Economic Development Strategy 2011- 2016

Econom

www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/council-business

Economic Development Newsletter

December 2012 - January 2013

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INTRODUCTION Welcome to our January round up of news and our December results from Milton Keynes Council Economic Development Team.

High Praise for Milton Keynes from Centre for Cities and the online Management Journal for local authority business (The MJ)! MILTON Keynes has once again been highly praised in an annual ‘health check’ of towns and cities around the country from renowned independent think tank, the Centre for Cities. For the fourth year in a row, Milton Keynes has received a glowing report for its economic strength and overall buoyancy in the face of harsh economic conditions, in the annual Cities Outlook report. This year the borough is singled out as having the right strategy for building new homes and for creating new jobs, as well as for having one of the highest business start-up rates in the UK, ranked fourth only after London, Aberdeen and Reading. Milton Keynes is also recognised as having one of the highest rates of employment, with one of highest percentages of private sector jobs, and for high growth in earnings, with average pay in 2012 standing at £543 per week. Milton Keynes remains the fastest growing place in the UK for population growth, growing by nearly 17% between 2001 and 2011. That growth has been matched by the increase in housing stock, which has risen by 18% in the same time period. This represents the highest percentage growth in new homes of all the 64 cities covered by the report. Please find below a link to the Centre for Cities report: http://centreforcities.cdn.meteoric.net/CITIES_OUTLOOK_2013.pdf

We have also had great reviews and acknowledgment of the buoyancy of our economic performance by the MJ. The MJ has published detailed data collated by research and strategy consultancy Local Futures. It looks at the top ten for performance of England’s local authority areas in relation to their attraction to inward investors and businesses considering location. MK is:

• 1st for cities for overall economic performance (outside of London)

• 2nd for top ten cities for business and enterprise

• 3rd for cities for productivity

• 6th for overall economic performance of local authority areas

• 7th for cities for growth in business stock

• 8th for top ten cities for knowledge driven businesses Once again fantastic recognition for Milton Keynes – Britain’s most successful city!

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We are on a roll for jobs in MK!! Fantastic news again as the unemployment claimant count in Milton Keynes falls to 5,109 claimants in December 2012 from 5,470 in November 2012! This means that 361 claimants found work. The unemployment rate in Milton Keynes was 3.1% in December 2012, a 0.2% fall from November 2012. By comparison, the unemployment rate in Milton Keynes was 3.8% in December 2011, but had fallen by 0.7% in December 2012. The level of economic activity in Milton Keynes has been high resulting in more jobs being created. Inward Investment Update

The Invest Milton Keynes Team is now moving forward with a more proactive led approach to securing enquiries, in addition to supporting existing businesses that are looking to expand. The December enquiry figures currently show 15 new enquiries for the month, and 206 YTD (Year to date). Our investment successes for 2012/13 now stand at sixty three, thanks to four moves/expansions within the city. Two of these are from our target group of high growth, high-value, knowledge-based businesses and include firms from Engineering and Recruitment.

Existing Business Update We visited 59 existing Milton Keynes businesses in the last 6 months! The businesses visited vary in size, sector and country of ownership. The purpose of business engagement is to establish contact with existing Milton Keynes businesses and meet with them and talk about the information or support which we can help with. We provide the businesses with a one point of contact to save the business time and resource. Another key benefit to MK is that the majority of the businesses visited, have also pledged to assist in our Inward Investment work; promoting through tools like testimonials and case studies so that others interested in MK can see our true showcase of existing businesses! We look forward to engaging with more MK businesses in 2013!

Airwatch reaching for the stars! The first Economic Development Forum of 2013 was held at Airwatch, who are based at Phoenix house, CMK. The attendees of the Forum received a fantastic presentation by Airwatch Managing Director, Ian Evans, who explained how his business has flourished in Milton Keynes, and more importantly why MK is such an ideal location for them. The presentation consistently showed healthy growth forecasts, and what was exceptionally positive news is that Milton Keynes as a location is instrumental to their growth. Airwatch run their EMEA operations from Milton Keynes and they are able to do so because of the great transport links with the rest of the country as well as the proximity to international airports. As well as this, their workforce has grown on average by 25 new recruits a month, all who have been recruited locally, and with over 80% of staff who are bi-lingual. This has massively supported

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the Company’s growth and client attraction. Airwatch is another great example of why Milton Keynes is Britain’s most successful City! Business News It’s a centenary for Aston Martin! Happy 100th Anniversary! Our very own Aston Martin, with an international reputation is celebrating its 100th anniversary! Aston Martin has such a unique heritage and it started in Newport Pagnell. Aston Martin Works opened their new showroom in 2012 and sells their new as well as their well known and highly regarded classics! Customers from around the world come to have their cars serviced in Newport Pagnell. Happy Anniversary!

It’s a Green Deal! Business MK reports that energy efficiency in and around Milton Keynes will benefit fairly soon from a fantastic £300,000 windfall for Green Deal schemes that is going to help save on fuel bills for businesses and residents at no cost to them! Now that’s a green deal! Green Deal is a programme introduced by the Department for Energy and Climate Change and will allow businesses in Milton Keynes to benefit from improving their properties with energy efficiency measures. The upfront costs will be paid back through the savings made...for more information visit Business MK’s website http://www.businessmk.co.uk/news/art/1113/Energy-scheme-earns-business-a-windfall.html DMK Video Lauch Members of the Economic Development team went to the launch of DMK’s new video in January! The video was produced with support from Milton Keynes Council. It films a family visiting and discovering the city and all that MK offers! The video aims to present the different activities within Milton Keynes that are accessible for a range of age groups. The family consist of two children, their parents and grandmother who come to Milton Keynes and visit a number of different attractions. You can take a look at the film at www.destinationmiltonkeynes.co.uk or search ‘Milton Keynes Leisure Video’ on YouTube - http://youtu.be/Ts91dfJrHqA. You can also follow DMK on Twitter @DestinationMK or on Facebook /destinationmiltonkeynes.

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TEAM NEWS Launching on to the Golf Course!

Our Business Engagement & Support Manager went to the launch this month of the newly refurbished and rebranded Mercure Milton Keynes Abbey Hill Golf Course. The Hotel has had £1.5 billion refurbishment and transformation! It was great to hear at the launch that the reason Milton Keynes was chosen as a location was because we are one of the fastest growing business cities in the UK!

Let’s Talk…. Social Media! We have 262 Linkedin Contacts which is fantastic news and we are looking for this to continue! In addition there are 106 Group Members with 20 + discussions. Twitter is also on the increase with 450 Twitter followers! Through our social media channels we are now communicating regular updates and business visits and demonstrating the continued success of Milton Keynes. We are now being followed on Twitter by our key audience who are based worldwide, and we will look to continue to build upon this. Help Spread the Word

Keep in touch with our own and other business news from Milton Keynes by following our @InvestMK twitter feed at www.twitter.com/InvestMK and by joining our LinkedIn group at http://tinyurl.com/InvestMKGroup Best wishes Pam Gosal Corporate Head of Economic Development & Inward Investment Planning, Economy and Development Group, Milton Keynes Council

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INVESTMENT SUCCESS UPDATE

December 2012

Year to Date

Companies arriving in or relocating within Milton Keynes

4 63

From Target Group* 2 36

Total Jobs Created 0 2883

Total Jobs Retained 35 588 ∗ High growth, high value, knowledge-based businesses

Successes 2010 - 2013

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Jobs Retained 2010- 2013

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ENQUIRY ACTIVITY UPDATE The chart below shows the trends for commercial land and premises enquiries from 2010 – 2013.

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We received 15 enquiries this December compared to 14 last year and therefore the cumulative total for the year to date is 206 against 238 in 2011. Our current caseload is 43 category ‘A’ and 26 category ‘B’ enquiries. Category ‘A’ Enquiries are from UKTI and foreign owned businesses; land enquiries; industrial premises over 50k sq ft; office premises over 10k sq ft and key business sectors. Category ‘B’ Enquiries cover all other requests for support.

Enquiries by Sector December

2011

December

2012

Office 4 3

Industrial 9 8

Retail 0 0

Land 1 4

Total for Year so far 238 206

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SOURCE OF ENQUIRIES The table below shows enquiry origin and variance between 2011/12 and 2012/13.

SOURCE

Enquiries

December

2011

Enquiries

December

2012

Enquiries Year 2011/12 to

December

2011

Enquiries Year 2012/13 to

December

2012

Yellow Pages 0 0 0 0

HCA 1 0 12 9

Business Link 1 0 5 4

MK Chamber 0 2 1 10

MK Council 4 7 28 55

UKTI (formerly SEEDA)

1 1 12 11

Property Agents and Developers

1 2 77 66

IMK Website 5 3 100 51

Marketing Campaign 1 0 3 0

Total 14 15 238 206

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The Labour Market in Milton Keynes, December 2012 Unemployment claimant count in Milton Keynes fell to 5,109 claimants in December 2012 from 5,470 in November 2012, thus, a decrease of 361 claimants. The unemployment rate in Milton Keynes was 3.1% in December 2012, a 0.2% decrease on the November 2012 proportion. At 3.1%, the Milton Keynes unemployment rate compares to the South East England rate of 2.4% and the UK rate of 3.7% in November 2012 as shown in Figure 1. In the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership SEMLEP) area the unemployment rate was 2.9% in December 2012. Figure 1: Unemployment Rates in MK, South East and UK, December 2012

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Source: NOMIS

Youth unemployment in Milton Keynes is falling. Young people, aged up to 24 years made up under one-quarter (19.1%) of all claimant count unemployment in December 2012 (a decrease of 1.3% on the November 2012 proportion) compared to 25% in the South East and 26.8% in the UK. On the whole unemployment rates have been falling faster in Milton Keynes than in the UK due to an increased level of economic activity. Ephraidge Rinomhota Economic Development Team

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