The city’s workforce is still the most productive in the UK and skills and education levels across the region remain higher than most of our European competitors. The region boasts a quality of life that is unrivalled elsewhere in the UK and the envy of many European counterparts. Perhaps most importantly however is diversity of economic activity which underpins the region’s economy.
From higher education and renewable energy, to bio-science and informatics the Edinburgh City Region has real strength in a wide range of key sectors that have helped to create a resilient and robust economy capable of confronting economic and environmental shocks.
If the Edinburgh City Region is to emerge confidently from the current crisis and continue to play its role as the primary engine of growth for the Scottish economy, it is essential that it fully exploits these existing strengths. The key to this, according to at least one academic think tank, lies in effective collaboration across local authority boundaries.
The Centre for Cities, a charitable organisation established to boost the economic performance of the UK’s cities through research and policy proposals, has investigated what makes a city work and particularly the potential benefits to be had from city region collaboration. Dermot Finch, Director of the organisation, will present these findings to delegates at the Capital City Region Conference on 5 November.
In advance of the conference, Dermot stressed the importance of working closely together: “There are some excellent examples of collaborative working already in place across Scotland and we are convinced we need to build on this if we are to weather the storms of globalisation and meet the economic challenges we are currently facing, and will face in the future.
“Local authorities need to adopt a stronger city region focus as they will reap the overall benefit from this approach – especially on issues such as transport, development and employment,” he says. “These neighbouring areas have a shared housing and labour market and are better placed to face the big issues together than in isolation. The fact is that in the UK, cities are where the jobs are and they are more important than ever before. We must not write them off during an economic downturn as they will be at the forefront in leading the recovery.”.
And Scotland already has a head start when it comes to cooperation according to Dermot. While the campaign to support multi-area agreements between local authorities south of the Border rages on, the principle of collaboration between Edinburgh and Glasgow is already well established.
“Housing markets, business investment plans and commuting areas are not restricted by local authority boundaries – they are influenced by train lines and bus routes. City regions encourage people to look beyond their political borders and look at real economic areas. The key to success is collaboration.”
Closer to home
Edinburgh’s position as a European capital and reputation as a centre of culture and tourism means this city region is ideally equipped to punch above its weight. Its highly skilled labour pool and internationally renowned universities are complemented by existing close links between neighbouring local authorities.
The Centre for Cities’ view is that successful cities are home to a disproportionately large number of high value jobs, enabling them to attract high levels of investment. By supporting these job creation engines, both through integrated transport networks and effective higher education tailored towards the wider city region’s skills needs, the entire regional economy stands to benefit – a theory borne out across the Edinburgh City Region.
But what more needs to be done to leverage the area’s assets and ensure that we are well placed to weather the economic storms of the future?
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