Welcome to North West England, Cumbrian and Barrow and Furness. The video introduces you to furness from the air
North West England is one of Europe's leading business locations, it is the largest populated UK region, outside London - 7 million with a concentration located mainly in and around leading cities of Liverpool and Manchester . Covering an area of 14,106 sq.km. or 5.8% of the total UK land area it has the third largest population (6.9m) of the twelve UK standard regions.
In 2006 the North West generated an impressive £111.3bn in Gross Value Added (GVA), a sum equivalent to 9.9% of the nation's wealth creation. This was in a range that extended from shares of 17.4% and 15.7% in London and the South East respectively to 2.3% in Northern Ireland and 3.4% in the North East. Total GVA in the UK in 2006 stood at well over £1 trillion or £1,155.0bn.In 2006 GVA per head in the North West, at £16,200 was just 87% of the UK average.
There are more than 350,000 companies in the northwest including three quarters of the UK's top 100 companies. The North West is historically the home of many of the UK's major manufacturing companies. They include Pilkington, BAESYSTEMS, and major international companies such as General Motors, Kelloggs, Siemens and Unilever. These companies demonstrate the diversity of manufacturing within the region. Key sectors in the region include shipbuilding, plastics, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, vehicle assembly, textiles and clothes, paper, food processing, nuclear fuel processing, electronics and financial services.
Cumbria (Population: 492,900) is one of England’s largest counties (area 6,824 square miles), forecast population growth is 0.4% by 2015,
217,433. (2006) people are in employment.
Manufacturing accounts for 40% of GDP.
Cumbria has more manufacturing dependancy than any other county in the North West of England.
Tourism employs 23,650 people directly and 18,500 people indirectly.
8,000 businesses are based in Cumbria, 94% employ fewer than 24 people, 16,000 are VAT registered – 10% of the total VAT registered businesses in the North West.
Barrow-in-Furness is the largest town in Cumbria - it is the heart of the UK naval shipbuilding industry thanks to BAE Systems whose centre for submarine production co exists alongside other offshore industries; Barrow complements Carlisle, which is the main urban area for north Cumbria.
The University of Cumbria, the region's first university, where 10,000 students are based is assisting evelopment of a leading knowledge-led economy.
Here are some facts about the County from the 2006 Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) survey for 2004-6:
· The largest sector in terms of employees is wholesale/retail with 39,360 (18.1%) of all jobs, followed by manufacturing (35,856, 16.5%).
· Male jobs grew by 1.9% in Cumbria, compared to a -0.9% fall in the North West and growth of +0.9% nationally. Female jobs have fallen by -2.9% compared with -0.7% regionally and growth of +1% nationally.
· Full time jobs grew by +1.2% in Cumbria, +0.8% regionally, +2.5% nationally. Part time jobs fell by -3.6% in Cumbria, -4.2% regionally and -2.2% nationally.
Barrow is outperforming most other Districts in Cumbria over the period 2004-6
· Total employment grew in Barrow (+1.7%) and Eden (+3.8%),but fell in Allerdale (-0.1%), Carlisle (-2%), Copeland (-0.5%) and South Lakeland (-2.2
· There was strong manufacturing growth in Barrow (+19.9%) but corresponding losses in Carlisle (-16%).Construction sector growth was particularly evident in Carlisle (+23.8%) and Eden (+22.1%), whilst hotel/restaurant growth was strongest in Copeland (+38.5%) and Allerdale (+29%).
· Barrow (+15.9%), South Lakeland (+16.3%) and Eden (+20.6%), and have all grown significantly faster than the national average between 1998 and 2006
· Business services grew strongly (+36.6%) in Barrow, whilst the financial intermediation sector showed falls particularly in Allerdale (-16.6%) and Carlisle (-19%). Manufacturing's decline in Cumbria (-5,816),-14% is slower than that regionally (-28.8%) or nationally (-29.1%)
The main ports are Barrow, Silloth and Workington.There are airports at Barrow (Walney Island) and Carlisle.
Some of the County’s main private sector companies and the sectors they operate within include:
- BAE SYSTEMS – Defence
- Sellafield Ltd – Nuclear
- Cavanagh & Gray – Food
- Eddie Stobart Group – Transport
- Iggesung Paper Board – Paper
- James Walker & Company – Engineering
- M Sport – Motor Sport
- Pirelli – Tyre Manufacturer
- Sealy UK – Bedmaker
- UCB Films – Chemicals
- United Biscuits – Food
onal Gateways to the North West, Cumbria and Furness
International Gateways to the The Northwest are the Port of Liverpool and Manchester Airport.
The Port of Liverpool handled over 32.17 million tonnes of freight (2004).Liverpool dominates Britain's container trade with North America and serves more than 100 other non-EU destinations from China to India, Africa, Australia, the Middle East and South America. The Port is the UK's leading gateway for imports of grain and animal feed, for the export of recycled metal and the movement of freight between Britain and Ireland.
Liverpool is planning a second container terminal to be built in the River Mersey at a cost of £100 million and able to simultaneously accommodate two of the new generation post-Panamax container ships. The new facility, capable of handling 500,000 teus a year, will almost double Liverpool's container capacity to nearly 1,500,000 teus
Manchester Airport www.manchesterairport.co.uk is the global gateway for Northern England currently connecting over 22 million passengers with more destinations than any other UK airport. The Airport has19,000 people employed directly on the site with over 100 of the world’s best airlines operating services to every continent. Current projections indicate that around 50 million passengers will travel through Manchester Airport each year by 2030. The growth of Manchester Airport is a massive opportunity; crucial to the well being and prosperity of the region it serves Manchester Airport handled 127,000 tonnes of freight in 2003.
The Northwest's Universities - a massive Knowledge Base to call upon
As manufacturing industry has been transformed, the role of the region's universities has been made increasingly important. The region has one of the largest concentration of Universities in North Europe - they produce over 53,000 graduates each year. The research capability of these universities has been a key to for example the development of bio-medical field where Astra-Zeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis are active. A world class incubator at Manchester University will ensure continued development.
- Bolton Institute
- University of Central Lancashire
- University College of Chester
- University of Cumbria
- Edge Hill
- Lancaster University
- The University of Liverpool
- Liverpool Hope University College
- Liverpool John Moores University
- The University of Manchester
- Manchester Metropolitan University
- The Open University in the North West
- The University of Salford
- St Martin's College
- UMIST
For more information: North West Universities Association
To find out more about our partner regional agencies operating in the North West Click onto:
