Sustainable Community Strategy

Strategic Priority 1: World Class Nottingham

Develop Nottingham’s international standing for science and innovation, sports and culture

2020 Objectives

By 2020, Nottingham will be

• An international city of science, knowledge and creativity – driving enterprise and   
   wealth creation for all
• A distinctive European destination which offers residents and visitors alike an
   attractive city with a friendly face and vibrant culture and leisure opportunities
• A world class city of sport hosting a programme of international sporting events, underpinning a thriving local sports scene

2020 Headline Targets

• To recover and continue growth in Nottingham GVA (per capita) of 3.8% per year
• 20,000 new jobs created in the science and technology sectors (to 82,100 jobs)
• 5% growth in the visitor economy year on year
• Host at least 12 internationally significant cultural and sporting events per year
• Continue the increase in new business starts by 10% per year

The Story: From Today to Tomorrow

The City of Nottingham is at the heart of Greater Nottingham’s economy and its attraction as a city of learning, leisure, culture and sport. Greater Nottingham is home to 630,000 people, including over 400,000 of working age. The city’s travel to work and retail catchments extend well beyond Greater Nottingham’s boundaries. Nottingham’s economy is strong and has been growing faster than the national and regional averages for the last few years, with relatively high productivity. Today there are over 300,000 jobs across the conurbation, with particular strengths in the service sector, including a high proportion of public sector jobs. There is also growing strength in the science and technology sector particularly in biomedical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as in the creative industries, drawing on the city’s rich arts and cultural scene. However, the city’s business start-up rate lags behind the national average and the skills base in the city is not broad or deep enough.

The 2020 ‘World Class’ challenge for Nottingham is to invest in its assets of national and world class significance, building on existing strengths, to provide a clear role for the city in the 21st century, strengthening the foundations of a knowledge economy able to compete on a European stage, and providing more jobs for local people. Nottingham will be a city of science, a city of sport, a city of culture and creativity; a great European city. We will also underpin this by investing in the skills of local people and the city’s physical infrastructure. And we will need to be innovative in our approach as we move towards a lower carbon economy, beginning now by setting annual carbon budgets across the city.

Clearly, the present recession represents a significant challenge. It will inevitably slow our progress over the next few years. But it will not stop progress, and Nottingham will emerge from this recession.

Our Economic Resilience Forum and Task and Finish Group have put together an action plan for short, medium and long term responses to the recession that will deliver immediate benefi ts now and also help to position us for longer term growth. The Forum brings together high calibre local leaders including experts in business, economics and/or finance who can offer insight into the factors that make cities uniquely placed to drive the future economic prosperity of the UK. Actions include the following:

• Short term resilience actions (2009) – to minimise the immediate impacts of the recession.
  • A series of financial inclusion events and more ways to access advice in the community are being developed to help people manage their money and get the benefi ts they are entitled to. Increased capacity in the citizens’ advice sector to alleviate immediate backlogs and meet growing needs.
  • Help for people to reduce their fuel bills and stay warm, with grants, decent home improvements and energy efficiency improvements; 1000 people are expected to receive Warm Zone help.
  • Increasing job opportunities for local people – with an apprenticeship for every £1 million of the recently-announced £243 million Decent Homes investment; training people for ‘handyperson’ jobs in their neighbourhoods; volunteer training opportunities and skills development.
  • Allowing Council Tax payers the option of paying by fortnightly and weekly instalments.
  • Introducing a new procurement strategy which seeks to increase the proportion of the £330 million the Council spends each year on goods and services that is spent with local businesses and the voluntary sector.
  • Multi-agency support for local workers facing redundancies, including help with CV writing, accessing vacancies and broader welfare advice.
  • Any business reported to be in difficulty is being pro-actively approached to ensure they are aware of the services and support available.
  • A package of free and cheap sports activities aimed at children and families has been developed for the summer holidays 2009.
• Medium term realignment actions (2009- 2011) – to ensure that the city is in a strong position to benefi t from the recovery.
  • Development of a Council apprenticeship scheme and, under the aegis of One Nottingham, an enterprise allowance scheme and community programme.
  • Developing the Council’s Investment Strategy to include the opportunity to invest council balances in strategic land acquisitions, whilst land values and returns on cash balances are low.
  • Developing a new financial inclusion strategy including the role of credit unions.
  • Reviews of the opportunities afforded in the environmental, university and professional sectors (building on existing work) and of the current Economic Development priority sectors including the current focus on finance.
  • Work to explore the potential for an energy effi cient manufacturing or business park in Nottingham.
  • A review of opportunities for independent retailers to breathe new life into the High Street.
  • Our longer term economic strategy is set out in the rest of this section, ensuring that we have the right skills, infrastructure and business opportunities to deliver long term economic growth in the city.