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AN ENVIRONMENTALPROSPECTUS FORSOUTH WESTENGLAND
Linking the Economyand the Environment
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This report has emerged from a workshop held in 1998 as part of preparations forthe new South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWERDA). This
workshop involved a number of economic, social and environmental partners,and considered the role of the South West’s environment in an evolving regionaleconomic agenda. An Environment Prospectus Group was formed and agreed totake this work forward. An Environmental Prospectus for South West England isoffered as a first step in an area of work which we hope will be taken forward by
SWERDA and others charged with the economic development of the Region.
The Environment Prospectus Group includes those organisations which have contributedto the funding of this report, plus the South West Regional Planning Conference, Country
Landowners Association, Community Council for Somerset and Devon ConservationForum.
This Group has acted on behalf of a wider partnership of organisations establishedthrough the workshop in 1998: Bristol Water plc, British Trust for Conservation Volunteers
(BTCV), Business Link - Dorset, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE),Community Council for Somerset (CCS), Cornwall College, Countryside CommissionSouth West Region, Country Landowners Association (CLA), Dartmoor National ParkAuthority, Devon Conservation Forum, English Nature, Environment Agency, Farmingand Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Forestry
Commission (Severn, Wye & Avon Conservancy and South West Conservancy), Friends ofthe Earth (FoE), National Trust in the South West, PAYBACK, Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds (RSPB), South West Regional Planning Conference, Surfers AgainstSewage (SAS), Sustainable Futures, University of Exeter, University of Plymouth,
University of the West of England (UWE), Wessex Water plc, West Country Tourist Board(WCTB), Wildlife Trusts in the South West.
All the views expressed in this report may not necessarily be shared by all these organisations.
Printed on 100% recycled paper
Registered Charity No. 207076
Funded by
FOR FURTHER CONTACT
To take up the issues raised in this Prospectus, please contact one of the following:
Tim de Winton Mark RobinsRegional Strategic Planner Senior Conservation OfficerEnvironment Agency RSPBManley House Keble HouseKestrel Way Southernhay GardensExeter ExeterDevon DevonEX2 7LQ EX1 1NT
Tel: 01392 444000 Tel: 01392 432691Fax: 01392 444238 Fax: 01392 453750Email: Email:[email protected] [email protected]
March 1999
AN
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NT
AL
PR
OS
PE
CT
US
FO
R S
OU
TH
WE
ST
EN
GL
AN
D
EX
EC
UT
IVE
SU
MM
AR
YL
INK
ING
TH
E E
NV
IRO
NM
EN
T W
ITH
JOB
S AN
D W
EA
LTH
CR
EA
TIO
N✸
With the em
ergence of the new South W
est of England
Regional D
evelopment
Agency (SW
ER
DA
) and the R
egional Cham
ber as a voice of regional government,
the South West region w
ill achieve greater prominence than ever before both w
ithin the U
K and
across Europe. In m
eeting the challenges of the future, it is essential thatthe region pursues policies and
programm
es that play to the real strengths of the South W
est.
✸T
he environment of the South W
est is a key regional strength and one that sets it
apart from other E
nglish regions. The varied
and d
ramatic land
scapes, the rich and
diverse w
ildlife, the overall sense of place and
quality of life for which the South
West is so w
ell known, are alread
y of imm
ense value to the great many w
ho live in, w
ork in and visit the region.
✸A
t a workshop held
in 1998 a number of econom
ic, social and environm
ental partners consid
ered the role of the South W
est’s environment in an evolving regional
economic agend
a. An E
nvironment Prospectus G
roup was form
ed to take forw
ard
the work of linking the environm
ent and econom
ic developm
ent. An E
nvironmental
Prospectus for South West E
ngland is offered
as a first step in this area of work
which w
e hope will be pursued
by SWE
RD
Aand
others charged w
ith the economic
developm
ent of the region.
✸T
he information, case stud
ies and recom
mend
ations in this report will be of
imm
ense interest and value to d
ecision makers across the R
egion. We m
ust all look increasingly tow
ards the environm
ent and related
sectors as a key force in today’s
and tom
orrow’s d
evelopment. T
hose charged w
ith economic d
evelopment in the
region must now
take the work forw
ard.
✸T
HE
CU
RR
EN
T P
OSIT
ION
En
vironm
ent related
econom
ic activity contrib
utes c100,000 job
s and
£1.6 b
illion to th
e Sou
th W
est region. T
his is over 4%
of emp
loymen
t and
3%
of GD
P across th
e region. T
his is a h
ighly con
servative estimate; overall
the valu
e of the en
vironm
ent is in
the region
of 5-10% of th
e Sou
th W
est’stotal G
DP. T
his P
rospectu
s describ
es this econ
omic activity in
three p
arts:
1T
he Environm
ent sector: c38,000 jobs, c£833 million output
Th
e En
vironm
ent In
du
stry:firm
s that provide good
s and services w
hich are need
ed for environm
ental protection
En
vironm
ental M
anagem
ent
use of environmental m
anagement system
s by businesses to assess and
reduce their
impact on the environm
ent
Ren
ewab
le En
ergyw
ind energy, biofuels and
their potentials
Waste M
anagem
ent
recycling and alternatives to land
fill
Natu
ral En
vironm
ent S
ectoreconom
ic activity associated w
ith the protection and
enhancement of the natural
environment
2R
egenerating the primary sector: c600 jobs, c£13.1 m
illion outputA
gricultu
re and
the E
nviron
men
tenvironm
ental land m
anagement schem
es, organic farm
ing
Region
al Prod
uce
using the high quality of the environment to
brand regional prod
uce, local purchasing, countrysid
e products
ForestryW
orking Woodlands, m
ulti-purpose forestry, C
omm
unity Forests, the South West Forest Project
3C
apitalising on a high quality environment: c55,000 jobs, c744 m
illion outputTou
rismrural/
countryside tourism
, sustainable tourism
activities, coast and clean seas
Films an
d M
edia
ded
icated regional centres of excellence,
quality environments as film
locations
Inw
ard In
vestmen
tlinks betw
een inward
investment and
quality of life factors, com
pany location
Qu
ality of lifequality of life und
erpinning life in much of the
region for its residents
✸W
ith the right approach, the environment has the potential to contribute even further
to the sustainable developm
ent of the South West, securing econom
ic, social and
environmental benefits for the R
egion which w
ill be in everyone’s interest.
✸FU
TU
RE
OP
PO
RT
UN
ITIE
ST
he economy associated
with the environm
ent is a fast growing sector. Significant
opportunities exist to increase the employm
ent and econom
ic output of a number of
environment-related
activities:
En
vironm
ent in
du
striesan ad
ditional 24,000 jobs and
£370m output
Ren
ewab
le energy
an add
itional 12,000 jobs and £260m
output
Organ
ic farmin
gan ad
ditional 160 jobs and
£3.5m output
Local p
urch
asing
an add
itional 2,000 jobs and £44m
output
✸R
EC
OM
ME
ND
AT
ION
SA
n Environm
ental Prospectus for South West E
ngland offers a num
ber of recom
mend
ations to SWE
RD
Aand
others with a key role to play in the sustainable
developm
ent of the Region. T
hese recomm
endations can be sum
marised
as follows:
AS
outh
West E
conom
ic Develop
men
t Vision
shou
ld:
●ensure that opportunities presented
by the environment for supporting and
enhancing a d
iverse and strong econom
y are fully recognised and
promoted
, particularly in the rural areas of the South W
est.
AS
outh
West E
conom
ic Strategy sh
ould
:
●d
evelop a skills strategy that matches the existing and
future opportunities offered
by environment-related
activities in the Region.
●id
entify ways in w
hich it can direct incentives w
ithin funding program
mes to
encourage environmental benefits.
●id
entify flagship environmental projects and
pursue programm
es which
dem
onstrate the ‘win w
in’ opportunities from pursuing environm
ental and
economic objectives together.
●be subject to a ‘sustainability assessm
ent’ which should
include a strategic
environmental assessm
ent that is both comprehensive and
transparent.
As a voice for th
e Region
and
in d
evelopin
g Best P
ractice,SWE
RD
Aand
otherscharged
with the econom
ic developm
ent of the Region should
develop in-house
expertise and w
ork with the netw
ork of environment partners to:
●assess the environm
ental impacts and
opportunities of policies and program
mes
●help business to respond
to new environm
ental legislation and policy
developm
ents
●ensure that necessary environm
ental infrastructure, such as waste m
anagement
facilities, is put in place.
AN
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NTA
LPR
OSPE
CT
US FO
RSO
UT
H W
EST
EN
GL
AN
D
EX
EC
UT
IVE
SU
MM
AR
YC
ontinued
With the em
ergence of the new South W
est of England
Regional
Developm
ent Agency and
Regional C
hamber, the South W
est Region w
illachieve greater prom
inence than ever before across the UK
and E
urope. Inm
eeting the challenges of the future, it is essential that the Region pursues
policies and program
mes that w
ill play to the real strengths of the SouthW
est.
The environm
ent of the South West is one of the R
egion’s key strengths andone that sets it apart from
other English regions. T
he varied and
dram
aticland
scapes, the rich and d
iverse wild
life, the overall sense of place andquality of life for w
hich the South West is so w
ell known, are alread
y ofim
mense value to the great m
any who live in, w
ork in and visit the R
egion.
With the right approach, the environm
ent has the potential to contribute evenfurther to the sustainable d
evelopment of the South W
est, securing economic,
social and environm
ental benefits for the Region w
hich will be in everyone’s
interest.
On behalf of the partnership of organisations behind
An E
nvironmental
Prospectus for the South West, I am
very pleased to offer this publication as a
means of prom
oting such an approach. The inform
ation and case stud
iescontained
within this publication and
the recomm
endations that it m
akesw
ill, I believe, be of imm
ense interest and value to a w
ide range of d
ecisionm
akers across the Region.
I hope An E
nvironmental P
rospectus for the South Westinspires you to look
increasingly toward
s the environment and
related sectors as a key force in
today’s and
tomorrow
’s developm
ent.
Katharine B
ryan
Regional G
eneral Manager - E
nvironment A
gency South West
On behalf of the E
nvironmental Prospectus G
roup
FOR
EW
OR
D
CO
NT
EN
TS
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1.1T
HE
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NT
AN
D
EC
ON
OM
IC D
EV
EL
OP
ME
NT
With a new
Regional D
evelopment A
gency (The
South West of E
ngland R
egional Developm
entA
gency - SWE
RD
A), revised
Regional Planning
Guid
ance (RPG
) and the em
ergence of theR
egional Cham
ber as an active voice of regionalgovernm
ent, regional affairs are nowparam
ount. Key choices face those involved
inplanning and
managing the econom
y of theSouth W
est. The organisations that have com
etogether to prod
uce this Environm
entalProspectus
1understand
that, if sustainablegrow
th is to be achieved, then environm
entaland
social concerns have to be integrated into
economic d
ecision-making. Policies,
programm
es and projects have to achieve
economic, social and
environmental objectives.
In this Prospectus, we d
escribe the nature of thelink betw
een the environment and
the economy.
We also explore som
e of the real job and w
ealthsustaining opportunities that the environm
entpresents.
We believe that the environm
ent provides an
important basis for econom
ic developm
ent, bothd
irectly through growth in those sectors alread
yinvolved
in and provid
ing for the managem
entof the environm
ent, and ind
irectly through thecontribution of a healthy and
high qualityenvironm
ent across the region, making it a place
where people w
ant to live and w
ork.
The policy background
s elsewhere, at E
uropeanand
UK
levels, are increasingly providing a
progressive approach to environmental
improvem
ent. Our challenge to those involved
in the new regional d
evelopment agend
a is togive proper w
eight to environmental concerns,
understand
the significant contribution theenvironm
ent makes to the region’s econom
yand
capture this very special asset in planningfor our future.
1.2E
NV
IRO
NM
EN
T A
ND
TH
E E
CO
NO
MY
LIN
KA
GE
ST
his Prospectus begins to explore the nature ofthe positive linkages betw
een the environment
and the econom
y in the South West. It is w
orthnoting here the key elem
ents of the overalllinkage (after R
SPB, 1999):
■the grow
ing size of theen
vironm
ental
ind
ustry
- businesses and organisations
focusing on the supply of environmental
goods and
services;
■increasing em
ployment opportunities
associated w
ith environ
men
tal comp
liance
and
enh
ancem
ent
in industry, and
in sectors such as transport, energy and
agriculture;
■the im
portance of environmental progress for
long term in
du
strial and
bu
siness
comp
etitiveness;
■the recognition that clean
techn
ologies are efficien
t,can save money and
enhance prod
uctivity and hence grow
th;
■evidence that failu
re to meet en
vironm
ental
respon
sibilities tod
ay can lim
it develop
men
t and incur greater cost to the econom
y and society in the future;
■the grow
ing importance of en
han
ceden
vironm
ental q
uality
for the tourism sector,
and in creating cond
itions for inw
ardin
vestmen
tand
business growth
Historically business has often seen
environmental issues as a constraining factor.
How
ever, the evidence is now
quite theopposite in that opportunities provid
ed by the
environment are likely to outw
eigh theperceived
risks .
1.3SU
STAIN
AB
LE
DE
VE
LO
PM
EN
TT
he new R
DA
s are the first developm
entagencies in the U
K to have a specific d
uty tocontribute to sustainable d
evelopment in the
regions. Sustainable developm
ent aims to
pursue the following three objectives in such a
way as to m
ake them m
utually compatible for
current and future generations:
(i)sustainable, non-inflationary econom
ic grow
th;
(ii)social cohesion through access for all to em
ployment and
a high quality of life;
(iii)enhancement and
maintenance of the
environmental capital upon w
hich life d
epends.
(after EC
OT
EC
1997).
Achieving this requires a shift in focus, from
mod
els where econom
ic growth is coupled
with
increasing rates of environmental d
egradation,
to one where grow
th is compatible w
ithred
ucing dem
ands on the environm
ent.R
ecognition of this was a central feature in the
European C
omm
ission’s White Paper on
1.IN
TR
OD
UC
TIO
N
1
1T
his Prospectus is largely based on a report com
missioned by the
Environm
ent Prospectus G
roup from consultants: E
nvironmental R
esources M
anagement: A
n Environm
ental Prospectus for the South W
est of England,
February 1999, Ref 5697.
Grow
th, Com
petitiveness and E
mploym
ent1
which states that ‘the current developm
ent model in
the Com
munity …
is characterised by an insufficientuse of labour resources and an excessive use ofnatural resources, and results in a deterioration ofthe quality of life’.
The E
uropean Com
mission’s
subsequent Com
munication on E
nvironment
and E
mploym
ent2presents an agend
a forbuild
ing a sustainable Europe, d
efined as one
which
‘achieves a competitive econom
y combined
with less environm
ental degradation, improved
resource efficiency of energy and raw m
aterials, andhigher em
ployment rates’.
1.4C
AP
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ON
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IN
DE
VE
LO
PM
EN
T P
RO
GR
AM
ME
SW
ith this shift at all levels of governance, what
does the m
ovement tow
ards sustainable
developm
ent look like? How
can it be mad
em
ore meaningful to those involved
in pursuingsustainable d
evelopment?
There is a grow
ing body of m
aterial thatid
entifies
andp
romotes
strategic measures for
sustainable developm
ent. This Prospectus starts
the task of further specifying the South West
agenda. O
ne such suite of recomm
endations is
provided
by EC
OT
EC
(1997) (Box 1.1).
Box
1.1E
ncouraging Sustainable Developm
ent in Funding P
rogramm
es
The follow
ing principles are included
in a hand
book(1)d
eveloped to assist program
me
managers to id
entify and prom
ote those features of O
bjective 2 programm
es which can significantly
change regional developm
ent toward
s sustainable patterns.
●enhancing and
maintaining environm
ental quality (eg, supporting urban renovation schem
es, cleaning up d
erelict and contam
inated ind
ustrial sites);●
ensuring adequate environm
ental infrastructure(2)is
available;●
ensuring there are environmental aw
areness and
‘adjustm
ent’ programm
es for SME
s;●
helping to support environmental ind
ustries;●
encouraging the application of ‘clean technologies’ and
products;
●supporting energy conservation, m
aterials re-use andrecycling;
●supporting d
evelopment on brow
nfield sites;
●supporting d
evelopment on sites alread
y served by
road/
utilities/rail infrastructure
●supporting innovation in new
‘green’ products,
processes and services;
●supporting the prod
uction and use of renew
able energy and
materials;
●encouraging econom
ic sectors with little
environmental im
pact;
●supporting environm
entally responsible, integrated
transport;
●supporting the use of inform
ation technology;
●spatial planning to red
uce environmental im
pacts;
●d
evelopment planning to encourage ‘ind
ustrial ecology’ (3).
(1)E
cotec (1997) Encouraging Sustainable D
evelopment T
hrough O
bjective 2 Programm
es: Guid
ance for Programm
e Managers.
(2)E
nvironmental infrastructure: w
aste water treatm
ent facilities, etc.
(3)Ind
ustrial ecology: economic activities sharing energy, w
ater or waste
products (cascad
ing from one firm
to another, localised m
aterials exchange, etc.
These then are a useful toolkit for provid
ing ashift tow
ards m
ore sustainable developm
ent.O
ur task in the South West is to id
entify ourspecific regional opportunities to use these tobest effect.
1.5T
HE
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NTA
LP
RO
SPE
CT
US
FOR
TH
E SO
UT
H W
EST
In producing this Prospectus, w
e had three
aims:
■to assist regional d
evelopment players in the
SW by ind
icating a broad range of activities
which capture joint benefits for the
environment and
the economy;
■to prom
ote a positive approach by quantitatively d
emonstrating the range and
scale of som
e of these benefits in the regional context;
■to highlight som
e of the future opportunities w
hich should be ad
dressed
within a regional
economic d
evelopment strategy.
The E
nvironmental Prospectus is a starting
point. We urge SW
ER
DA
and others charged
with d
evelopment in the R
egion to take up thechallenge w
ith real vigour.
1.5.1.Structure of the Environm
ental Prospectus
The structure of the E
nvironmental Prospectus
for the South West is outlined
below.
■Section 1: Introduction.
The rem
ainder of
this section presents a brief overview of the
South West region’s econom
y and
environment, to set the analysis in context. It
highlights the particular depend
encies of the South W
est economy on the environm
ent, andthe special environm
ental features that
1.
1T
he European C
omm
ission (1993) White P
aper on Grow
th, Com
petitiveness and E
mploym
ent: The C
hallenges and Ways Forw
ard into the 21st Century.
2E
uropean Com
mission (1997) B
uilding a Sustainable Europe:
Com
munication on E
nvironment and E
mploym
ent.
2
differentiate the region from
other English
regions. The region’s econom
ic and
environmental strengths are characterised
.
■Section 2: E
nvironment industries.
The South
West’s grow
ing environmental ind
ustry in good
s and services for pollution control
creates jobs, whilst red
ucing pressures from
industrial activity on the environm
ent. Other
environment-related
activities, such as renew
able energy and nature conservation,
create new jobs, help to conserve and
enhancethe high quality environm
ent of the South W
est.
■Section 3: R
egenerating the primary sector.
Econom
ic developm
ent in the South West
needs to ad
dress those sectors w
hich are in d
ecline, mainly land
-based ind
ustries in the m
ore rural areas. There are m
any opportunities to tackle the econom
ic decline
of these industries by d
iversifying the econom
ic base, keeping people on the land
and hence conserving the environm
ental characteristics of the South W
est that make it
unique.
■Section 4: C
apitalising on a high quality environm
ent. T
he environment, quality of
life and regional id
entity offered by the South
West are a vital asset for the w
ider econom
y. Sectors such as tourism
depend
on a high quality environm
ent for their continued
growth and
competitiveness. T
he quality of life w
ithin the region is an important factor
attracting and retaining investm
ent; while
regional and quality based
marketing
initiatives are built upon the area’s strong regional and
sub-regional identity.
■Section 5: Sum
mary and recom
mendations.
The overall value of the environm
ent to the South W
est regional economy in term
s of em
ployment opportunities, econom
ic growth
prospects and com
petitiveness is id
entified.R
ecomm
endations are offered
to SW
ER
DA
and others charged
with the
economical d
evelopment of the region on
how to take these linkages forw
ard.
1.6T
HE
RE
GIO
NA
LE
CO
NO
MY: A
N
OV
ER
VIE
WT
he South West region, com
prising the Isles ofScilly, C
ornwall, D
evon, Dorset, Som
erset,W
iltshire, Gloucestershire and
the former
county of Avon, had
an economic output of
around £50 billion and
contributed nearly 8%
ofU
K G
DP
in 19961.
These figures conceal consid
erable variationw
ithin the region. For example, G
DP
per headranges from
26% below
the UK
average forC
ornwall, to 15%
above the average forW
iltshire. In general, the north and east of the
region are relatively prosperous with high
value-add
ed ind
ustries; while the south w
estpeninsula and
rural areas have suffered from
the structural decline of trad
itional industries
such as mining, agriculture, fisheries and
defence.
Box 1.2
presents some key statistics
about the regional economy, particularly for
those sectors that have strong linkages with the
environment.
Box
1.2K
ey Strengths of the Regional E
conomy
The regional econom
y is particularly strong infin
ancial an
d b
usin
ess services, with just over a
quarter of the region’s GD
Pbeing d
erived from
thissector; only L
ondon and
the South East have higher
proportions. How
ever, small business sites of few
erthan ten em
ployees account for over 85% of all sites,
and only 2.5%
of sites employ 50 plus.
Tourism
is also very strong, accounting for £3.5billion or around
7% of G
DP
in 1996, representing13%
of total expenditure by tourists in the U
K. In
that year, 21.7 million tourists (10%
of whom
came
from overseas) visited
the South West, a 21%
increaseon 1991 figures. A
gricultu
reaccounts for alm
ost 4% of G
DP
compared
with less than 2%
for the UK
as a whole.
2% of em
ployees and 12%
of the self-employed
work
in agriculture. More than three quarters of the
regional land area is in agriculture, m
ainly beef,sheep and
dairy farm
ing. Im
portantregion
al variations
include:
●H
igh proportions of people above retirement age in
Dorset, D
evon and C
ornwall. T
hese populations do
not contribute to GD
Pbut d
o contribute to economic
prosperity measured
in disposable incom
e per head.
●A
particular reliance on the primary sector in D
evon and
Cornw
all, where m
ore than 20% of business sites
are involved in agriculture, hunting, fishing and
forestry.
●B
elow average d
isposable income per head
in C
ornwall, d
ue to the predom
inance of seasonal and
low value ad
ded
activity in tourism and
agriculture.
1.7T
HE
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NT: A
N O
VE
RV
IEW
The environm
ent of the South West is one of the
most rich and
diverse in the U
K. Q
uality of life,seen by m
any to be a key asset, in turn attractspeople to live and
work in the region. In a
recent survey of company executives
2, 57%stated
that overall quality of life was the m
ostim
portant personal factor for relocation toanother city. B
ristol was voted
the top city to
1.
1T
he analysis in this section is based on Governm
ent Office for the South W
est(1998) Focus on the South W
est, HM
SO.
2B
lack Horse R
elocation (1998) Survey of Britain’s B
est Cities to R
elocate to.
3
relocate to, and a further tw
o cities in the SouthW
est , Plymouth and
Exeter, featured
in the topten.
The natural and
built environment have been
shown to be the tw
o most im
portant factors in‘quality of life’, and
the environmental assets of
the South West are d
isproportionately high to itsland
area. Box 1.3
below presents a sum
mary of
the region’s key environmental strengths.
Box
1.3K
ey Environm
ental Attributes of the South W
est
Landscape, H
istorical and Cultural Strengths of
the Region
The region is rich in land
scape, historical and
cultural assets:●
There is an enorm
ous length of coastline. Much of
this coastline (638 kilometres in all) has been
designated
as Heritage C
oast, more than 60%
of the total for E
ngland.
●N
early half the UK
's EU
designated
bathing waters.
●A
reas of Outstand
ing Natural B
eauty, that is land
scapes of national scenic importance, cover
almost a third
of the land area, d
ouble the proportionin E
ngland as a w
hole.●
The region includ
es: the World
Heritage Sites of
Stonehenge, Avebury and
the City of B
ath; over 6,000A
ncient Monum
ents, that is 37% of the total for
England
; and over 100,000 ind
ividual listed
build
ings.●
The land
scapes and cultural heritage of the South
West are frequently celebrated
in culture and the arts,
having inspired poetry, prose, painting and
music.
Valued Habitats and Species of the South W
est 1, 2, 3
The South W
est possesses a high proportion of some
of the UK
’s rarest and m
ost endangered
habitats . T
hese include:
●62%
of the UK
’s remaining calcareous grassland
(95%
of the national resource has been lost);●
25% of the U
K’s rem
aining lowland
heathland (40%
of the national resource has been lost);
●57%
of the UK
’s remaining flow
er rich mead
ows
(97% of the national resource has been lost);
●850 of the U
K’s 6,300 Sites of Special Scientific
Interest (21% of E
ngland’s SSSIs);
●10 of the U
K’s Special Protection A
reas (14% of
England
’s total). In add
ition, the SW has 39
candid
ate SAC
(Special Areas of C
onservation) sites for d
esignation under the E
U’s H
abitats Directive.
The flora and
fauna in the region is of local, national and
international importance, and
includes :
●som
e 25 species that are globally important;
●over 700 species that are of national conservation concern: this includ
es nearly 50 mam
mals, over 100
birds and
more than 100 plants;
●34 U
K end
emic species, 11 of w
hich are endem
ic to the region (eg w
estern ramping-fum
itory and a
freshwater shrim
p, Nipharqellus glenniei);
●the sand
lizard - once found
through much of the
SW, but now
only found on fragm
ented heathland
inSE
Dorset;
●the greater horseshoe bat - 70%
of whose U
K
population occurs in the SW.
1.
1T
he South West B
iodiversity Group, T
he Importance of B
iodiversity to the South W
est.2
Governm
ent Office for the South W
est (1998) Focus on the South West,
HM
SO.
3R
SPB
, County W
ildlife Trusts and South West R
egional Planning
Conference (1996) T
he Biodiversity of the South W
est.
4
2.1IN
TR
OD
UC
TIO
NIn this section w
e examine the nature and
significance of the ‘environment sector’ as it
stands tod
ay. How
big is the sector? What are
its components? W
e have used the term
‘environment sector’ to capture the w
ide range
of firms, organisations and
types of activitiesw
hich fall within our d
escription:
Those firm
s and organisations which have a direct
relationship with environm
ental protection activities;either by nature of their business activity or byproviding goods and services to help others m
inimise
their impact on the environm
ent.
Standard
industrial statistical d
escriptions do
not have a separate “environment sector”
industry classification; for instance, firm
s which
fall within this category are located
in all typesof N
AC
E 1d
efined ind
ustries. We have
therefore gathered read
ily available information
from a range of sources to d
emonstrate the size
and potential for grow
th in some activities
which form
part of the South West’s
environment sector.
The econom
ic activities explored in this section
are:
■the environm
ent industry (Section 2.2);
■business and
environmental m
anagement
(Section 2.3);
■renew
able energy (Section 2.4);
■w
aste managem
ent (Section 2.5);
■sustainable transport (Section 2.6);
■the natural environm
ent sector (Section 2.7).
The section conclud
es with an overall
assessment of the econom
ic benefits derived
inthe South W
est from the activities explored
above. It should be noted
though that this is bynecessity a conservative starting point. O
therareas of econom
ic activity could clearly be
brought into this exploration, eg, the sea fishingind
ustry. This is a task for further stages.
2.2T
HE
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NT
IND
UST
RY
Rapid
growth in E
U and
UK
environmental
legislation and policy, coupled
with businesses
adopting greener processes and
performance
standard
s, has led to a grow
ing dem
and for the
provision of environmental good
s and services.
This has given rise to the
‘environment industry’,
which com
prises those firms w
hich provide
goods and
services which are used
forenvironm
ental protection.
In the UK
, the environment ind
ustry 2, on afairly narrow
definition, em
ploys nearly 200,000people and
has become a 10 billion E
CU
business sector. The U
K environm
ent industry
contributes 4 billion EC
U of value ad
ded
to theeconom
y3. A
ccelerated grow
th in this industry
is expected to continue, w
ith estimated
annualgrow
th rates of some 8%
in both the UK
and the
EU
4. Econom
ic data is now
collected at the
national level on the narrowly d
efined‘environm
ent industry’ w
ithin the European
System for the C
ollection of Econom
icInform
ation on the Environm
ent (SER
IEE
) 5W
eexplore the grow
ing importance of this ind
ustryin the South W
est below.
2.2.1.The E
nvironment Industry in the South W
estC
omparable d
ata is unfortunately not availableat the regional level to provid
e a direct
comparison of the South W
est’s environment
industry w
ith the precise definition of the sector
used at an E
U level. R
egional data for the
private sector is however available from
theE
nvironment B
usiness Directory for 1999 w
hichallow
s an estimate of the num
ber of firms and
employm
ent in similar, although slightly w
ider
classifications, to be derived
. This is show
n forthe South W
est in Table 2.1.
The D
irectory contains nearly 180 entries forbusinesses in the SW
. These account for over
30,000 jobs. Environm
ental businesses with
fewer than 40 em
ployees account for over 60%of total businesses in the SW
’s environment
industry. O
verall, they contribute nearly £700m
illion to regional GD
P. At expected
growth
rates of 8% per annum
, this could potentially
increase to £1.2 billion by 2005.
The trad
itional environmental ind
ustry includes
both public and private sector activities.
Table2.1
overleaf only provides inform
ation onprivate sector activities and
hence considerably
underestim
ates the level of activity in providing
environmental good
s and services in the South
West. M
any of these firms alread
y recognise theim
portance of the environment to their activities
and are going further in m
ainstreaming
sustainability issues into their operations andactivities (see B
ox 2.1).
2T
HE
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NT
SEC
TOR
2G
oods and services included in the EU
definition are: air pollution control, w
aste water treatm
ent, waste m
anagement, contam
inated land and water
remediation, noise and vibration control, environm
ental R&
D, environm
entalm
onitoring and consultancy services.3
Ecotec (1994) Job C
reation and New
Occupations: T
he Environm
ent Sector.4
European C
omm
ission (1997) Building a Sustainable E
urope: C
omm
unication on Environm
ent and Em
ployment.
5E
cotec, BIP
E C
onseil, IFO (1997) A
n Estim
ate of Eco-Industries in the
European U
nion 1994, prepared for DG
XI and E
urostat.1
See glossary
5
Exclud
ed from
the data are the services
provided
by local authorities and N
DPB
s (non-d
epartmental public bod
ies). Some N
DPB
s,such as the E
nvironment A
gency and E
nglishN
ature, are included
below in the analysis of the
natural environment sector (see Section 2.7).
Box
2.1W
essex Water: C
omm
itting to Sustainability
Wessex W
ater provides w
ater services to 1.2 million
people and w
aste water services to 2.5 m
illion peoplein five counties across SW
England
. The com
pany isinclud
ed in our assessm
ent of the environment
industry presented
above. In add
ition to providing
services which d
irectly protect and im
prove theenvironm
ent in the SW, W
essex Water is going
further and, in 1997, m
ade a com
mitm
ent to become
a sustainable operation. In 1998, its firstsustainability report ‘Striking the B
alance 1998’was
published and
it plans to report annually on progressagainst goals and
targets. T
he company is w
orking on a reporting framew
orkw
hich will assess its im
pact on the environment in a
holistic way, as w
ell as capturing the social aspects oftheir operations. T
he company currently reports on
water services, energy and
transport and has recently
introduced
a new B
iodiversity A
ction Plan andclim
ate change indicator.
2.3E
NV
IRO
NM
EN
TAL
MA
NA
GE
ME
NT
In add
ition to complying w
ith regulatoryrequirem
ents, firms are increasingly anticipating
future developm
ents or going further byad
opting environmental m
anagement system
sto assess and
reduce their im
pact on theenvironm
ent. Further developm
ents in supplychain d
ynamics, w
hereby larger firms are
increasingly seeking comm
itments about the
environmental policies of those firm
s with
which they d
o business, are likely to add
impetus to current trend
s.
From a business view
point many large
companies now
have ded
icated environm
entald
epartments; sm
all companies are also
embracing environm
ental managem
ent. This
can lead to substantial cost savings, ad
ding
value and increasing com
petitiveness, oftenad
ding a com
petitive edge rather than an
add
itional burden on ind
ustry as has beenassum
ed in the past.
2.3.1.Environmental M
anagement in the South W
estT
he EU
’s Environm
ental Managem
ent andA
udit Schem
e (EM
AS) is a voluntary
environmental m
anagement and
audit
Table2.1
The E
nvironment Industry in the South W
est, 1998
Sector
No of businesses in em
ployment size bands (1)
TotalTotal staff
businesses1-5
6-1516-40
41-99100-250
250+1000+
Air m
onitoring equipment
21
5 0
10
110
1,331A
ir treatment and control equip.
21
21
00
06
142C
ontaminated land
00
10
00
01
28treatm
ent & spills equipm
entE
ffluent monitoring equipm
ent4
12
10
10
9773
Effluent treatm
ent equipment
32
50
00
0 10
169E
nergy equipment
32
11
00
07
127R
ecycling equipment
22
11
00
06
124S
oftware equipm
ent1
11
00
00
341
Solid w
aste treatment equipm
ent0
10
10
00
280
Other equipm
ent suppliers2
10
20
10
6781
Consultancy
198
98
43
1263
15,524Laboratories &
monitoring
10
12
02
06
1,421Law
yers0
01
10
40
62,598
Waste m
anagement
03
52
22
115
2,910W
ater companies
00
10
23
06
2,253A
ssociations & N
GO
s (2)0
01
10
10
3723
Other service providers
25
32
00
113
1,280Total
4128
3923
919
15172
30,305
Notes:
(1) Some com
panies in the 1000+ em
ployee size band w
ill be UK
wid
e, with a branch in the South W
est.(2) Tw
o of the entries in this sector have been included
in the analysis of the natural environment sector (see Section 2.7). T
hey have thus been excluded
from
this table.Source: E
nvironment B
usiness (1998) Environm
ent Business D
irectory 1999
2
6
certification scheme w
hich provides firm
s with
a mechanism
for monitoring and
improving
their environmental perform
ance. Five largecom
panies have EM
AS certified
sites in the SW,
nearly 10% of the 61 registered
sites in the UK
as a whole.
Large firm
s only account for a small proportion
of business activity in the region and other
initiatives to encourage more environm
entallyfriend
ly practices by SME
s have been exploredfurther in the regional context.
Green B
usiness Clubs are local fora for sm
alland
med
ium sized
enterprises which m
eet toexchange experience and
provide ad
vice onenvironm
ental best practice. Horizon SW
actsas a regional co-ord
inator for the numerous
clubs and netw
orks in the SW region, som
e ofw
hich are listed in B
ox 2.2. Recognition of the
benefits of adopting best practice - particularly
cost savings, which ultim
ately increase businesscom
petitiveness and value ad
ded
for the region- has seen the d
evelopment of netw
orks andpartnerships w
hich aim to prom
ote new id
eas,share experience, and
dissem
inate technologicalknow
-how.
Box
2.2E
nvironmental N
etworks and B
usiness Clubs in
the SW
●A
von and Som
erset Energy &
Environm
ent M
anagement G
roup●
Business E
nvironment A
ssociation Bath &
District
(BE
AB
)●
Cotsw
old E
nergy & E
nvironmental M
anagement
Group
●D
evon & C
ornwall E
nergy & E
nvironmental
Managem
ent Group
●D
evon Environm
ent Business Initiative (D
EB
I)●
Gloucestershire G
reen Business C
lub●
PAY
BA
CK
Environm
ental Business A
ssociation●
South Wessex W
aste Minim
isation Group
●Sw
indon C
hamber of C
omm
erce Environm
ental B
usiness Club
●T
he Somerset W
aste Minim
isation Group
●W
essex Environm
ent Business C
lub●
Wessex E
nergy & E
nvironmental M
anagement
Group
●W
estern Environm
ent Business Forum
(WE
B Forum
)
PAY
BA
CK
was the first U
K initiative to pioneer
waste m
inimisation for SM
Es and
is stillconsid
ered to be one of the m
ost successful inthe country. PA
YB
AC
K reports
1that:
■betw
een 1995 and 1998, m
ore than 60 com
panies achieved savings averaging over
£1,000 per employee, w
ith greater achievements
expected w
ith the extension of six groups inlocations from
Bath to L
and’s E
nd;
■potential savings from
the waste
minim
isation programm
e are in the order of
£8.3 million, and
this could be equated
with
preserving or creating more than 230 jobs.
The E
nvironmental Technology B
est PracticeProgram
me, run by E
TSU
on behalf of the DT
I,has 21 participants in the South W
est region.O
n average, companies participating in the
Programm
e save one fifth of their energy costsand
one quarter of their waste costs. T
his tends
to equate to about 4% of the com
panies’turnover. To illustrate the significance of this, ifthe entire m
anufacturing sector in the SW, w
itha turnover in 1996 of £30 billion, ad
opted a
waste m
inimisation program
me, regional
savings could be in the ord
er of £1.2 billion.
2.4R
EN
EW
AB
LE
EN
ER
GY
There is significant potential for further
developm
ent of renewable energy sources in the
South West, particularly for w
ind energy in
which the region has a natural com
petitivead
vantage. The w
ind energy ind
ustry in the UK
is a small but grow
ing source of employm
ent.
The N
on Fossil Fuel Obligation (N
FFO)
provides support to renew
able electricitygeneration. A
s the developm
ent of many
renewable technologies is still at an em
bryonicstage, they are likely to require continuedsupport of som
e form to create a sustainable
market. In the latest round
of award
s, 16projects in the South W
est Electricity B
oard’s
(SWE
B) area w
ere approved, equivalent to 6%
of the UK
total, and w
ith a generating capacityof about 55 M
Ws. It is forecast that these
schemes w
ill create up to 3,000 jobs over thenext 10 years 2.
2
2T
he Cornish G
uardian (22 October 1998) P
romise of M
ore Jobs in the Wind
Sector.1
Payback (M
ay 1998) New
sletter, Issue 10, Groundw
ork.
7
Anum
ber of studies have been carried
out toassess the potential for renew
able energysources in the region and
the key findings are
presented below
.
■W
ind energy prod
uced on land
not protected
by landscape d
esignations such as AO
NB
s in C
ornwall could
be almost d
oubled from
32M
W in 1996 to 70M
W over the next 10-15
years. Other sources of renew
ables could
practically increase this level of provision to 100M
W, ie 15%
of the county’s 1993/4
electricity supply 1.
■Sim
ilarly in Devon, accessible renew
able resources could
provide 15-20%
of the C
ounty’s electricity supply within the next 10-
15 years 2.
■In an assessm
ent of the agro-industrial and
econom
ic factors affecting energy crops in the SW
3a potential 300-500 MW
of electrical generating capacity could
be fuelled by
energy crops in Devon and
Cornw
all. C
ompetition w
ith other land uses and
transport consid
erations are likely to limit the
developm
ent of energy crop fuelled
generating plant to 30-50 MW
of installed
capacity over the next 20 years.
Box 2.3
dem
onstrates how achieving the
potential capacity for wind
energy in Cornw
alland
from energy crops in D
evon and C
ornwall
could create an ad
ditional 9,000 jobs in the
Region.
Box
2.3E
conomic B
enefits of Realising P
ractical R
enewable E
nergy Capacity
Accord
ing to National W
ind Pow
er Ltd
and SW
EB
,the existing five w
ind farm
s in Cornw
all have a totalinstalled
capacity of 32MW
and supply 3%
ofd
omestic electricity d
emand
. Ageneral rule of
thumb for w
ealth creation 4is that a 10M
W w
indfarm
will bring in approxim
ately £7.5 million to the
region, of which approxim
ately 25% w
ill be investedlocally as land
rents, local materials, and
jobs during
construction. If the potential for 70MW
was realised
by 2008, the level of investment rem
aining in theregion w
ould be in the ord
er of £131 million.
Extrapolating from
the forecast job creation potentialof the electricity generating capacity of the SW
’sN
FFO approvals (3,000 jobs over the next 10 years
from 55M
W) to the feasible level of provision from
renewables in C
ornwall (100M
W) and
from energy
crops in Devon and
Cornw
all (50MW
), there is thepotential to create an ad
ditional 9,000 jobs.
In add
ition to increased energy prod
uction,there are opportunities for businesses involvedin energy efficiency and
emissions red
uctions inline w
ith international climate change
comm
itments.
Box 2.4
illustrates how one SW
company is successfully capitalising on its
technical expertise to boost the region’s exports.
Box
2.4Q
ueen’s Aw
ard for Sustainable Energy
Com
pany in the South West
Wiltshire-based
Energy for Sustainable D
evelopment
(ESD
) Ltd
has won a Q
ueen’s Aw
ard for E
xportA
chievement for helping governm
ents andbusinesses m
eet the challenge of cutting greenhousegas em
issions. The com
pany’s work in the
international renewables ind
ustry ranges from high-
level policy developm
ent to project implem
entation.E
SD’s export earnings have m
ore than trebled in the
last three years. The com
pany believes this is anind
ication of the significant opportunities beingcreated
as governments and
businesses gear up tom
eet the challenge of climate change. It has carried
out work for the E
uropean Com
mission w
hich shows
that the export market for renew
able energy could be
worth £150 billion by the year 2020.
Source: ET
SU for the D
TI, N
ew R
eview, N
ovember 1998
Table2.2
The South W
est’s Share of NFFO
-5 for R
enewable E
nergy Sources, 1998Type of project
Num
berG
enerationof projects
capacity (MW
)
Landfill gas5
7.6
Municipal and
industrial waste
228.7
Municipal and industrial
waste w
ith combined
heat and power
210.4
Sm
all scale hydro2
0.15
Large wind
14.2
Sm
all wind
44.4
Total in South W
est16
55.45
Total in England and W
ales261
~1,200MW
Sou
rce:ET
SU for the D
TI (N
ov 1998) New
Review
,Issue 38
21C
ornwall C
ounty Council, E
TSU
, DT
I (1996) Land-use Planning for
Renew
able Energy in C
ornwall.
2D
evon County C
ouncil, West D
evon Borough C
ouncil, DT
I (1993) P
lanning for Renew
able Energy.
3C
SM A
ssociates (1995) An A
ssessment of the A
gro-Industrial and Econom
ic Factors A
ffecting Energy C
rops in South West E
ngland, for the CE
C A
ltener P
rogramm
e.4
National W
ind Pow
er Ltd (1998) Written C
omm
unication
8
2.5W
AST
E M
AN
AG
EM
EN
TT
he proposed E
C D
irective on Land
fill will
require the UK
to reduce significantly the
amount of biod
egradable w
aste going toland
fill. The D
irective sets out a timetable for
stringent reduction targets. T
his hasim
plications for the South West, as it d
oes forthe rest of the U
K and
the EU
. The U
K is
amongst the top 5 E
U M
ember States w
here them
ajority of waste is d
isposed of to land
fill.Table
2.3presents figures for the SW
which show
that,on average, local authorities d
ispose of 90% of
household w
aste by landfill.
Much w
ork still needs to be d
one to assessvarious options for com
plying with the
proposed D
irective. Alternative d
isposalm
ethods need
to be explored alongsid
em
easures to minim
ise resource use andencourage recycling activities. A
number of
local authorities in the South West have alread
yset recycling targets and
provide kerbsid
ecollections and
composting schem
es. Anum
berof local and
regional initiatives also exist, andthe w
ork being undertaken by T
he Recycling
Consortium
, and opportunities for further
developm
ents in comm
unity-based w
astem
anagement and
eco-industrial parks are
outlined in B
ox 2.5.
The im
plementation of the L
andfill D
irectiveoffers m
uch potential in terms of opportunities
for creating new em
ployment, increasing
competitiveness by red
ucing costs, andstim
ulating innovation and new
markets for
reducing and
recycling waste. U
S studies on
municipal w
aste have shown that recycling
offers the highest employm
ent potential andland
fill the lowest. T
he substantial cost savingsto SM
Es in the South W
est participating inw
aste minim
isation programm
es have beenreferred
to earlier in Section 2.3.1.
Friends of the E
arth 1have estimated
that a 40%recycling rate in the U
K w
ould create 2,450-
11,550 extra jobs; with greater job creation
potential if other wastes and
composting
schemes are consid
ered. B
ased on this, w
e haveestim
ated that achieving the sam
e target in theSW
could create an ad
ditional 675 jobs in the
region (see Box 2.5).
Box
2.5R
ecycling in the South West:
Innovation and potentialT
he R
ecycling C
onsortiu
m.
This is a not-for-profit com
pany based in the
CR
EA
TE
centre in Bristol. It prom
otes comm
unity-based
waste red
uction, re-use and recycling in
Bristol, South G
loucestershire, North and
North E
astSom
erset, and B
ath. It currently organises a range ofnetw
orks including the C
omm
unity Recycling
Netw
ork, Furniture Recycling N
etwork (eg the SO
FAproject to collect unw
anted furniture and
householdappliances and
pass them to low
income household
s)and
Child
ren’s Scrapstore. These d
emonstrate the
range and scale of existing activity w
ithin thecom
munity w
aste managem
ent sector. The
Recycling C
onsortium estim
ates that expanding and
developing their existing activities could
generate afurther 1,500-2,000 jobs in the region.
Table2.3
Landfilling of H
ousehold Waste in the
South West
Local authority Volum
e of P
roportion of w
aste collectedhousehold w
aste(tonnes) 1996/7
landfilled (%)
Bath &
North E
astS
omerset C
ouncil79,340
(1)82
Bournem
outhB
orough Council
98,713100
Bristol C
ity Council
175,000(1)
93C
ornwall C
ountyC
ouncil217,000
94D
evon County
Council
374,52285
Dorset C
ountyC
ouncil194,300
(1)67
(1)
Gloucestershire
County C
ouncil220,000
90P
lymouth C
ityC
ouncil104,646
90Poole, B
orough of76,900
(1)80
(1)
North S
omerset
Council
102,00093
Som
erset County
Council
240,00090
South
Gloucestershire
Council
126,530(1)
95S
windon B
oroughC
ouncil47,000
92Torbay B
oroughC
ouncil60,000
89W
iltshire County
Council
186,70095
Total/average2,302,651
89%
Notes:
(1) Data refers to 1997/
98Source: Jackson C
(1998) The E
nd of the T
hrow-A
way Society? T
he EU
Draft D
irective on Land
fill and its Im
plications for the South West of
England
2
1FoE
(1994) Working Future? Jobs and the E
nvironment. Q
uoted in RSP
B
(1999) The E
nvironment and the R
egional Econom
y: Opportunities for
RD
As.
9
The R
ecycling Consortium
is also assessing the scopefor d
eveloping reprocessing capacity within the
Region and
is considering the d
evelopment of an
eco-industrial park in B
ristol to reprocess newspaper,
plastics, textiles and glass. It is estim
ated that there
is potential for a further 2-3 such parks in the region,each generating about 80 jobs. A
n application for EU
funding for a feasibility stud
y is under consid
eration.T
he work of the R
ecycling Consortium
is nationallyrecognised
and it currently receives fund
ing from the
DE
TR
and U
K W
aste to develop a toolkit for other
comm
unity organisations and local authorities to
develop com
munity-based
actions to reduce and
recycle waste. M
embers of the R
ecyclingC
onsortium are significant em
ployers in the waste
managem
ent sector and the activities of one of their
mem
bers is outlined below
.A
von Frien
ds of th
e Earth
.A
von FoE has been involved
in developing kerbsid
ecollection since 1979 in conjunction w
ith the localauthorities. T
heir service agreements w
ith Bristol,
Bath and
NE
Somerset, South G
loucestershire, andStroud
District currently provid
e 165 local jobs with
substantial scope for further developm
ent.
The Job C
reation Potential of R
ecycling in theSouth W
estT
he UK
collects almost 24 m
illion tonnes ofhousehold
waste per annum
1, 14% (3.4 m
n t) ofw
hich was recycled
in 1995/6. Increasing this to
achieve a UK
-wid
e recycling target of 40% (9.6 m
n t)w
ill require the recycling of an add
itional 6.2 million
tonnes. Achieving the 40%
target has been estimated
to create 2,450-11,550 extra jobs (average 7,000 jobs).T
his provides an average of 1 job for every 885
tonnes of household w
aste recycled.
Local authorities in the South W
est collect 2.3 million
tonnes of household w
aste per annum (see Table 2.3).
Assum
ing a similar rate of recycling at present as the
UK
average (14% ie 0.3 m
n t), achieving 40% (0.9 m
nt) w
ould involve recycling an ad
ditional 598,000
tonnes of household w
aste, potentially creating anad
ditional 675 jobs. A
chieving these targets requiresinvestm
ent in local recycling capacity, which w
illhelp to ensure that the m
ajority of these jobs will be
created locally or regionally, and
that the economics
are improved
by keeping transport costs to am
inimum
.
2.6SU
STAIN
AB
LE
TR
AN
SPO
RT
The G
overnment’s recently published
White
Paper on sustainable transport, ‘AN
ew D
eal forTransport’ 2recognises the im
portant roletransport plays in supporting a strong andprosperous econom
y and in im
proving thequality of life. It also recognises that transportpolicy in the past has been d
riven by a short
term ‘pred
ict and provid
e’ approach to trafficgrow
th which has had
detrim
ental effects on theenvironm
ent and hum
an health and is
unsustainable in the long term.
Investment in all transport infrastructure
contributes to economic w
ealth and creates
employm
ent opportunities during construction,
operation and m
anagement. D
ifferent transportoptions vary in their econom
ic impacts, and
alsoin their environm
ental and social im
pacts. The
basis of an integrated strategy is in a
comparative assessm
ent of all transport optionsbased
on the full range of economic,
environmental and
social benefits.
There is grow
ing evidence that m
oreenvironm
entally benign transport options, suchas investm
ents in public transport, can createm
ore jobs than the more environm
entallyd
amaging options such as road
building 3. It
has been estimated
that shifting the mod
al splittow
ards public transport and
reducing private
traffic growth w
ill provide net em
ployment
gains.
The C
ouncil for the Protection of Rural E
ngland(C
PRE
)4has pred
icted future traffic grow
th onrural road
s 5at the county level throughout theU
K. T
he forecast growth rates for the South
West, based
on a high traffic growth scenario,
are provided
in Table 2.4. This show
s thataverage traffic grow
th rates in rural areas in theSouth W
est could potentially increase by an
average of 160% by 2025 in the absence of
measures to red
uce transport growth rates and
depend
ency on private passenger travel.E
xamples of initiatives to stim
ulate more
sustainable forms and
patterns of transport inrural and
urban parts of the South West are
provided
in Box 2.6.
1Jackson C
(1998) The E
U draft directive on landfill, and its im
plications for the SW
of England.
2D
epartment of Transport, E
nvironment and the R
egions (1998) AN
ew D
eal for Transport, H
MSO
.
2
Table2.4
Forecast Traffic Grow
th on Rural R
oads in the South W
est (1994-2025)C
oun
tyA
verage nu
mb
erIn
crease in ru
ralof veh
icles per
road traffic b
yd
ay on average
2025 fromru
ral road in
20251994 levels
Avon>1,850
191%D
evon850-1,349
136%D
orset>1,850
200+%C
ornwall
<850141%
Som
erset<850
141%W
iltshire850-1,349
146%
3R
SPB
(1999) The E
nvironment and the R
egional Econom
y.4
Council for the P
rotection of Rural E
ngland (1996) Traffic Trauma M
ap.5
Defined as all non-built up C
roads and unclassified roads.
10
Box
2.6Sustainable Transport Initiatives in the South W
est
Com
pan
y transp
ort plan
sH
ewlett Packard
in Bristol has d
rawn up a G
reenC
omm
uter Plan in conjunction with Transport 2000
to tackle congestion, improve urban air quality, and
reduce em
ployees’ depend
ency on private car use1.
Pu
blic tran
sport cam
paign
The largest bus com
pany in the South West, First
Group, based
in Bristol, has carried
out a successfulcam
paign to stimulate use of public transport and
, asa result, this has led
to a significant increase in bustravel w
hich includes a high proportion of high
income group users 2.
Prom
oting w
alkin
g and
cycling
The Tarka Trail is a good
example of prom
otingw
alking and cycling for leisure and
recreationpurposes and
at the same tim
e boosting jobs andtourism
in the South West. T
he Tarka Trail Cyclew
aynow
ranks amongst N
orth Devon’s m
ajor touristattractions. O
ver 150,000 cycle journeys were m
ade
in 1995-96 3and
37,500 walkers also used
the trail.D
eman
d resp
onsive tran
sport
A‘flexible’ bus service, called
the ‘Wigglybus’, has
been successfully trialled in W
iltshire. The R
oyalM
ail is also running a number of experim
ental PostB
uses, which are postal vans w
hich deliver people as
well as letters and
parcels 4. The concept of d
emand
responsive transport (DR
T) is gaining popularity and
has also been tested in B
elgium, Finland
and Italy.
DR
T can have a positive im
pact on local economies
and can contribute to reviving rural com
munities,
where problem
s of access and poor public transport
services are often key concerns.
2.7TH
E NA
TUR
AL
ENV
IRO
NM
ENT SEC
TOR
The natural environm
ent sector includes all
those organisations and businesses d
irectlyinvolved
in the protection and enhancem
ent ofthe natural environm
ent. Arecent stud
y 5bythe R
SPB has assessed
the economic im
portanceof this sector in the South W
est region. This
study surveyed
a wid
e range of organisationsinclud
ing government agencies (such as the
Environm
ent Agency and
English N
ature), non-governm
ental organisations (NG
Os) (such as
the British Trust for C
onservation Volunteers
(BT
CV
) and the W
ildlife Trusts), local
authorities and private com
panies 6. The key
findings from
the survey are as follows:
■at least 1,376 jobs (equivalent to 1,201 FT
E)
are directly em
ployed in the natural
environment sector in the SW
;
■this suggests that the natural environm
ent sector em
ploys about 1 in 1,000 people in the region;
■analysis of em
ployment trend
s show m
ore than 80%
of organisations surveyed have
stable or increasing levels of employm
ent;
■a conservative estim
ate of annual expenditure
by the surveyed firm
s is in the order of £43
million.
This represents a contribution of £26 m
illion toregional G
DP
(see Section 2.8).
Acase stud
y 7illustrating the economic and
environmental benefits of som
e of thisexpend
iture on the protection of the naturalenvironm
ent is shown in B
ox 2.7.B
ox2.7
Heathland M
anagement in D
orset
Dorset’s heaths are of extrem
ely high conservationim
portance, supporting a range of rare and often
specialised species of flora and
fauna. The area of
heathland in south-east D
orset has declined
dram
atically over the last two and
a half centuries.T
he remaining resource is threatened
by neglect due
to the loss of traditional m
anagement practices.
Recent attem
pts by the RSPB
and other organisations
to restore and m
anage Dorset’s heathland
s have hada positive effect on the county’s econom
y:●
RSPB
currently spends £300,000 per annum
on heathland
managem
ent in Dorset. T
his work is
estimated
to support 27 FTE
jobs directly and
ind
irectly in Dorset.
●H
eathland m
anagement by other organisations
involves local expenditure of m
ore than £1.2 m
illion per annum, provid
ing 38 FTE
jobs d
irectly, and approxim
ately 67 FTE
in total.T
he future of Dorset’s heathland
s requires continuedpublic fund
ing for heathland restoration and
managem
ent. In the long term, heathland
s will be
more secure if they can be m
anaged not only as
nature reserves, but as integral parts of a productive
land use system
, most likely involving extensive
grazing and in turn supporting environm
entaltourism
.
The find
ings from the R
SPB survey
undoubted
ly underestim
ate the scale of theeconom
ic benefits from the natural environm
entsector. For exam
ple, initial figures from T
heN
ational Trust 8indicate that in the South W
est
21Transport 2000 South W
est (1999) Personal C
omm
unication.2
Transport 2000 South West (1999) P
ersonal Com
munication
3W
est Country Tourist B
oard (1998) AStrategy for Tourism
in the South W
est 1999-2003.4
Countryside C
omm
ission South West (1998) Special Transport Issue, W
inter1998.
5R
SPB
(1998) The E
conomic Im
portance of the Natural E
nvironment Sector
in South West E
ngland.6
The types of organisations/firm
s involved in the natural environment sector
are, on the whole, excluded from
the traditional environment industry
described in Section 2.2, although there may be a sm
all degree of overlap for environm
ental consultancies.
7R
SPB
(1998) The E
conomic Im
portance of the Natural E
nvironment Sector
in South West E
ngland.8
Tourism A
ssociates (1999) Valuing our E
nvironment: A
Study of the E
conomic Im
pact of Conserved Landscapes and the D
irect Value of T
he N
ational Trust in the South West. D
raft Report. N
ote: the RSP
B study
included one of the county-based National Trusts in the region.
11
it spends nearly £30 m
illion of which £18
million is spent w
ithin the region. In add
ition,the range of activities und
ertaken by The
National Trust in the South W
est directly and
indirectly supports 5,130 FT
E, generating an
estimated
output of £113 million to the regional
economy.
The tw
o National Parks in the South W
est -D
artmoor and
Exm
oor - and 10 of the 12
AO
NB
s for which d
ata is available 1directly
employ som
e 200 people and jointly spend
over£6.7 m
illion per annum on projects to conserve
and protect the natural and
built environment,
and prom
ote and m
anage sustainable tourismand
recreation. In add
ition, volunteer days in
the two N
ational Parks and the C
otswold
AO
NB
alone are the equivalent of a further 40FT
E. M
oreover, the managem
ent of theseprotected
areas levers new m
oney into theregion. N
ational Parks and A
ON
Bs together
bring in substantial amounts of E
uropeanR
egional Developm
ent Funds (E
RD
F), Lottery,
Millennium
and M
AFF’s E
nvironmentally
Sensitive Areas (E
SAs) spend
ing to the area byprovid
ing funding or project m
anagement by
core staff.
2.7.1.The Voluntary Sector and C
onservationT
he South West also has a very active voluntary
environmental sector. T
his includes both
volunteer inputs to maintaining and
protectingthe region’s natural and
built environment in
protected areas and
along the coastline, andattracting conservation volunteers into theregion. A
s well as contributing to the quality of
the region’s environment, the latter also creates
employm
ent and incom
e opportunities in theregion and
helps to diversify trad
itional tourismsectors (see Section 4). T
he economic
contribution of the voluntary sector has beenestim
ated for the follow
ing case studies (B
ox 2.8)and
is included
in the summ
ary of economic
benefits in Section 2.7. The tw
o schemes
examined
together contribute £800,000 and they
serve to illustrate the potential for the voluntarysector as a w
hole.
Box
2.8T
he value of voluntary activities in the natural environm
ent:
BT
CV
Conservation W
orking Holidays
British Trust for C
onservation Volunteers is a
national organisation running conservation working
holidays/
weekend
s throughout the UK
. Volunteers
pay a small fee to go on a holid
ay. Volunteer w
ork ison environm
ental projects. Incom
e from volunteers on schem
es in the SouthW
est is 100% retained
in the region’s economy. Som
eis retained
by BT
CV. H
owever, a large proportion is
passed on to local accom
mod
ation providers and
spent on local produce and
services. Totalexpend
iture by volunteers in 1997/8 w
as just over £1m
illion. The key econom
ic data for the sam
e periodare:●
31,266 volunteers provided
15,980 work d
ays;●
the value of the volunteer labour, using DE
TR
’s estim
ated value of £46 per d
ay, is £735,000;●
add
itional spending by the volunteers on local
services of £239,700, assuming an average spend
of £15 per d
ay (based on South W
est Coast Path
analysis).
Beach W
atch ‘97
Read
er’s Digest B
eachwatch is a practical
conservation initiative, organised by the M
arineC
onservation Society with sponsorship from
Read
er’s Digest. L
aunched in 1993, it aim
s to raiseaw
areness about the problem of m
arine and coastal
litter, monitor levels and
sources of litter on Britain’s
beaches and encourage action to red
uce marine
pollution at source. 508 volunteers cleaned
litter from 42 of South W
estR
egion’s beaches over 2 days (1 w
eekend). T
hisproject has taken place each year for the last 7 yearsand
the number of volunteers and
beaches cleanedrises each year. T
he outcome is a cleaner im
age forthe area, w
ith knock-on effects for the tourism sector,
increased public aw
areness of the value of thecoastline and
, particularly, of the importance of
waste m
anagement for fishing operators.
Source: Marine C
onservation Society - Read
er’s Digest B
each Watch ‘97
(from the 1997 N
ationwid
e Beach-C
lean & Survey R
eport, Marine
Conservation Society/
Read
ers Digest).
Coral C
ay Conservation Sub A
qua Club
The C
oral Cay C
onservation Sub Aqua C
lub was
formed
8 years ago, mainly as a result of the annual
Isles of Scilly expedition, w
hich received substantial
funding from
English N
ature. The C
lub undertakes
trips, typically over 2 weeks, to carry out survey
work in and
around the archipelago. A
fewexam
ples of projects include surveys of the health
and d
istribution of seagrass (Zostera m
arina) beds and
the production of a photographic collage of the
Scillies’ population of the Sunset Cup C
oral(Leptopsam
mia pruvoti), a nationally rare and
protected coral w
hich is only known in tw
olocations. In 1997 the C
lub extended
its involvement
1E
RM
(1998) Protected A
reas Funding Study, for the Countryside
Com
mission. E
xcludes Quantock H
ills and Isles of Scilly AO
NB
s.
2
12
with the M
arine Conservation Society’s
SEA
SEA
RC
H project and
assisted in surveys of the
Dorset coast.
In both 1997 and 1998, 15 volunteers stayed
forbetw
een 3 days and
2 weeks. 1997 figures w
ere thesam
e. Approxim
ately £4,500 was spent in the local
area, excluding volunteers’ ow
n expenditure on
items such as tourist gifts, food
and d
rink etc.
2.8SU
MM
AR
Y O
FR
EG
ION
AL
EC
ON
OM
IC B
EN
EFIT
ST
he quantitative data presented
in this sectionhas been analysed
to identify the level of
employm
ent associated w
ith the specificactivities exam
ined, and
their contribution toregional G
DP. A
summ
ary of the key findings is
provided
in Table 2.5and
Box 2.9. T
his is basedon read
ily available information and
only coversa sm
all part of the wid
e range of businesses andactivities w
hich make up the South W
est’senvironm
ent sector.
Table 2.5sh
ows th
at the cu
rrent econ
omic
ben
efits from som
e of the en
vironm
ent-related
activities examin
ed p
rovide arou
nd
38,000 FTE
jobs in
the S
outh
West an
d ad
d alm
ost £835m
illion to region
al GD
P. It has also been
possible to quantitatively assess the growth
potential in a number of these areas w
here thereare opportunities for d
eveloping and expand
ingem
erging industries and
these are summ
arisedin
Box 2.9.
Box
2.9P
rojections of Econom
ic Benefits in the
Environm
ent Sector
Section 2.2: The E
nvironment Ind
ustries●
Rapid
growth in ind
ustries providing
environmental good
s and services is expected
to increase the value of this sector from
£700 million
at present to £1.2 billion by 2005.Section 2.4: R
enewable E
nergy●
It is forecast that the latest round of renew
able energy projects supported
by the NFFO
in the South W
est will create up to 3,000 jobs in the next
10 years.●
Realising the potential capacity for w
ind energy
in Cornw
all and from
energy crops in Devon and
C
ornwall could
create an add
itional 9,000 jobs in the South W
est - this underestim
ates the potential for energy crops in the R
egion overall.Section 2.5: W
aste Managem
ent●
Increasing recycling activities to achieve a 40%
reduction in the am
ount of waste going to land
fillin the South W
est could create 675 local/
regional jobs.
●A
ssistance to accelerate the uptake of environm
ental managem
ent and w
aste m
inimisation program
mes could
lead to regional
cost savings in the order of £1.2 billion in the
manufacturing sector alone.
2Table2.5
Current E
conomic B
enefits of the South W
est’s Environm
ent SectorA
ctivityE
mploym
entE
xpenditureO
utput(FTE
)(£m
)(£m
)
Section:2.2:
Environm
entindustries
31,555 694
(1)
Section 2.7:
Natural
environment
sector(2)
6,330 26.7
138.8(1)
Total37,885
832.8
Assum
ptions:(1) based
on average GD
P/w
orker of £22,000 pa(2) includ
es RSPB
findings and
National Trust d
ata
13
3.1IN
TR
OD
UC
TIO
NSom
e sectors which have been reliant on natural
resources and the environm
ent such asagriculture and
sea fisheries are in decline both
nationally and in the South W
est, particularly inthe m
ore rural areas in the west of the region.
Anum
ber of initiatives at national, regional andlocal level are using environm
ental programm
esas a d
river for regeneration and d
evelopment
across these declining prim
ary sectors. This
section highlights the importance of som
e ofthese program
mes and
initiatives, and focuses
on three areas of opportunity where
diversification of the trad
itional resource baseillustrates possibilities for the w
ay forward
:
■agriculture (Section 3.2);
■regional prod
uce and countrysid
e products
(Section 3.3);
■forestry (Section 3.4).
These areas can lead
to the joint production of
comm
ercial outputs and environm
entalattributes. T
he economic benefits from
theexam
ples included
are summ
arised in Section
3.5. Many other initiatives in these three areas
could be review
ed and
included
in the analysis.Furtherm
ore, the scope of the analysis could be
wid
ened to explore the benefits from
activitiesw
hich seek to diversify econom
ies in othersectors such as, for exam
ple, sea fisheries.Tourism
also plays a key role in thed
iversification of the economy and
is discussed
inSection 4.
3.2A
GR
ICU
LTU
RE
Agriculture is a significant sector in the South
West’s econom
y. It accounts for almost 4%
ofregional G
DP
compared
with 2%
for the UK
as aw
hole. Agriculture occupies m
ore than threequarters of the region’s total land
area 1.C
urrent pressures and future d
evelopments in
this sector thus have significant implications for
much of the South W
est’s valued habitats and
landscapes.
Continued
decline in agriculture w
ill havesignificant econom
ic, social and environm
entalim
pacts. Declining farm
incomes and
employm
ent add
to the pressures already facing
the west of the region, particularly in the m
orerem
ote rural areas. Unem
ployment and
out-m
igration will further red
uce the viability ofrem
ote rural areas and the provision of rural
services and facilities. C
ontinued or further
intensification of farming, or ind
eed land
abandonm
ent in marginal areas, w
ill havesignificant effects on farm
wild
life andland
scape character.
Decline in the agricultural sector is a function of
a number of trend
s affecting farming in the U
Kand
the EU
which stem
largely from the high
levels of financial support to agriculture and,
more recently, increased
competition in w
orldm
arkets. In add
ition to favouring larger farms
at the expense of smaller hold
ings, these trends
have also provided
incentives to adopt intensive
agricultural practices which are d
etrimental to
the environment. Furtherm
ore, farming in the
South West is characterised
by relatively small
farms w
ith an ageing farming population and
high levels of business failure in vulnerablefarm
ing enterprises such as lowland
livestockfarm
s2. T
he impact of the B
SE crisis has also
been acute in the South West w
here livestockfarm
ing predom
inates.
Future reform of the C
AP
is high on the EC
agenda and
is expected to shift the em
phasisfurther aw
ay from prod
uction support, with the
likelihood of farm
ers receiving payments for
acting as environmental guard
ians. Alarger
proportion of EU
funding in rural areas w
ill befocused
on rural developm
ent andenvironm
ental projects, rather than agriculturalprod
uction and m
ajor infrastructuralprogram
mes. T
he UK
’s Agriculture Select
Com
mittee has found
that conserving ruralscenery and
wild
life, along with forestry and
timber prod
ucts, food m
anufacturing andm
arketing, tourism and
even light industry
could be the key for agricultural d
iversificationand
competitiveness 3.
This section consid
ers the role of agri-environm
ent schemes in supporting farm
ersand
providing environm
ental benefits, theopportunities from
organic farming and
thepotential for further benefits from
expansion,and
the benefits from d
eveloping regionalbrand
ing and encouraging local purchasing
networks.
3.2.1A
gri-Environm
ent Schemes
Agri-environm
ent schemes provid
e payments to
farmers to im
prove the environmental
performance of farm
ing or to maintain
traditional, environm
entally-friendly form
s ofland
managem
ent. They are an im
portantm
echanism in seeking environm
ental gain andthereby m
aintaining the viability of existing
2Soil A
ssociation (1998) Go-O
rganic South West Feasibility Study: E
xecutiveSum
mary.
3T
he Independent newspaper (20 January 1999) Farm
ers told to diversify or go under.
1G
OSW
(1998) Focus on the South West.
3R
EG
EN
ER
AT
ING
TH
E P
RIM
AR
Y SE
CTO
R
14
farms, encouraging d
iversification and creating
new jobs in the w
ider econom
y.
Current inform
ation shows that over 7,000
agreements und
er the various agri-environment
schemes available have been entered
into in theSouth W
est, although a small proportion of
farmers m
ay be participating in more than one
scheme. T
hese agreements cover som
e 225,000hectares, equivalent to 12%
of the South West’s
agricultural land area (1.8 m
illion hectares 1).Table 3.1
provides a sum
mary of uptake and
expenditure on agri-environm
ent schemes in the
South West R
egion. There is obvious scope for
increasing the proportion of farmland
under
environmental m
anagement as a m
eans ofrealising the potential for econom
ic, social andenvironm
ental benefits.
The find
ings of some stud
ies which have been
undertaken to assess the socio-econom
icim
pacts of some of these schem
es aresum
marised
in Box 3.1.
Box
3.1E
conomic Im
pacts of Agri-E
nvironment
Schemes
Cou
ntrysid
e Stew
ardsh
ip S
chem
eU
KA
national study und
ertaken by Safe Alliance
3has
dem
onstrated the potential for job creation through
the Countrysid
e Steward
ship Scheme. T
his found
the potential for creating 13,052 person years ofem
ployment from
placing 30% of agricultural land
nationally under the C
ountryside Stew
ardship
Scheme.
In a study und
ertaken by CE
AS
4of the socio-
economic im
pact of the Countrysid
e Steward
shipSchem
e, net changes to the use of farm labour w
ereequivalent to 50 FT
E w
hen extrapolated to the w
holeof E
ngland. T
he increased use of outsid
e contractorsand
advisors w
as more significant and
equivalent tohiring 48,250 person d
ays (about 200 FTE
) nationallyper year. In ad
dition, d
own stream
benefits were
experienced by local business, m
ostly small scale,
with an estim
ated ad
ditional 220 full tim
e jobscreated
nationally, for an expenditure of £5.7 m
illion.T
he total number of jobs created
is thereforeestim
ated at 1 job per 1,666 ha.
Sou
th W
estA
pplying the above analysis to the 27,935 hectares ofland
in the Countrysid
e Steward
ship Scheme in the
South West provid
es 17 FTE
jobs in the region. This
includes jobs sustained
in add
ition to direct and
indirect jobs created
. Further extrapolation to thetotal land
area under various agri-environm
entschem
es in the region (223,920 ha) indicates an
associated em
ployment level of 134 FT
E. Increasing
the proportion of land und
er environmental
managem
ent from 12%
at present to 30% (ie 540,000
ha) would
create an add
itional 190 FTE
jobs.
Th
e Econ
omic Im
pact of E
nviron
men
tally Sen
sitiveA
rea Sch
emes in
the S
outh
West
Studies of E
SASchem
es in the Somerset L
evels andM
oors and W
est Penwith
5show
significant economic
benefits to the agriculture sector. For the Somerset
Levels and
Moors, farm
ers would
experience anaverage net incom
e loss of £82 per hectare if theyw
ere to leave the ESA
. Full time em
ployment w
ouldfall by 28%
and part-tim
e employm
ent by 20% in the
absence of ESA
. There w
ould be a 9%
increase incasual em
ployment. For W
est Penwith, farm
ersw
ould experience an average net incom
e loss of £63per hectare if they w
ere to leave the ESA
.
3.2.2O
rganic Farming
The m
arket for organic food is grow
ing rapidly.
Over the last nine years, sales of organic food
inthe U
K have m
ore than doubled
from £100
million in 1993 to £260 m
illion in 1997. By 2002
it is estimated
that organic food w
ill account for7-8%
of the total UK
food m
arket, with a
potential retail value of over £1 billion6.
Organic farm
ing contributes to sustainabled
evelopment by d
elivering economic,
environmental and
social benefits. The labour
intensity of organic farming is higher than
mod
ern farming m
ethods. Increased
4C
ountryside Com
mission, C
EA
S Consultants, U
niversity of Reading (1996)
Socio-Econom
ic Effects of the C
ountryside Stewardship Schem
e.5
Quoted in R
SPB
(1998) The E
conomic Im
portance of the Natural
Environm
ent Sector in South West E
ngland.6
Soil Association (1998) T
he Organic Food and Farm
ing Report, 1998.
1SW
RP
C (1998) R
evised Regional Strategy for the South W
est, Consultant
Draft.
2D
ata provided by FRC
Aand E
nglish Nature, 1998/99. E
xcludes data on uptake of O
rganic Aid Schem
e.3
Safe Alliance (1997) D
ouble Yield: Jobs and Sustainable Food P
roduction.
3Table3.1
Expenditure and U
ptake of A
gri-Environm
ent Schemes 2
Schem
eN
o.ofA
reaA
nnualagreem
entscovered
Payment
(ha)1997/98 (£000s)
Countryside
Stew
ardshipS
cheme
1,51727,935
3,164E
nvironmentally
Sensitive A
reas3,878
175,00011,973
Habitat S
cheme
1502,590
-E
N M
anagement
Agreem
ents475
15,490932
EN
’s Wildlife
Enhancem
entS
cheme
1182,905
283
Total6,138
223,92016,352
15
employm
ent is attributable to both theprod
uction processes used and
new kind
s of on-farm
activities such as processing and d
irectsales. Increased
revenue from price prem
iums
on organic food also help to m
aintainem
ployment and
increase farm incom
es.
In the South West, there is alm
ost 13,500 haund
er organic farmland
1. At only 0.7%
of theutilised
agricultural area, there is significantpotential for expansion. A
t the same tim
e,interest in organic farm
ing in the SW is high.
The O
rganic Conversion Inform
ation Service,fund
ed by M
AFF, receives its largest num
ber ofenquiries from
farmers in the South W
est (28%),
compared
to any other region in England
andW
ales. Furthermore, the characteristic farm
types in the region - small scale, low
production
intensity, mixed
grass-based enterprises - are
well suited
to organic managem
ent2.
The Soil A
ssociation has recently completed
afeasibility stud
y which evaluates the
opportunities for expansion of organic farming
in the South West’s O
bjective 5b region(C
ornwall and
parts of Devon and
Somerset).
The regional m
arketing opportunities are alsoexplored
, seeking to increase the amount of
add
ed value w
hich takes place within the
region. The stud
y estimates that
implem
entation of the proposed sectoral
developm
ent programm
e (see Box 3.2) w
illcreate or safeguard
about 250 FTE
s. The
example of E
astbrook Farm in B
ox 3.2show
show
conversion and d
iversification caneffectively lead
to a four-fold increase in
employm
ent in a traditional fam
ily-runbusiness.
Box
3.2O
rganic Farming: a south w
est opportunity:
Feasibility Study into Organic Farm
ing in the SW
’s Objective 5b R
egion
The Soil A
ssociation recently carried out a feasibility
study for the establishm
ent of a sectorald
evelopment program
me for organic food
production and
processing in the SW region w
ith thesupport of the E
AG
GF O
bjective 5b funds. A
nassessm
ent of market opportunities found
considerable potential for expansion, particularly for
livestock, dairy, horticulture and
the associatedd
evelopment of ancillary ind
ustries.T
he objectives of the proposed program
me are to:
●d
ouble the number of organic farm
ers and
organic farmland
in the region;
●increase the proportion of prod
uct where ad
ded
value takes place in the region;
●d
evelop supply chains for livestock, dairy and
crops;
●increase em
ployment.
The stud
y identifies som
e important barriers to
developing organic farm
ing in the region including
investment and
infrastructure barriers and the
availability of information and
advice on conversion.
Elem
ents of the programm
e include:
●SW
Organic B
usiness Centre to co-ord
inate ad
vice, training, marketing, regional brand
d
evelopment etc;
●a SW
organic grants scheme;
●an organic training initiative provid
ed by the
Duchy C
ollege of Agriculture.
The proposed
programm
e has the potential to create157.5 FT
Es and
sustain 86 FTE
s.
Em
ployment B
enefits of Organic C
onversion:exam
ples from tw
o farms
Two exam
ples3
of the economic benefits of organic
conversion - on a small and
large farm - are
highlighted below
.●
Eastbrook Farm
near Swind
on is a 1,336 acre farmand
was put und
er organic conversion in 1984. T
he farm enterprise has d
iversified substantially
and has a successful m
eat processing and
marketing business. E
mploym
ent has increased
from 2 fam
ily workers and
4 full-time staff before
conversion to 11 full time staff on-farm
and a
further 12 at the Eastbrook Farm
Organic M
eats business.
●M
anor Farm in D
orset is a 270 acre farm w
hich converted
to organic production betw
een 1984 and
1988. It has dairy, ew
es, feed w
heat, straw
and w
heat reed operations and
also processes its ow
n milk in ad
dition to m
ilk from other farm
s in the locality. Since conversion, staff levels have increased
from 2 to 5.6 FT
Es.
3.3R
EG
ION
AL
PR
OD
UC
E
3.3.1D
eveloping Regional B
randsA
number of initiatives are attem
pting toincrease value ad
ded
and open new
markets for
agricultural produce from
the South West.
These initiatives involve d
eveloping a brandnam
e which is read
ily associated w
ith the highquality environm
ental image and
/or cultural
associations of the South West, such as local
cheeses, with joint m
arketing initiatives which
bring together smaller prod
ucers to overcome,
for instance, the far South West’s peripheral
location.
Forming co-operatives helps sm
all producers by
guaranteeing the volume sought by
1Soil A
ssociation, personal comm
unication (1999). Based on Soil A
ssociation certification of 73%
of organic producers/land area in the region.2
Soil Association (1998) G
o-Organic South W
est Feasibility Study: Executive
Summ
ary.3
Safe Alliance (1997) D
ouble Yield: Jobs and Sustainable Food P
roduction.
3
16
supermarkets and
in the long term is lead
ing toincreased
sales volume and
prices. Initiativessuch as C
ornish King, m
arketed by South W
estH
orticulture 2000 Lim
ited, are crucial as they
bring together growers from
all over the West
Country. C
ornish King has cornered
35% of the
West C
ountry potato market in und
er two years.
Agovernm
ent supported initiative, Taste of the
West, focuses on specialist, high value ad
ded
produce, using the South W
est location as a keyselling point.
Box
3.3U
sing the environment to brand the region
Cornish K
ing
Cornish K
ing (CK
) is a registered trad
emark,
launched in M
ay 1996 with the aim
of promoting
quality horticultural produce from
Cornw
all usingC
ornish King as a brand
name. T
he project receivesapproxim
ately 50% public and
50% private sector
funding.
More than 60 grow
ers are currently involved.
Cornish K
ing has a significant input in keeping aC
ornish produce m
arket share with the m
ultipleretailers and
in helping to maintain the volum
e ofsales against stiff E
uropean competition. T
he brandnam
e is getting stronger in a number of m
arkets.T
he main crops are early potatoes, cauliflow
er andspring greens. N
ot all supermarkets take every crop
but, on the whole, they are sold
in most South W
estregional superm
arket stores and in som
e storesnationally. O
ther summ
er Cornish K
ing crops arealso sold
locally.W
ith the success of Cornish K
ing, a linked, new
brand w
ill be developed
in 1999 for other foodsectors such as m
eat, fish, dairy, bakery and
otherpreserves. C
onsumer m
arket research shows that 32%
ofconsum
ers would
buy the Cornish K
ing branded
vegetables if they saw them
at point-of-sale. This
initial dem
and figure is alm
ost as high as for them
ore established Jersey R
oyals brand, at 47%
.Prod
uce from C
ornwall w
as seen to be associatedw
ith a positive image of very fresh food
, excellentquality and
flavour.
Wild B
eef
‘Wild
Beef’ w
as set up in 1992 with the aim
ofincreasing the m
argin of profit and turnover of the
farm by taking control of the w
hole production and
retail process and by giving a coherent and
integrated brand
and im
age. The business, w
hich issited
within the bound
aries of the Dartm
oorN
ational Park, is concerned w
ith the breeding and
rearing of native breeds of cattle (such as the South
Devon and
the Welsh B
lack), and the sale of beef
products locally and
across the south of England
andSouth W
ales. Trad
itional extensive stocking method
s are anessential w
ay of maintaining D
artmoor’s habitat and
landscape value by controlling the spread
of gorseand
bracken, thereby providing environm
ental
benefits for landscape and
biodiversity.
Since 1994 turnover has grown by an average of 25%
per year. In 1996, Wild
Beef had
a turnover of £60,000plus, and
£75,000 was anticipated
for 1997. Annual
turnover is expected to grow
further to £150,000w
ithin 5 years. Currently the business m
akes a 30%m
argin on total turnover.
3.3.2E
ncouraging Local P
urchasingT
he UK
government’s food
chain ForesightPanel highlighted
the major opportunities to
add
value in local agriculture and horticulture 1.
Ad
ding value by local processing of locally
produced
food has been chosen as an area of
focus by the region’s competitiveness netw
ork,red
ucing transport and increasing local
employm
ent2. R
ecognising the opportunities toestablish stronger links betw
een local producers
and local consum
ers in the South West,
particularly in the tourism and
leisure sector,through increased
local sourcing bysuperm
arkets and m
ajor international touristhotels, is a key factor. M
eeting the dem
anding
quality standard
s involved w
ill both enhancethe com
petitiveness of the sector and provid
eenvironm
ental benefits by reducing food
airm
iles and road
freight and their associated
environmental im
pacts.
The U
niversity of Plymouth B
usiness School hasestim
ated the value of local purchasing in the
SW3. A
round 2,000 ad
ditional jobs could
begenerated
in the SW if the proportion of local
agricultural and food
products purchased
bylocal retailers and
hotel and catering
establishments w
as increased by 10%
. This
alone would
contribute an add
itional £44mn to
the South West G
DP
before the impact of
diversification is taken into account.
Arecent stud
y 4also dem
onstrates the potentialand
keen interest for increasing local purchasingin the South W
est. Consum
ers showed
a strongpreference for local prod
uce. Preferences were
further strengthened for local organic prod
uce.T
he majority of prod
ucers surveyed w
erepositive about the benefits of seeking localm
arkets for their produce.
There is a need
to further explore the types ofsupport need
ed to effectively harness the
potential economic benefits w
hich increasedlocal purchasing offers. E
xperience with local
labour schemes in the SW
have had m
ixed
1Foresight Food C
hain Group R
eport (1998), Office of Science and Technology.
2G
overnment O
ffice for the South West (1997) C
hanging for the Better.
3In W
est Country B
usiness Guide: Special P
ublication (1998), by West
Country P
ress.4
The Soil A
ssociation (1998) The P
otential for Local Purchasing in M
id-Som
erset, for South Somerset D
istrict Council.
3
17
results and the m
ore successful schemes, such as
‘Business M
atch’ set up by Bristol C
ity Council,
may provid
e ideas for the type of approach
which w
orks well. O
ne local purchasinginitiative, the D
artmoor D
irect Initiative, helpslocal farm
ers develop new
markets locally by
encouraging them to use the Internet to m
arkettheir prod
uce directly to hotels and
homes.
3.3.3C
ountryside Products
Arecent stud
y and initiative by the C
ountryside
Com
mission has sought to establish w
hetherthere is a m
arket for ‘countryside prod
ucts’ inthe U
K. A
ccording to their d
efinition, these areprod
ucts which originate from
environmentally
responsible land m
anagement and
which can
encourage local economic activity or a sense of
regional identity. T
hese might includ
etrad
itional breeds and
crops (see Box 3.3),
organic produce and
regionally branded
products. Such prod
ucts would
contribute tothe environm
ent and econom
ic livelihoods in
rural areas. The stud
y found an increasing
interest in such products both from
consumers
and retailers, and
a greater presence of the typesof farm
produce w
hich would
qualify for acountrysid
e product label and
associatedprem
ium in the South W
est than any other partof the country.
3.4FO
RE
STR
YForestry offers m
any opportunities for economic
benefits from the sector itself and
associatedupstream
and d
ownstream
activities.O
pportunities exist in relation to them
anagement of existing w
oodland
s and new
planting. The G
overnment’s new
forestrystrategy for E
ngland explicitly recognises the
wid
e range of economic, environm
ental andsocial benefits w
hich forests and w
oodland
s canprovid
e. These are highlighted
in Box 3.4.
Box
3.4W
oodlands and Forests: benefiting the environm
ent and the economy
The G
overnment’s new
forestry strategy forE
ngland1
provides a policy fram
ework for
sustainable forest managem
ent which recognises the
wid
e range of benefits which forests and
wood
lands
can provide. T
his spans:
Econ
omic b
enefits
These includ
e:●
direct em
ployment created
within the forestry
sector through increased afforestation and
m
anagement of existing w
oodland
s;
●ind
irect employm
ent in sectors associated w
ith forestry, includ
ing recreation and tourism
;●
the maintenance of rural econom
ies, through the incom
es received from
employm
ent;●
inducing inw
ard investm
ent in urban areas, as trees increase the appeal of the area.
En
vironm
ental b
enefits
These includ
e reducing pollution, enhancing the
beauty of the countryside, revitalising d
erelict andd
egraded
landscapes and
enhancing wild
lifehabitats.
Social b
enefits
Forests and w
oodland
s provide opportunities for
recreation and sporting activities, im
proved quality
of life, and an attractive setting for housing and
industry.
The South W
est region has a greater wood
landcover (10%
of the land area) than the U
Kaverage (7.5%
). The region includ
es two of
Britain’s 12 C
omm
unity Forests - the Forest ofA
von and the G
reat Western Forest - and
one ofB
ritain’s largest and finest m
ulti-purpose forestsin the Forest of D
ean.
Some £3.3 m
illion per annum in grants from
theForestry C
omm
ission is supporting nearly15,000 hectares of new
planting in the SWregion (see Table 3.2). T
he Wood
land G
rantSchem
e and Farm
Wood
land Prem
ium Schem
eare available to farm
ers and other land
holders
and, in ad
dition to the d
irect economic benefits,
can help to diversify and
support farm incom
esand
contribute to ‘keeping farmers on the land
’.Forestry provid
es add
itional practical benefits tofarm
ers by providing w
ood prod
ucts for on-farm
use such as fencing.
1Forestry C
omm
ission (1998) England Forestry Strategy: A
New
Focus for E
ngland’s Woodlands.
18
3
Table3.2
Grant Support to the P
rivate Sector 1997/98A
reaN
o.ofA
reaS
upportapprovals
covered(£m
)in S
W(ha)
Woodland G
rantS
cheme
Severn W
yeand AvonC
onservancy223
9,8451.2
West C
ountryC
onservancy350
5,0002.1
Total573
14,8443.3
Farm W
oodlandPrem
iumSchem
e928
3,920-
Source: Forestry Com
mission (1999), personal com
munications
New
planting add
s to existing employm
entopportunities in the forestry sector as newforests are thinned
, harvested and
replanted,
and through the d
evelopment of subsequent
processing. In England
, the range of forest-related
activities, from establishm
ent andharvesting to tim
ber haulage and processing,
employed
19,410 people 1in 1994. As the South
West contains 19%
2of England
’s forest cover,this ind
icates a level of employm
ent in theforestry sector of about 3,690 em
ployees.
Em
ployment in the sector is projected
to grownationally at the rate of around
1,000 jobs peryear betw
een 1998 and 2016, based
onexpand
ing timber supplies and
investment in
processing. AU
K-w
ide survey of em
ployment
in the forestry sector has found that 86%
offorestry em
ployees and 25%
of contract labourlive w
ithin 10 miles of w
here they work.
Forest Enterprise is provid
ing a wid
e range ofenvironm
ental education events and
also carriesout conservation activities. E
xpenditure on
these activities in 1997/98 w
as around£1,507,000. T
hese figures are over and above
expenditure on the conservation and
landscape
enhancement activities und
ertaken as anintegral part of d
ay-to-day forest m
anagement
practices. In add
ition, the wid
er benefits of allw
oodland
s, in terms of access, recreation,
education and
tourism (see exam
ple of Forest ofD
ean in Box 4.1), are also im
portant.
Num
erous regional and local initiatives are
aiming to im
prove the managem
ent of neglectedw
oodland
s and d
evelop new or trad
itionalm
arkets for wood
land prod
ucts. As w
ithagricultural prod
uce, further opportunities existto build
on the experience of these initiativesand
to encourage local purchasing, helping tokeep a greater proportion of the value of theforest resource w
ithin the region.
Three case stud
ies highlighting the economic
benefits of different types of forest m
anagement
are presented below
. There are m
any others inthe South W
est, for example, W
oodw
orks(Silvanus), South H
ams W
oodland
Initiative,G
reater Exm
oor Wood
land Project, E
xmoor
Lead
er II (includes w
oodland
work).
Box
3.5W
oodlands and Forests: linking the environm
ent and the economy:
The W
orking Woodlands Initiative 1
Working W
oodland
s is a £2.94 million program
me
partly financed by the E
U and
UK
central and local
government. It aim
s to develop jobs and
wealth
from the neglected
resources in the many sm
all,sem
i-natural wood
lands that are scattered
throughout rural Cornw
all, Devon and
Somerset.
Working W
oodland
s directs investm
ent and training
to reconstruct the small w
oodland
s supply chain andstim
ulate market d
emand
for its products. In the last
12 months, W
orking Wood
lands Project has offered
around £370,000 of grants to 64 enterprises. If grant
aid is ad
ded
to the money that the enterprises are
putting up themselves, the project has stim
ulatedm
ore than £930,000 in the local small w
oods sector.
More than 212 jobs have either been safeguard
ed or
created and
there is a projected increase in turnover
in the rural economy of £2.7 m
illion per year .
Econom
ic Benefits of the South W
est Forest P
roject 4
The SW
Forests project area covers a total of 280,000hectares and
is located entirely w
ithin the boundary
of the Objective 5(b) program
me area. T
he projectuses forestry planting and
managem
ent as a catalystfor positive land
use change, and to stim
ulate othersectors of the rural econom
y. The overall objective is
to arrest rural decline, to safeguard
existingem
ployment and
create new job opportunities.
During the first five year period
, the study estim
atesthat 30,000 person d
ays of employm
ent would
begenerated
, equating to 50 full time jobs over the six
winter m
onths each year. During the second
fiveyears, this rate w
ould d
ouble, creating 140 full time
jobs over six months. D
uring the third 5 year period
,em
ployment w
ould be 165 jobs over 6 m
onths.C
onsidering existing em
ployment in forestry and
related ind
ustries is approximately 900 jobs, the
projected increase w
ould m
ake a substantialcontribution.Ind
irect employm
ent in SW Forest tim
ber-relatedind
ustries is estimated
at 145 full time jobs. Ind
irectand
induced
employm
ent in other sectors couldresult in a further 58 jobs. O
ther jobs are likely to besafeguard
ed as tim
ber supplements farm
incomes
and the character of the countrysid
e is maintained
and enhanced
. New
activities such as craftind
ustries and green tourism
would
generatead
ditional em
ployment.
Econom
ic Benefits of the Forest of A
von C
omm
unity Forest 5
The Forest of A
von is one of 12 Com
munity Forests
which com
bine to form the country’s largest
1T
he Forestry Industry Council of G
reat Britain (1998) T
he Forestry IndustryH
andbook 1998.2
The SW
has 186,000 hectares of forest cover; England has 990,000 hectares of
forest cover. Forestry Com
mission (1999). P
ersonal comm
unication.
3W
orking Woodlands (Issue 6, W
inter 1998) Revitalising the South W
est’s Sm
all Woodland E
conomy
4Land U
se Consultants (1996) T
he South West Forests P
roject: AR
ural D
evelopment Initiative.
5T
he Forest of Avon (1998) Forest R
eview 1997/98.
19
3
environmental initiative. T
he project covers an areaof 220 square m
iles in and around
Bristol and
aims to
plant 6,500 ha of new w
oodland
, increasingw
oodland
cover from 5%
to 27% of land
area overthe next 40-50 years. Project initiatives focus onm
ulti-purpose use of wood
land creation, includ
ingim
proving access, recreation, habitat value andland
scape quality. Some achievem
ents since 1991includ
e nearly 2,000 ha of wood
land brought und
erm
anagement, 45km
of hedgerow
s created or brought
under m
anagement, and
public access to over 900 haof new
wood
land.
In add
ition to the direct econom
ic benefits to theforestry sector and
wood
-related ind
ustries, theproject represents a substantial investm
ent inim
proving the quality of life and im
age of the areafor attracting new
business opportunities.E
xpenditure for 1997/
98 totalled £163,489. A
substantial proportion of expenditure from
otherbod
ies is also attracted to the area, includ
ing SingleR
egeneration Bud
get, Com
munity Forest
Conservation G
rants and Forestry C
omm
issiongrants. T
his further expenditure w
as around £95,000.
3.5SU
MM
AR
Y O
FR
EG
ION
AL
EC
ON
OM
IC B
EN
EFIT
STable 3.3
andB
ox 3.6set out the current and
forecast economic benefits of the activities
presented in Section 3
for which quantitative
data is available. T
he employm
ent level of 597FT
Es ind
icates the potential for small scale,
innovative projects involving local partners andappropriate levels of support and
funding for
the regeneration of rural areas. It should also be
noted that these jobs are full tim
e equivalents,and
that much of the job creation in these types
of activities is likely to be either seasonal orpart-tim
e, contributing to wid
er diversification.
They therefore contribute to increasing current
income levels and
allow people to rem
ain inland
managem
ent activities. Matching the type
of employm
ent created w
ith needs is of
particular interest from a regeneration
perspective.
Box
3.6P
rojections of Econom
ic Benefits from
R
egenerating the Prim
ary Sector
Section 3.2: Agriculture
●Increasing the proportion of land
under agri-
environment schem
es from 12%
at present to 30%
could create an ad
ditional 190 FT
E jobs.
●Supporting the d
evelopment of organic farm
ing, w
hich currently takes place on less than 1% of the
region’s agricultural area, could create an
add
itional 157 FTE
s and sustain 86 FT
Es w
ithin the SW
’s Objective 5b region.
Section 3.3: Regional prod
uce and local
purchasing●
Around
2,000 jobs could be generated
in the SW if
the proportion of agricultural and food
products
purchased locally w
as increased by 10%
(this figure d
oes not take account of the employm
ent and
other benefits from encouraging local
purchasing of forest and w
oodland
products).
20
3
Table3.3
Current E
conomic B
enefits from
Regenerating the P
rimary Sector
Activity
Em
ployment
Expenditure
Output
(FTEs)
(£m)
(£m)
Section 3.2:
Agriculture
●A
gri-Environm
entS
chemes
134 (1)16.3
2.9 (2)
Section 3.4:
Forestry●
Woodland G
rantS
chemes
28 (3)3.3
0.6 (2)
●W
orkingW
oodlands212
2.74.7 (2)
●S
W Forest
2034.5 (2)
●Forest of Avon
20 (4)0.3
0.4 (2)
Total597
13.1
Assum
ptions:(1) based
on figure of 1 FTE
/1,666 hectares
(2) based on average G
DP/
worker of £22,000 pa
(3) based on agri-environm
ent scheme experience
(4) based on W
orking Wood
lands experience. A
verage GD
Pper
worker is d
erived from
divid
ing 1996 GD
Pfor the South W
est (49,109m
illion) by total workforce in the South W
est (2.24 million) to give a
figure of £22,000/w
orker.Source: Focus on the South W
est (1998)
4.1IN
TR
OD
UC
TIO
NIn ad
dition to the environm
ent sector (Section 2)and
traditional land
based econom
ic sectors(Section 3) a high quality environm
ent isincreasingly recognised
as a crucial, but lesstangible capital asset for other econom
ic sectorssuch as tourism
. The role of a high quality
environment in attracting inw
ard investm
ent tothe region, and
in attracting regional businessesfrom
the major cities to provincial and
ruraltow
ns is also increasingly recognised.
This section explores the contribution that a
high quality environment m
akes to:
■the tourism
sector (Section 4.2);
■film
and m
edia (Section 4.3);
■inw
ard investm
ent (Section 4.4);
■quality of life benefits for resid
ents (Section 4.5).
Finally, Section 4.6sum
marises the econom
icbenefits from
those activities where the part the
environment plays in supporting these w
ider
sectors can be quantified.
4.2TO
UR
ISMTourism
is one of the fastest growth sectors in
the world
today, continuing to grow
4% pa
despite recession in m
any other sectors. It is thew
orld’s largest em
ployer and, if not alread
y, it isexpected
to constitute the world
’s largestind
ustry by the end of the century. N
otsurprisingly the sector has been em
braced as an
engine of economic grow
th and regeneration by
many regions and
countries. The U
K has
enjoyed an even faster rate of grow
th at around5%
per year, with som
e 26 million overseas
visitors in 1997, spending in excess of £12
billion.
Regionally, tourism
is a key sector in theeconom
y of the South West, attracting m
orethan 21 m
illion visitors each year andcontributing £3.5 billion to the region’s G
DP
1.T
he region attracts 17% of d
omestic tourist
spending (greater than any region other than
Scotland). A
t present, tourism in C
ornwall
employs about 20,000 people, the m
ajority parttim
e (employing one in ten people in som
eform
), and accounts for nearly a quarter of the
county’s GD
P.
By its very nature tourism
is acutely depend
enton the conservation and
enhancement of a high
quality natural and built environm
ent. The
draft strategy for tourism
in the South West for
1999-20032id
entifies the importance of a quality
environment for the region’s tourism
andhighlights num
erous natural and built
environmental assets w
hich make the region
competitive. T
he Strategy states that:
‘The quality of the natural (and built)
environment is the m
ain attraction which brings
visitors to the region. It is therefore essential that the quality be m
aintained…’
The strategy also recognises that tourism
canbecom
e a victim of its ow
n success and that, if
not carefully managed
, traditional m
ass tourismw
ith low profit m
argins, poor facilities and lack
of environmental m
anagement (eg of beaches or
traffic) can lead to a d
ownw
ard spiral in w
hichnot only the physical environm
ent but also theeconom
y and the host com
munity suffer.
Actions and
targets to add
ress this include
achieving 100% com
pliance with B
athing Water
Standard
s and increasing the proportion of
tourists using public transport to access theregion. R
ecognising the depend
ency of tourismon a quality environm
ent, and the need
to planfor the long term
viability of the industry, a
report highlighting key issues for the SW has
been undertaken 3.
Anum
ber of studies have attem
pted to evaluate
the economic im
pact of the strong tourism-
environment linkage in the South W
est. Astud
yby the R
ural Developm
ent Com
mission
estimated
that overall tourism spend
ing in theSouth W
est countryside alread
y accounted for
around £0.5 billion in 1994. A
recent study
undertaken on behalf of T
he National Trust to
quantify the effect of landscape conservation on
tourism and
leisure expenditure in the South
West ind
icates that visitor spend on land
scapem
otivated holid
ays is £1.8 billion and that
linkage and m
ultiplier effects add
another £883m
illion to this. More d
etails of these two
studies are given in B
ox 4.1.
Acase stud
y of a single environmentally based
tourism and
leisure attraction - The South W
estC
oast Path - shows that it brings thirty tim
esm
ore income into the region (an estim
ated£15.75 m
illion per annum) than the annual costs
of maintaining it (see B
ox 4.1). Since the time of
these studies, a num
ber of new tourism
andenvironm
ent initiatives have sought to build on
the growing interest in nature and
rural basedtourism
.
2W
est Country Tourist B
oard (1998) AStrategy for Tourism
in the South W
est 1999-2003: Consultation D
raft.3
West C
ountry Tourist Board, C
ountryside Com
mission (1997) Sustainable
Tourism: A
Special Discussion P
aper on Key Issues A
ffecting the South West.
Prepared for the G
OSW
Tourism C
ompetitiveness G
roup.1
GO
SW (1998) Focus on the South W
est.
21
4C
AP
ITAL
ISING
ON
AH
IGH
QU
AL
ITY
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NT
Box
4.1T
he Importance of the E
nvironment to the SW
Tourism
Sector
Cou
ntrysid
e Tourism
In a study und
ertaken by the Rural D
evelopment
Com
mission and
the Countrysid
e Com
mission (1997)
on the economic im
pact of recreation and tourism
inthe E
nglish Countrysid
e, it was estim
ated that, for
the West C
ountry Tourist Board
region (c80% of the
SW E
ngland region), the overall tourist spend
in thecountrysid
e was £498 m
illion pa (in 1994).E
xeter Tourism R
esearch Group has sim
ilarlyund
ertaken a study to evaluate the econom
ic impact
of the environment on the area’s tourism
. Results
from this stud
y are expected to be available shortly.
Lan
dscap
e Motivated
Tourism
The W
est Country Tourist B
oard has und
ertaken ajoint project w
ith The N
ational Trust entitled V
aluingO
ur Environm
entto be published
soon. This covers
three specific issues: the value of the rural landscape
to the south west, the m
otivations behind visits to
National Trust land
and the value of good
s andservices provid
ed by the Trust.
The d
raft report identifies a total expend
iture bytourists on land
scape motivated
holiday trips of £1.8
billion which d
irectly supports 36,000 FTE
jobs. The
linkage and m
ultiplier effects add
another £883m
illion spend, resulting in an ad
ditional 17,900 FT
Ejobs. T
his gives a total of 54,000 FTE
jobs supportedby land
scape motivated
holiday trips.
Forestry and
Tourism
Information on tourism
in the Forest of Dean is
contained in the G
overnment’s new
forest strategy‘A
New
Focus for England
’s Wood
lands’. T
he Forestof D
ean hosts over 1 million visits per annum
. The
Symond
s Yat viewpoint and
Sculpture Trail are well-
known tourist d
estinations. The forest is popular for
many outd
oor activities such as hiking, cycling,bird
watching, rock clim
bing and orienteering. T
hereare 300,000 cam
per nights per year on sites managed
by Forest Enterprise and
tourism generates an
estimated
£30 million each year for local businesses.
The South W
est Coast P
ath
The South W
est Coast Project w
as set up by theC
ountryside C
omm
ission with the support of the
local authorities, National Trust, SW
WA
and W
CT
B.
The aim
was to und
ertake three main tasks,
including an assessm
ent into the level, use andeconom
ic benefit it brings to the comm
unities andbusinesses along the route; the cond
ition of the pathand
its signs; and to d
raw up a com
prehensivestrategy for future m
anagement. A
user survey 1d
rew the follow
ing main find
ings:●
44% of holid
aymakers said
that the existence of the trail w
as a factor in visiting the area.●
63% said
that scenery/land
scape were the m
ain things that attracted
them to the C
oast Path.
●In relation to accom
mod
ation, 813,000 users spentan average of £11.14 per night, includ
ing those w
ho spent nothing, and this increases to £13.91 if
those are excluded
.●
Daytim
e expenditure: 835,000 users spent an
average of £5.37 per person per day. T
his gives a total spend
of over £15.75 million d
uring the survey period
(May 28-Septem
ber 30).●
Income generated
for the region is more than 30
times the annual cost of m
aintaining the path (about £500,000).
New
tourism areas are also being d
eveloped in
the region. For instance, since the withd
rawal
of the MO
D from
the Isle of Portland, D
orset,the area has been id
entified as an ‘Island
ofO
pportunity’, with tourism
and outd
oorrecreation seen as key engines for econom
icd
evelopment. A
full package of financialassistance is available (includ
ing SRB
defence
estate conversion grant) to encourage tourismoperators to d
evelop new tourist activities.
The d
evelopment of larger tourist attractions in
the region tend also to have a strong
environmental d
imension. Som
e of these arehighlighted
in Box 4.2. T
hese should help to
extend the tourist season throughout the year
and encourage m
ore international tourists to theregion. In ad
dition to the w
ide range of
sustainable tourism initiatives taking place (see
Section 4.2.1), these should assist in d
iversifyingthe type of tourism
activity available in theregion and
prevent decline in the ind
ustryoverall as a result of the d
ecline in the more
traditional ‘bucket and
spade’ holid
ays.
Box
4.2C
omplem
entary Tourist Attractions
2:exploiting the econom
ic potential of the naturalenvironm
ent
Th
e Ed
en P
roject
The E
den Project in m
id-C
ornwall, w
ith Millennium
funding, is expected
to attract up to three quarters ofa m
illion visitors a year. At £74m
n, it is the largestsingle investm
ent in the county ever. It is expectedto open in 2001. T
he stated m
ission of the Ed
enProject is: ‘to prom
ote a universal understanding of thecritical im
portance of our relationship with plants;
supporting and showcasing projects and encouraging
individual actions and choices that will lead to sustainable
land use’. Built on the scarred
landscape of a china
clay pit, it will contain three bio-d
omes, seven
hectares of parkland, a visitor centre and
60 m high
planthouses. The U
niversity of Plymouth B
usinessSchool estim
ates that the Ed
en project will generate
440 FTE
jobs within C
ornwall and
880 in South West
22
4
2In W
est Country B
usiness Guide’s Special P
ublication (1998) West C
ountry P
ress.1
Countryside C
omm
ission (1994) South West C
oast Path U
ser Survey.
as a whole d
uring construction and around
255 inC
ornwall and
310 in the South West once com
pleted.
For every 20,000 add
itional tourists attracted to the
SW, output and
GD
Pare estim
ated to increase across
the Region by £4.8 m
n and £2.6 m
n a yearrespectively.
Th
e Lost G
arden
s of Heligan
Ongoing restoration of the L
ost Gard
ens of Heligan
in Cornw
all (285,000 visits in 1997) makes it the 12th
in the top adm
ission-charging attractions in the West
Country.
Nation
al Marin
e Aq
uariu
m in
Plym
outh
This is a flagship tourist attraction - £14 m
n project,w
hich is expected to attract m
ore than 500,000visitors a year. It d
isplays six habitats from E
nglishm
oorland stream
s to coral seas. The project is
expected to expand
the range of year roundattractions and
encourage visits outside the peak
summ
er season.
4.2.1Sustainable Tourism
InitiativesT
he SW Tourism
Strategy (WC
TB
) alsorecognises the need
for sustainable managem
entof tourist pressures in the m
ost popular sites. Itis recognised
that some particularly attractive
areas in the region, notably honeypot sites in theN
ational Parks and historic tow
ns, are under
pressure and, apart from
detracting from
thequality of the resource, these can also d
iminish
the quality of the visitor experience.
For these areas the tourism objective is therefore
not simply to m
aximise the num
ber of visitorsbut to encourage m
ore sustainable use. The
challenge is to harness the positive impacts of
tourism (jobs, incom
e, infrastructure andm
aintaining the viability of rural and coastal
areas) whilst m
anaging to minim
ise, or avoid,
all the negatives. There have been a num
ber ofprojects involving public bod
ies such as theTourist B
oards and
private operators andbusiness associations to either green trad
itionaltourism
activities or to develop m
oresustainable tourism
products for the region.
Some exam
ples are provided
in Box 4.3.
Box
4.3G
reening Traditional Tourism in the SW
Farm Tou
rismT
he West C
ountry Tourist Board
is on the point ofintrod
ucing a streamlined
incentive scheme for
improving visitors’ experience of the farm
environment. T
he grant scheme is available to
enhance the appeal of farm tourism
businesses byd
eveloping their uniqueness. Funds are available to
farm tourism
operators in Cornw
all and parts of
Devon and
West Som
erset (European O
bjective 5barea). A
ssistance is available for up to one third of
the cost of the project. The m
inimum
project thatw
ill be considered
is £600 and the m
aximum
is£6,000. Final approval for the schem
e is awaited
from M
AFF. In ad
dition, Farm
2000 is a farmer
backed m
arketing project which has been set up to
add
ress issues facing farm tourism
in the future.
Green
Au
dits
The W
est Country Tourist B
oard has been the lead
Regional Tourist B
oard in prom
oting the Green A
udit
Kit approach to ind
ividual tourism
initiatives. In1992, South D
evon developed
and piloted
am
ethodology for applying this to sm
all tourismbusinesses as a national d
emonstration project. T
hisresulted
in the ‘Green A
udit K
it’, a self-manual of
advice and
practical action. This w
as piloted,
evaluated, revised
and finally published
in a nationalform
and prom
oted to tourism
businesses acrossE
ngland from
1996. Sales and use of the G
reen Aud
itK
it increased from
150 to over 300 businesses by mid
1996. An aw
ard schem
e has been developed
which
recognises and rew
ards practical action by users.
Develop
ing L
ink
s betw
een R
ural an
d U
rban
Areas
Bristol and
its associated hinterland
is a unique andincreasingly popular d
estination for visitors. InO
ctober 1998 a report for Bristol C
ity Council
entitledSustainable Tourism
in Bristol: Local
Opportunities
highlights the potential for this type ofurban tourism
. This includ
ed prom
otion of‘w
eekend shortbreaks’. T
his project has ER
DF
funding. In ad
dition a K
ON
VE
R 2/
Bristol and
Bath
2000 initiative is a jointly managed
programm
e,m
arketing both cities, with a cam
paign to promote
the sub region as a holiday activity area w
hereenvironm
ental impacts w
ill be benign. Asum
of£160,000 has been set asid
e as part of this funding for
the promotion of ‘green initiatives’.
4.3FIL
M A
ND
ME
DIA
The film
and television ind
ustry is attracted to
the location of the South West d
ue to itshistorical land
scape, rugged coastline, stately
homes and
as a ‘nice place to work’. T
he SouthW
est Film C
omm
ission promotes and
assistsfilm
making in the region. It has estim
ated that,
during the 1997-1998 period
, approximately £14
million w
as brought into the region, amounting
to the generation of some 65 local jobs 1.
23
4
1South W
est Film C
omm
ission (1999) Personal C
omm
unication.
How
ever, there is also much ind
irect spending
which filters into the local econom
y and w
ider
spin-offs to the tourism ind
ustry throughattracting visitors to specific locations once film
sand
dram
as are screened. W
ycliffehas been
particularly successful in attracting visitors tothe rugged
coastline of Cornw
all and film
s suchas
Sense and Sensibilityand
Rem
ains of the Day
draw
many visitors to the stately hom
es.
The W
est of England
also has one of the largestm
edia presences in the U
K and
is the long-established
home of the B
BC
and A
ardm
anA
nimation. T
he region supports approximately
300 companies in front-line com
puter hardw
are,softw
are and creative d
evelopment. T
he West
of England
has traditionally attracted
creativetalent on the basis of its quality of life,environm
ental quality and existing talent base.
“The presence of the B
BC
’s Natural H
istory Features and D
ocumentaries U
nit has acted as a m
agnet for talent from around the w
orld. The
region’s beautiful towns and landscapes have
served as locations for a stream of fine feature
films”
The B
ristol area has long been known as a
world
player in high quality wild
life and vid
eoprod
uctions. Aard
man A
nimations alone
directly and
indirectly supports som
e 300 localjobs.
4.4IN
VE
STM
EN
T IN
TH
E SO
UT
H W
EST
4.4.1Inw
ard Investment
Ahigh quality of life is w
idely recognised
as asignificant attraction for businesses and
peoplechoosing to live or w
ork in a new area. A
CB
Isurvey
1of UK
regions and the factors affecting
competitiveness found
that:
‘compared to other U
K regions, the South W
est’s key strengths w
ere its quality of life,telecom
munications and the quality of education
and training provision’.
This view
was repeated
consistently byrespond
ents regardless of the size of com
panyor business sector. T
he high value attached to
these factors is endorsed
by incoming
businesses established in the South W
est.
The W
est of England
Developm
ent Agency
2
(WE
DA
), whose responsibility it has been to
attract inward
investment in the past, has
identified
a list of target sectors which includ
escom
puting and telecom
munications; softw
are;
multim
edia; financial and
business services,particularly call centres. T
he importance of a
high quality environment in attracting
companies in these target sectors is
dem
onstrated by the follow
ing quote from a
recent arrival:
“We chose B
ournemouth as the location for our
new E
uropean Operations C
entre for quality of life, low
er operating costs than a big city, good transportation and, above all, a m
otivated and experienced w
orkforce” Ian Stewart, V
ice P
resident, Chase M
anhattan Bank, N
A.
During 1997/
8 Devon and
Cornw
allD
evelopment International (D
CD
I) was
involved in £71 m
illion of investment and
thecreation or safeguard
ing of 2,200 jobs. DC
DI
indicate that a ‘superb quality of life’ linked
tothe natural environm
ent in Devon and
Cornw
allis seen as a factor w
hich can overcome
traditional d
isadvantages of isolation, poor
transport links and inw
ard investm
ent grants.O
ther advantage factors for the SW
were
identified
as a growing population, and
theability to attract key professional andm
anagerial staff, if required, from
other parts ofthe U
K. T
his is supported by a quote from
theD
CD
I annual report 1997/8:
“Our telecom
munications facilities are just as
good as those in major cities, but w
e don’t have theunnecessary stress, congestion and pollution”.
4.4.2C
hanging Investment P
atterns Within the
Region
Am
ajor feature of recent economic grow
th inthe South W
est region has been a high degree of
disparity of econom
ic performance w
ithin theregion as a w
hole. The relative prosperity of the
north and east of the region has been d
riven bygrow
th in high value add
ed ind
ustries, largelyknow
ledge and
technology based, as w
ell ashigh levels of inw
ard investm
ent draw
n fromthe South E
ast and overseas. A
t the same tim
e,parts of the rural and
peripheral areas of theregion have record
ed significant progress in
diversifying and
improving their local
economies. Ind
eed, D
CD
I reported that m
orethan tw
o thirds of investm
ents originate fromcom
panies already established
in the wid
erregion.
Recent research by U
niversity of Cam
bridge
3
has highlighted the urban-rural shift of
employm
ent and businesses since the 1960s and
the relative shift of firms, outputs and
jobs from
3E
ntrepreneurship, Business G
rowth and E
nterprising Behaviour in R
ural South W
est England, U
niversity of Cam
bridge
1C
BI (1996) Fulfilling our P
otential: the Business A
genda for the South West.
2W
est of England D
evelopment A
gency, Annual R
eport 1997/98.
24
4
conurbations and big cities to sm
aller towns and
rural areas. The research ind
icates that thefastest grow
th of employm
ent has beenrecord
ed in rural and
less urbanised areas of
Britain. T
he explanation for why business
activity and em
ployment have been grow
ingfastest in rural regions such as South W
estE
ngland has been sought in term
s of thead
vantages rural areas offer for enterprisingbehaviour by locally found
ed businesses.
This survey based
research clearly indicates that
an important explanation of w
hy there is a highlevel of new
firm form
ation in rural settlements
and sm
all towns is because this is w
here theprofessional, m
anagerial and skilled
entrepreneurs wish to live and
establishbusinesses. M
any of these entrepreneurs havebeen d
rawn to visually m
ore attractive, ruraland
small tow
n living environments from
largecities and
conurbations. The im
portance ofenvironm
ental attractiveness as a factor incom
pany location decisions is show
n in Table4.1. W
hilst this shows that there is a portfolio of
factors which need
to be taken into account,environm
ental attractiveness is a key factor forfirm
s in remote and
accessible rural areas asw
ell as urban areas. Other im
portant factors forfirm
s in all three location types are nearness tofound
er’s home and
historic reasons.
Therefore, for the South W
est region, the growth
of the more accessible rural areas and
small
towns has been stim
ulated by rural enterprise
creation of founders d
rawn from
larger cities,attracted
by the perceived quality of life and
pleasant residential environm
ent of ruralsettlem
ents. The business survey und
ertakenfor the research stud
y indicates that, for rem
oterural firm
s in the South West, the third
most
frequently reported reason for business location
choice was en
vironm
ental attractiven
ess forfou
nd
ers and
staff(24%
of replies). Rural
business growth reflects the increasing
footlooseness of many econom
ic activities, andm
any firms locating or being set up in rural
areas are not tied by econom
ic constraints toany particular location, urban or rural. T
heSouth W
est is clearly well placed
to benefit fromthis interest in quality of life.
4.5Q
UA
LIT
Y O
FL
IFE B
EN
EFIT
S FOR
R
ESID
EN
TS
Finally, a high quality environment can be seen
to provide a num
ber of less tangible benefits toresid
ents of the Region. It has not been possible
to quantify these benefits within the current
study. T
hese wid
er benefits might be
characterised as follow
s:
■E
nvironmental understanding.
Natural areas,
wood
lands and
green space in urban and
rural areas provide opportunities for learning
about nature and for stud
ying human
interactions with the natural environm
ent;
■P
hysical and mental quality of life benefits.
Wild
erness and w
ooded
areas are considered
to have a stress relieving influence on hum
an behaviour. L
ess polluted environm
ents may
materially contribute to low
er incidence of
asthmatic and
other pollution related d
iseasesand
health related spend
ing per capita while
open space, trees and areas of outstand
ing natural beauty have been linked
with
improved
mental health of those w
ho have access to them
.
1P
lymouth B
usiness School (1996) The South W
est Econom
y: Trends and P
rospects.
25
4
Table4.1
Reasons for C
hoice of Com
pany Location
in the SW1
Reason
Rem
oteA
ccessibleU
rbanR
uralR
ural(%
of firms)
(% of firm
s)(%
of firms)
Nearness to
founder’s home
37.057.6
40.9E
nvironmental
attractiveness35.4
36.437.5
Labouradvantages
40.536.4
15.6P
remises
advantages24.1
27.246.9
Local market
or materials
35.436.4
37.5G
oodcom
munications
40.536.4
15.6G
overnment
grants24.1
27.246.9
Historic
reasons35.4
36.437.5
Com
panyacquisition
40.536.4
15.6A
ccessibility toclients, staff,suppliers
24.127.2
46.9
Other
35.436.4
37.5
■Spiritual quality of life benefits
which are
increasingly considered
measurable using
new environm
ental economic valuation
techniques such as contingent valuation.T
hese attempt to place a m
onetary value on public good
s such as the environment. T
hese m
ight include ‘existence’ values w
here peopled
erive a benefit from the very know
ledge that
wild
life, forests and unspoilt rivers and
beaches exist, even they m
ay not directly visit
or use them. T
hese latter values may also be
enjoyed by people outsid
e the SW w
ho sim
ply like to know that the rem
aining relatively w
ild areas of C
ornwall and
Devon
will continue to exist unspoilt.
4.6SU
MM
AR
Y O
FR
EG
ION
AL
EC
ON
OM
IC B
EN
EFIT
ST
he ways in w
hich the environment und
erpinsim
portant regional sectors such as tourism and
inward
investment have been d
iscussed above.
How
ever, these wid
er economic benefits of a
high quality environment are not easily
quantified w
ithout add
itional primary research.
The linkage though is clear.
Table 4.2includ
es some exam
ples where the
economic activity has a strong environm
entald
imension
and
where the link betw
een theeconom
y and the environm
ent has beenassessed
. For example, w
hilst it is wid
elyrecognised
that tourism is strongly d
ependent
on a high quality environment, w
e have onlyinclud
ed d
ata derived
from stud
ies which have
specifically assessed the econom
ic impact of the
environmental d
imension.
The analysis d
oes not, therefore, include the
wid
er, less-tangible benefits which nonetheless
constitute one of the SW’s key strengths.
26
4
Table4.2
Available E
stimates of E
conomic B
enefits of a H
igh Quality E
nvironment
Activity
Em
ploymentE
xpenditureO
utput(FTE
)(£m
)(£m
)
Section 4.2:
Tourism●
Landscapem
otivated tourism54,000
1,781702 (1)
●The E
den Project
3104
●Forest of D
ean30
Section 4.3:
Film and M
edia●
Aardm
anA
nimation
3006.6 (2)
●S
W film
location shots55
1.2 (2)
Total54,665
743.8
Assum
ptions:(1)
based on interim
findings, average G
DP/
tourism w
orker of£13,000. Tourism
GD
Pper w
orker is derived
from the South W
estC
oastal Path study w
hich indicated
that £16 million of output
generated 1,226 FT
E jobs, nam
ely GD
P/w
orker of £13,000(2)
based on average G
DP/
worker of £22,000
5.1SU
MM
AR
YT
his section summ
arises the key findings of the
Prospectus in relation to the economic benefits
of environment-related
activities. Particularopportunities for m
utually compatible econom
icd
evelopment and
environment enhancem
entand
protection are highlighted. Finally, the
ways in w
hich a positive approach to theenvironm
ent can contribute to economic
objectives are summ
arised. W
e have usedSW
ER
DA
’s core objectives to structure thissum
mary
5.1.1C
urrent Position
We have carried
out an initial analysis of a wid
erange of econom
ic activities which clearly have
a positive environmental d
imension, and
assessed their contribution to em
ployment and
regional output. Asum
mary of the analysis is
presented in Table 5.1.
We h
ave foun
d th
at econom
ic activities wh
ichh
ave a strong p
ositive link
to the en
vironm
ent
curren
tly provid
e some 100,000 FT
E job
s in th
eS
outh
West an
d con
tribu
te nearly £1.6 b
illionto th
e Sou
th W
est’s regional G
DP.
Em
ploym
ent in
these areas accou
nts for ab
out
4% of total em
ploym
ent in
the region
and
slightly m
ore than
3% of G
DP.
The 3%
of total output attributable to theenvironm
ent is a highly conservative estimate
and is only based
on those activities exploredfor the E
nvironmental Prospectus and
for which
quantitative data w
as available. Taking intoaccount the im
pact of the environment on the
general business comm
unity, rural businesses,businesses prod
ucing countryside prod
ucts, andinw
ard investm
ent decisions, it is estim
ated that
a similar ad
ditional proportion of econom
ic
output is depend
ent upon the quality of theSW
’s environment.T
his information is also
presented on page 28
Th
is ind
icates that in
total the valu
e of the
environ
men
t amou
nts to som
e 5-10% of th
eregion
’s total GD
P.
5.1.2Future O
pportunitiesK
ey features and potential opportunities w
hichem
erge from the review
of environment-related
activities are noted below
.
■M
any of the sectors are new and
growing
rapidly (eg environm
ent industries,
renewable energy, w
aste managem
ent) and,
whilst m
uch is already happening on the
ground, unleashing their full potential w
ith m
aximum
benefits to the region is now the
opportunity.
■M
any of the activities will require future
developm
ent as a result of the current UK
and
EU
policy initiatives and policies in the
pipeline (eg Agend
a 2000, sustainable forest m
anagement, the L
andfill D
irective, the sustainable d
evelopment m
odel and
Local
Agend
a 21 strategies). Build
ing these activities into an econom
ic developm
ent strategy offers significant ad
vantages in terms
of ‘being ahead of the gam
e’ and gaining a
competitive ed
ge.
Future opportunities identified
during the
research are summ
arised in Table 5.2.
Again,
these significantly underestim
ate the scale ofopportunities in a w
ide range of other areas as
they are based only on those sectors for w
hichquantitative d
ata was available.
27
5SU
MM
AR
Y A
ND
RE
CO
MM
EN
DA
TIO
NS
Table5.1
Summ
ary of Econom
ic Benefits from
R
eadily Available Inform
ationA
ctivityE
mploym
entO
utput(FTE
)(£m
)S
ection 2:The environm
ent sector37,885
833S
ection 3:R
egenerating theprim
ary sector597
13S
ection 4:W
ider benefits of a highquality environm
ent54,665
744
Total93,147
1,590
SW
economy as a w
hole2,239,000
49,109
Regional contribution
4.2%3.2%
Table5.2
Projections For G
rowth in Selected
Activities
Activity
Em
ployment
Output
(FTE)
(£m)
Section 2.2:
Environm
ent industries (1)23,607
367S
ection 2.4:R
enewable energy
12,000264
Section 3.2:
Organic farm
ing158
3.5S
ection 3.3:Local purchasing
2,00044
Total projectedeconom
ic benefits37,765
678.5Total current (Table 5.1)and projections
130,9122,269
Regional contribution
5.8%4.6%
Note: (1) Increm
ental based on forecast grow
th rate
28
TH
E E
NV
IRO
NM
EN
T S
EC
TO
R: c38,000 job
s, c£833 million
outp
ut
TH
E E
NV
IRO
NM
EN
T IN
DU
ST
RY
:Firm
s that provide good
s and services w
hich are need
ed for environm
ental protection.E
NV
IRO
NM
EN
TAL
MA
NA
GE
ME
NT:
Use of environm
ental managem
ent systems
by businesses to assess and red
uce their im
pact on the environment.
RE
NE
WA
BL
E E
NE
RG
Y:
Wind
energy, biofuels and their potentials.
WA
ST
E M
AN
AG
EM
EN
T:R
ecycling, alternatives to landfill.
TH
E N
AT
UR
AL
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NT
SE
CT
OR
:E
conomic activity associated
with the
protection and enhancem
ent of the natural environm
ent.
(OT
HE
R SE
CTO
RS N
OT
FUL
LYE
XPL
OR
ED
IN T
HIS R
EPO
RT, eg, integrated
transport activities)
RE
GE
NE
RA
TIN
G T
HE
PR
IMA
RY
SE
CT
OR
: c600 jobs, c£13.1 m
illion ou
tpu
t
AG
RIC
ULT
UR
E &
TH
E E
NV
IRO
NM
EN
T:E
nvironmental land
managem
ent schemes,
organic farming.
RE
GIO
NA
LP
RO
DU
CE
:U
sing the quality of the environment to
brand the region, local purchasing,
countryside prod
ucts.FO
RE
ST
RY
:W
orking wood
lands, m
ulti-purpose forestry, com
munity forests, the SW
Forest Project.
(OTH
ER SEC
TOR
S NO
T FULLY
EXPLO
RED
IN TH
IS REPO
RT, eg, sustainable m
arine fisheries)
CA
PITA
LIS
ING
ON
AH
IGH
QU
AL
ITY
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NT: c55,000 job
s,c£744 m
illion ou
tpu
t
TO
UR
ISM
:R
ural/countrysid
e tourism, sustainable
tourist activities, coast and clean seas.
FILM
S &
ME
DIA
:D
edicated
regional centres of excellence, quality environm
ents as film locations.
INW
AR
D IN
VE
ST
ME
NT:
Links betw
een inward
investment and
quality of life factors, com
pany location.Q
UA
LIT
Y O
F LIFE
FOR
RE
SID
EN
TS
:Q
uality of life underpinning life in m
uch of the region for its resid
ents: spiritual, mental
and physical d
imensions.
EC
ON
OM
IC A
CT
IVIT
IES
WH
ICH
HA
VE
AS
TR
ON
G P
OS
ITIV
E L
INK
TO
TH
E E
NV
IRO
NM
EN
T IN
TH
E R
EG
ION
c100,000 jobs, c£1.6 b
illion ou
tpu
tA
HIG
HLY
CO
NS
ER
VA
TIV
E E
ST
IMA
TE
: OV
ER
AL
LT
HE
VA
LU
E O
F TH
EE
NV
IRO
NM
EN
T IS
IN T
HE
RE
GIO
N O
F 5-10% O
F TH
E S
W’S
TO
TAL
GD
P.
TH
E E
NV
IRO
NM
EN
T A
ND
TH
E E
CO
NO
MY
IN T
HE
SOU
TH
WE
STL
INK
ING
TH
EE
NV
IRO
NM
EN
TW
ITH
JOB
SA
ND
WE
ALT
HC
RE
AT
ION
SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH
5.1.3T
he Environm
ent - Helping to M
eet the econom
ic objectives of SWE
RD
Aand others
The E
nvironmental Prospectus d
escribes a wid
erange of econom
ic activities for which the
environment acts as a strong d
river foreconom
ic growth and
regeneration in theregion. T
he implications these have for the
economic objectives of SW
ER
DA
and others are
outlined below
.
■E
conom
ic develop
men
t and
regeneration
.M
any environment-related
activities are in theprocess of rapid
growth, and
harnessing their full potential can m
ake a significant contribution to econom
ic developm
ent. Other
activities can help to diversify the econom
ic base in d
eclining sectors, tackle particular pockets of d
eprivation, and assist people to
remain in rural areas to m
anage the land
where falling incom
es and em
ployment are a
continual threat.
■B
usin
ess efficiency, in
vestmen
t and
com
petitiven
ess.E
nvironmental
managem
ent measures such as energy
efficiency and w
aste minim
isation can lead to
significant cost savings for both larger firms
and SM
Es. Subsequently, this can im
prove business efficiency, support ind
igenous business grow
th and increase regional
productivity. A
t the same tim
e, a high qualityenvironm
ent can provide inw
ard investors
with the ad
ded
extra which d
ifferentiates the region from
others in an economic clim
ate w
here many other factors are increasingly
competitive.
■E
mp
loymen
t.E
nvironmental protection and
enhancem
ent are a tool to stimulate the
economy, create jobs and
preserve existing jobs. T
he labour intensity of many
environment-related
activities is compatible
with policies to com
bat high levels of unem
ployment overall and
pockets of d
eprivation. The likelihood
of displacing
employm
ent in other sectors is minim
al as theactivities explored
are either in new/
growth
sectors or contribute to diversification in areas
where the risk of unem
ployment is high.
■E
nh
ancin
g and
develop
ing relevan
t skills.
Delivering environm
ental projects requires anextensive skills base w
ith training to allow
people to benefit from the opportunities
offered. T
he full range of environment-
related activities offers em
ployment
opportunities at different skills levels and
in d
ifferent occupation types. These range from
environm
entally sensitive land m
anagement
skills, to high tech environmental
managem
ent systems.
■S
ustain
able d
evelopm
ent.
By their very
selection, the activities included
in this Prospectus are m
utually compatible w
ith achieving econom
ic and environm
ental objectives. Furtherm
ore, there are many
complem
entary linkages between
environmental activities, social w
ell-being, and
quality of life factors. Environm
ental im
provements can strengthen com
munities
by improving the quality of their physical and
social fabric, particularly where this involves
supporting local partnerships and netw
orks, stim
ulating comm
unity-based initiatives, and
prom
oting local distinctiveness.
5.2R
EC
OM
ME
ND
AT
ION
ST
here are high expectations of our new R
DA
.W
e look to SWE
RD
Ato im
prove theperform
ance of the region in GD
Pand
employm
ent terms, but also to enhance the
quality of life for everyone in the region. The
region’s environment presents a key
opportunity to do both. W
e trust that SWE
RD
Aw
ill act urgently on our recomm
endations as
follows:
5.2.1A
Regional D
evelopment V
ision1
SW
ER
DA
shou
ld recogn
ise in its gu
idin
g vision
statemen
t that en
vironm
ental
dim
ension
s mu
st be fu
lly integrated
with
in
develop
men
t program
mes.
SWE
RD
Ashould
consid
er adopting the follow
ing aims w
ithin its overall vision statem
ent:
■recognise and
champion the significant
positive linkages between the environm
ent and
economic d
evelopment;
■actively build
on the region’s environmental
and econom
ic strengths, particularly those aspects w
hich differentiate the SW
from the
other regions;
■ensure that other activities and
investments
in the region take environmental
considerations fully into account and
do not
threaten environment-reliant activities;
■em
brace the environment as an effective
and sustainable route for d
eveloping the econom
y and tackling regional econom
ic variation.
In recognising the role of the environment in
regional developm
ent and setting high
standard
s for others, SWE
RD
Ashould
lead by
example, send
ing the right signals to others.
29
5
2S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
ensu
re that, in
consid
ering
the d
evelopm
ent of ru
ral areas, it fully
recognises th
e opp
ortun
ity provid
ed b
y the
natu
ral environ
men
t,for supporting a diverse,
strong rural economy.
5.2.2Strategic Issues
3S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
adop
t an econ
omic
develop
men
t strategy that h
as a high
en
vironm
ental p
rofile,reflecting the important
contribution that environment-related
activities m
ake to the SW’s econom
y, and the
opportunities they offer to help meet SW
ER
DA
’sobjectives.
4S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
use th
e work
started w
ithin
th
is Prosp
ectus to in
form its R
egional
Econ
omic S
trategy.O
ver time the potential for
future growth and
employm
ent in sectors covered
by the Prospectus and other sectors
needs to be explored
further in order to
maxim
ise the benefits on offer.
5S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
iden
tify flagship
en
vironm
ental p
rojects in its R
egional
En
vironm
ental S
trategy and
early program
mes
to dem
onstrate the ‘win w
in’ opportunities available by pursuing environm
ental and
economic objectives together.
6S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
consid
er its role as a voice for th
e region an
d articu
late a clear agend
a for lin
kin
g the en
vironm
ent an
d th
e econom
y. T
here is scope to influence a wid
e range of otherbod
ies and actors that have a vested
interest in regional d
evelopment and
environmental
protection and enhancem
ent.
7S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
consid
er ways in
wh
ich it
can p
rovide in
centives w
ithin
fun
din
g p
rogramm
es and
policies to en
courage
environ
men
tal ben
efits.For exam
ple, it could
assess the possibilities for providing prem
ium
grant rates for projects/program
mes w
hich add
to the high quality environm
ent.
8S
WE
RD
Am
ust u
nd
ertake a ‘su
stainab
ility assessm
ent’of its region
al strategy.T
hisshould
include a strategic environm
ental assessm
ent that is both comprehensive and
transparent. T
he government currently requires
its departm
ents and public bod
ies to undertake
an environmental assessm
ent1of policies.
9S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
develop
its skills strategy in
a w
ay that m
atches th
e existing an
d fu
ture
opp
ortun
ities offered b
y the w
ide ran
ge of en
vironm
ent-related
activities in th
e region.
Skills programm
es should includ
e support for environm
ental managem
ent, research and
developm
ent and should
be an important tool
for the developm
ent of the emerging
environmental ind
ustries. It can also help to m
eet the needs of businesses (particularly
SME
s) across all economic sectors to respond
to both existing environm
ental policy and
legislation and future d
evelopments.
Opportunities to revitalise the prim
ary sectors in the SW
highlight a need for im
proved
land-based
skills and training provision.
5.2.3B
est Practice
10S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
evaluate th
e curren
t (and
fu
ture) ch
allenges th
at face bu
sinesses in
term
s of environ
men
tal stand
ards, legislation
, an
d p
olicy develop
men
ts.SW
ER
DA
needs to
provide support to help businesses to respond
to these challenges and
enhance their com
petitiveness.
11S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
set out h
ow it w
ill assess the
baselin
e environ
men
tal qu
ality of the region
,and
set out in the RE
S how this can be protected
and enhanced
by the above actions. Threats and
opportunities to the environment should
be id
entified to ensure that they are taken into
account in formulating policies and
program
mes in other areas. SW
ER
DA
should
aim to m
aintain, improve and
report regional progress tow
ards environm
ental targets.
12S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
develop
incen
tives and
en
sure en
vironm
ental con
sideration
s are factored
into sectoral p
olicies effectivelyin
order for jobs to be created
in the environmental
sector, especially in the fields of energy,
industry, transport, fisheries and
agriculture.
13S
WE
RD
A’s staff resou
rces, at all levels of its op
eration, sh
ould
reflect the im
portan
ce of in
tegrating en
vironm
ental issu
es into
econom
ic develop
men
t.In-house expertise
should be d
eveloped.
14S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
fully u
tilise the n
etwork
s of en
vironm
ental p
artners alread
y establish
ed in
th
e region.
To help deliver the integration of
economic and
environmental objectives,
SWE
RD
Am
ust build connections w
ith environm
ental interests, as well as d
eveloping its relationship w
ith the SW R
oundtable on
Sustainable Developm
ent.
SWE
RD
Aw
ill have responsibility for all, or parts of the Structural Fund
Programm
es, the Single R
egeneration Bud
get, English
Partnerships, the Rural D
evelopment
Com
mission, and
inward
investment agencies.
1A
proposed EU
Directive on SE
Aof policies, plans and program
mes is
currently a priority action for Mem
ber State agreement.
30
5
In carrying out its activities with respect to the
above, the following recom
mend
ations are m
ade.
15S
WE
RD
Aw
ill need
to ensu
re comp
liance w
ithstatu
tory requ
iremen
ts in relation
to en
vironm
ental im
pact assessm
ent (E
IA) of
develop
men
ts.In particular, SW
ER
DA
should
strive to be at the forefront of best practice in relation to the scoping of E
IAs and
the form of
public participation and consultation
undertaken.
16S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
ensu
re that, in
its m
anagem
ent an
d evalu
ation of stru
ctural fu
nd
p
rogramm
es, it maxim
ises environ
men
tal b
enefits.
SWE
RD
Ashould
make full use of the
guidance and
best practice manuals w
hich now
exist in relation to programm
e developm
ent, project selection criteria, ind
icators, monitoring
and evaluation for sustainable d
evelopment.
17S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
seek op
portu
nities to
develop
partn
ership
s with
the en
vironm
ental
sector that are cu
rrently n
ot bein
g utilised
effectively an
d in
clud
e access to, eg, EP
fin
ances for ‘soft en
d-u
se’projects su
ch as
small en
vironm
ental sch
emes.
Arecent
evaluation of how E
nglish Partnerships (EP) has
implem
ented its obligations and
objectives in respect of environm
ental protection and
sustainable developm
ent has found that there is
considerable scope for im
provement in som
e areas. In particular, there is m
uch scope for d
iversification into new ventures w
ith different
types of partners. SWE
RD
Ashould
seek redress
in these areas.
18S
WE
RD
Ash
ould
ensu
re that th
e curren
t level of p
rovision of en
vironm
ental in
frastructu
re isad
equ
ate.Investing in environm
ental infrastructure (eg, w
aste managem
ent facilities) provid
es part of the necessary framew
ork for m
odern, high quality, ind
ustrial and com
mercial
activities and is a pre-requisite for sustainable
economic activity. B
elow ad
equate levels of environm
ental infrastructure have implications
for industrial sectors w
here growth is
constrained by the level of environm
ental services, and
for pollution sensitive sectors such as tourism
, fisheries, agriculture and
forestry.
31
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AR
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Strategic Environm
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Small-M
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BSouth W
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SWE
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ASouth W
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TB
West C
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WE
DA
West of E
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Agency
34
GL
OSSA
RY