irn Bru and Tizer are building a new 265,000 sq ft hub close to River Island and John Lewis that will host offices, warehousing and manufacturing. The project will create around 100 new jobs. When the new site is finished next year it will see 400 million cans and 200 million bottles leave the site every year. The project will be AG Barr s largest investment in warehousing space, south of Scotland, to date. We have worked closely with the company on their move and have helped with softlanding facilities in the city in advance of their new facility being opened. AirWatch One to watch! Invest Milton Keynes were invited to the AirWatch launch and ribbon cutting celebration at their offices in Central Milton Keynes marking the company s spectacular growth. AirWatch, a mobile device management and security firm from the United States, has grown from 15 to 100 associates over a period of nine months at its European headquarters in Milton Keynes. It also saw 500 customers retained and several strategic partners secured within 15 months

4 Konecta More good news There is more good news for another of MK s inward investors. The outsourcing and contact centre firm Konecta, from Spain, have seen business boom since they chose to be located in Milton Keynes. The Inward Investment team met with them recently and they are looking to expand their offices in the future. Konecta are based at Station Square and their future expansion will mean that they are expecting to have an extra 150 employees under their roof. The company has also expressed an interest in working closely with Milton Keynes Council on their Neighbourhood Employment Programme. TEAM NEWS Local Economic Assessment Update 2012/13 The Local Economic Assessment (LEA) produced in January 2011 is being updated by the Economic Development Team as there are a series of new datasets available. The final document will be published at the end of January in The LEA is a statutory document giving a comprehensive and robust analysis of local economic Assessment conditions which inform interventions of Local Authorities and partners. The link to the Local Economic Assessment 2011 is shown below: :// New Office Space - Open for Business The team visited three serviced office providers this month. Their propositions have been adapted to meet the changing needs of business and they offer flexible space from virtual, managed to leased space; meeting facilities are available by the hour or day. Some firms have moved into serviced offices in order to reduce overheads and manage cash flows. Bletchley Park was one of the offices visited and they offer options set in a historical environment. Business Support in Milton Keynes Great progress is being made engaging with key companies from target sectors across Milton Keynes. There has been lots of good feedback in terms of the support we can provide as well as having the opportunity to signpost businesses to partners for other opportunities such as apprenticeships. Business start-ups in MK reached record levels with a total of 1,355 set up in the first half of this year, compared to 1,223 in the same period in Invest Milton Keynes have been involved in supporting a number of these

5 Inward Investment Update The September enquiry figures currently 23 new enquiries for the month, and 145 YTD (Year to date). Our investment successes for 2012/13 now stand at forty four, thanks to two new companies coming to Milton Keynes and six expansions within the city. Five of these are from our target group of high growth, high-value, knowledge-based businesses and include firms from sectors from IT Communications and Electronics through to Printing. Help Spread the Word Keep in touch with our own and other business news from Milton Keynes by following twitter feed at and by joining our LinkedIn group at Best wishes Pam Gosal Corporate Head of Economic Development & Inward Investment Planning, Economy and Development Group Milton Keynes Council - 5 -

6 INVESTMENT SUCCESS UPDATE September 2012 Year to Date Companies arriving in or relocating within Milton Keynes 8 44 From Target Group* 5 24 Total Jobs Created Total Jobs Retained High growth, high value, knowledge-based businesses Number of Successes Successes April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March Month 2012/ / /11 Jobs Created Number of Jobs / / /11 0 Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Month - 6 -

7 2500 Jobs Retained Number of Jobs / / /11 0 Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Month ENQUIRY ACTIVITY UPDATE The chart below shows the trends for commercial land and premises enquiries from Land & Premises Enquiries Enquiry Numbers Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 2010/ / /13 Month We received 23 enquiries this September compared to 30 last year and therefore the cumulative total for the year to date is 145 against 160 in Our current caseload is 42 category A and 31 category B enquiries. Category A Enquiries are from UKTI and foreign owned businesses; land enquiries; industrial premises over 50k sq ft; office premises over 10k sq ft and key business sectors. Category B Enquiries cover all other requests for support - 7 -

8 Enquiries by Sector September September Office 8 2 Industrial Retail 0 2 Land 7 7 Total for Year so far SOURCE OF ENQUIRIES The table below shows enquiry origin and variance between 2011/12 and 2012/13. SOURCE Enquiries September 2011 Enquiries September 2012 Enquiries Year 2011/12 to September 2011 Enquiries Year 2012/13 to September 2012 Yellow Pages HCA Business Link MK Chamber MK Council UKTI (formerly SEEDA) Property Agents and Developers IMK Website Marketing Campaign Total

9 LABOUR MARKET UPDATE The Labour Market in Milton Keynes, September 2012 Unemployment claimant count in Milton Keynes fell to 5,942 claimants in September 2012 from 6,255 in August 2012, thus, a decrease of 313 claimants. The unemployment rate in Milton Keynes was 3.7% in September 2012, a 0.2% decrease on the August proportion. At 3.7%, the Milton Keynes unemployment rate compared to the South East rate of 2.5% and the UK rate of 3.8% in September 2012 as shown in Figure 1. In the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership SEMLEP) area the unemployment rate was 3.2% in September Figure 1: Unemployment Rates in MK, South East and UK, September UK MK SE % Sep-02 Sep-03 Sep-04 Sep-05 Sep-06 Sep-07 Date Sep-08 Sep-09 Sep-10 Sep-11 Sep-12 Source: NOMIS There were 3,249 job vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus in Milton Keynes in September 2012 compared to 2,664 job vacancies in August By comparison, there were 2,018 job vacancies in September The job vacancy situation in Milton Keynes remains stable even though there are fluctuations month to month. The Banking and Finance sector has provided most of the notified job vacancies in MK since January 2009: 66.5% of all job vacancies in September 2012 and 77.5% in August Within this sector, most of the jobs were in Other Business Activities (Business & Management Consultancy, Legal & Accountancy Services, Labour Recruitment & Provision of Personnel, Software Consultancy & Supply, etc), 63.8% in September 2012 and 75.3% in August

10 In Figure 2 we show the unemployment rate and job vacancy trends to illustrate the trade-off between the two economic indicators. There were 2 job seekers per vacancy, in September 2012, same as in August 2012, compared to 8 in January 2009, illustrating how the level of economic activity in Milton Keynes is changing. Figure 2: Unemployment & Job Vacancies, MK, January 2010 to September 2012 Unemployment and Job Vacancies, MK, January September ,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 N u m b e r 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 Jan-1 0 Mar-10 Source: NOMIS Job Vacancies Unemployment May-10 Jul-10 Sep-10 Nov-1 0 Jan-1 1 Mar-11 May-11 Jul-11 Sep-11 Nov-11 Jan-12 Mar-12 May-12 Jul-12 Sep