A new plan has been created to help boost Nottingham’s local economy over the next ten years.
Nottingham City Council have worked with partners across the city to create the Economic Plan for all private, public and third sector partners, residents, and stakeholders.
The vision is to deliver a vibrant, sustainable, and investment friendly Nottingham that promotes inclusion, secures resilience and unlocks prosperity for residents and businesses.
The Nottingham Growth Board, which is a partnership of some of Nottingham’s key businesses, educational institutions, and public sector organisations, will oversee the plan.
The idea behind the Economic Plan is to have:
- A shared vision for improving the economy of Nottingham
- A plan to help the city grow in a fair and sustainable way that benefits all citizens of Nottingham
- A framework of activity to help focus ambition and investment in our city
- A plan for all partners in the city to work towards to create sustainable and inclusive economic growth
Nottingham has lots of strengths, with a young and diverse population, leading Creative and Digital and Life Sciences sectors, strong business survival rates and a vibrant visitor economy. But there are areas for improvement, including the city having above average unemployment, low levels of graduate retention and lower than average educational attainment, which are all factors that limit the success of the local economy.
To tackle these challenges, the city needs to look at ways to support people to gain skills and remain in meaningful employment as well seeking to improve graduate retention, securing regeneration opportunities, greener transport, nurturing start-up companies and building on sector strengths.
The vision will be delivered by four key ambitions across four themes:
People and Skills: To facilitate additional employment of 12,000 new jobs by 2030.
The vision is for lifelong learning with an educational offer that aims to improve employment levels and gives residents the skills they need to have successful careers.
Enterprise and Investment: To generate £500m of additional Gross Value added by 2030 in the city.
The vision is about sustainable growth in the city, where existing industries are nurtured and new industries are empowered to expand and contribute towards a diverse, growing and prosperous economy.
Infrastructure & Connectivity: Develop infrastructure and services to serve a city population of 345,000 and a population across Greater Nottingham of 710,000 by 2030.
The vision is to promote areas that are dynamic, green and inclusive, with sufficient quality living space, and excellent physical, transport and digital connectivity.
Liveability, Experience and Regeneration: To secure the next £4bn of regenerative investment in the city and bolster quality of life
The vision is for a contemporary, clean and globally competitive city centre with bustling and attractive neighbourhoods that draw residents and visitors to a rich leisure, sporting and heritage experience in Nottingham.
Ethan Radford, Deputy Leader & Executive Member for Skills, Growth and Economic Development, said: “The launch of this plan comes at a really important time for the city, which already has many success stories. We have many successful and global businesses based here, but despite this success we know there is more we can all do to improve the prosperity of the city.
“The new 10-year strategy has been created based on significant research, data analysis, stakeholder engagement and expert advice from the Nottingham Growth Board. It aims to tackle the issues impacting our economy now and in the longer term.
“We held a consultation with the public, partners and businesses of the city earlier this year and took on their feedback to help us create this final version of the Economic Plan. We now need to work with these partners and business to deliver this plan for Nottingham’s economy, and for our residents and businesses that live here now or who will live here in the future.”
Nick Ebbs, Chair of the Nottingham Growth Board, said: “Nottingham is a great City. Two world leading universities, enviable cultural assets and high growth businesses in life sciences, digital and creative industries. But there is also another story. A story of deprivation, low productivity, economic inactivity and limited opportunity.
“As a City we need to pull together to build on what is going well and to sort out what is failing. The City’s new Economic Plan sets out a roadmap to a more economically successful, sustainable and inclusive future. It can’t fix everything but it can make a significant contribution.
“The launch of the new plan is a positive step and I look forward to working with all partners across the city to deliver our shared ambitions.”
