Record inward investment promises bright future for local economy
The news that jobs are to go at the Electrolux and Black & Decker factories in Spennymoor has cast a shadow over the recent success of our local economy.
Electrolux and Black & Decker have been mainstays of the local manufacturing sector, and their decisions to relocate to Eastern Europe are indicative of the wider challenge the UK faces in an increasingly competitive global economy.
These jobs losses (500 at Electrolux and 173 at Black & Decker) will be particularly keenly felt at a time of global economic turbulence, and that is why I have been working closely with the County Durham Development Company (CDDC), the Regional Development Agency (OneNorth East) and Job Centre Plus to ensure that appropriate support is in place for all those threatened with redundancy.
Despite set-backs like this, the local economy has developed in the last decade, and this is due in no small part to the record inward investment County Durham has attracted from abroad.
Figures from CDDC show, for example, that in the last decade County Durham has benefited from 181 separate inward investment projects, with employers from the USA, Japan, Taiwan, Eire, Iceland and Germany all appreciating County Durham’s potential for economic growth.
Inward investment has had a tremendous effect on the local economy: CDDC estimate it has safeguarded over 6,000 jobs in County Durham.
Our experience of the global economy, therefore, is that while it takes with one hand, it can give generously with the other.
But how can we confront this paradox of globalisation: how can we maximise the benefits of inward investment while preventing manufacturing jobs being lost to lower-cost economies in Eastern Europe and the Far East?
The answer lies in improving the skills and training of the local community. In order to develop a knowledge economy that is sufficiently robust to withstand the choppy waters of the modern global economy, we need a dynamic and highly skilled workforce.
In short, the most important raw material for future economic growth is the workforce themselves.
And that is why I am so delighted that Bishop Auckland College recently celebrated its fiftieth birthday by opening a new £17.3 million campus, fully equipped with a range of state-of the-art facilities.
Investment like this is vital to improving higher education, and the Government’s decision to raise the school leaving age to 18 and to provide more apprenticeship places will also prove invaluable in raising skill levels among young people.
But education and training must not stop at the school gates. Lifelong learning and adult skills training are vital to ensuring the kind of flexible, dynamic workforce that the global economy demands; and popular locally-run initiatives such as Union Learn and Train to Gain provide the template for workplace-based skills training.
So while there is still much to do, there are reasons to be optimistic about the local economy.
As the CDDC’s figures show, inward investment remains strong across County Durham and record sums are being spent to improve access to skills training and higher education.
The impact of job losses at Electrolux and Black & Decker should not be underestimated, but when one considers the local economy as a whole, they are the exception rather than the rule.
Since 1997, unemployment in the Bishop Auckland constituency has fallen by more than 50%, and there are real opportunities for future development.
The latest draft of the North East Regional Spatial Strategy, for example, proposes considerable new development at ‘key employment sites’ such as NetPark, Teesport and Heighington Lane West, and the ‘Durham Gateway’ could create up to 2000 new jobs.
The future for County Durham therefore remains bright, and a diverse and dynamic local economy is within reach.
