POLITICS
‘Whatever happens at the end of this year will at least give us some degree of certainty in the long term’
Jonathan Dawes
As well as being the UK hub for DHL and UPS,
it has spawned a huge amount of warehouse development in the area around the airport, particularly at the neighbouring 700-acre SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway. Amazon also stemmed the bad news tide in
August by creating 1,000 roles at a 550,000 sq ft warehouse in Sutton-in-Ashfield, its fourth fulfilment centre in the region. Jonathan Dawes, planning director at Tritax
Symmetry – which is working on two major logistics developments in the region, including a proposal to create a National Rail freight
East Midlands Airport has a huge cargo operation
interchange just outside Hinckley – says logistics is a key strength for the East Midlands. He adds: “There’s a significant amount of
office space within these warehouses that have the full range of so-called ‘good-quality’ jobs and the industry has a good track record for ongoing career development from the age of 18 upwards – a key point given that many of the people hit hardest by unemployment are aged 18 to 24. “It’s sad it’s taken something like Covid-19 to
thrust it into the spotlight but people are now starting to understand how critical it is to the
economy, particularly with the exponential growth of online retail.” So while the UK is in a perilous economic
position with coronavirus and Brexit, these glimmers of light could provide a tonic for supply chain companies like MTM Products, which need consumers to spend. Ian Greenaway regains his optimism, adding:
“Even before Covid, we were being hit by uncertainty so while chaos might reign in the short term, whatever happens at the end of this year will at least give us some degree of certainty in the long term.”
STATE OF THE ECONOMY INDEX
500 400 300 200 100 0
-100
-200 -300 -400 -500
386 383 276 248 279 293 238 204 375 320 375 360 392 355 362 290 215 254 174 199 17 Q1 2015 Q2 2015 Q3 2015 Q4 2015 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 2016 2016 2016 2016 2017 Q2 2017 Q3 2017 Q4 2017 Q1 2018 Q2 2018 Q3 2018 Q4 2018 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2020 2020 241
-411
An Economy fights back
Following historic lows in the second quarter of 2020, the Q3 results of the Chamber’s Quarterly Economic Survey have been keenly anticipated. Chris Hobson, director of policy and external affairs, looks at what the results from a record 470 responses tell us about the state of the East Midlands economy.
At macro level, given everything that’s taken place over the past six months, the economy is in okay shape. UK market activity recovered from historic lows to return to positive territory, albeit only just, with export markets not far behind. In terms of staffing levels, a net nine per cent of businesses reduced their workforce over the past three months, but then we also saw four in 10 employers looking to recruit for new roles. Following massive drops in investment intentions over the summer, 23%
are now revising their plans upwards. However, cashflow worsened for 38%. While sentiment may feel less tangible, it’s important as it can guide
decisions made. So it’s encouraging to see over half of respondents expecting turnover and profitability to rise over the coming year. While the macro picture is a recovering one, at a local level there remains
wide variations in experience. Looking by sector, manufacturers – such an important part of the East Midlands economy – have been slower to recover, while some in logistics or IT have performed strongly off the back of a growth in online retail and remote working. By geography, Derbyshire businesses have not performed as strongly, although this may be partially explained by a higher number of manufacturers. Many of the services in our city and town centres have struggled, whereas those able to shift to online or remote ways of service provision have fared better. In short, our 470 responses detail 470 different experiences. This poses
tough questions around how we ensure continued support can be targeted to those that would most benefit, and how the positive learnings and ways of working that many have taken from the past six months can be built upon. Importantly, we need to harness our regional strengths without undermining the diversity of businesses, which we know gives us extra resilience. The Chamber will ensure these discussions take place over the coming quarter and that we involve the real experiences of our members in them.
To view the full survey results, visit
www.emc-dnl.co.uk/helping-you- influence/quarterly-economic-survey-qes
business networkOctober 2020 35
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