As part of our partnership with Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the Aspen Institute UK hosted a private roundtable discussion in Norwich, Norfolk.
The roundtable focussed on how to drive inclusive growth, convening a range of voices from the local business community, policy world, and community advocacy groups for a conversation on the priorities and challenges for the area.
Norwich, located in the East of England and with strong local identity, was a clear choice for the roundtable. ‘Whenever I visit Norwich, I feel a sense of community here that I never feel anywhere else in the UK’ says Penny Richards, CEO of Aspen UK, who chaired the conversation. This sentiment came through in the data gleaned from the Inclusive Growth Score for Norwich, a tool from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth .
The Inclusive Growth Score (IGS) provides social and economic indicators that paint a picture of an area and help to uncover opportunities for increased investment or revitalization. From the IGS, we found that Norwich outperforms the national average in Infrastructure and Quality of Living, but the data showed significant opportunities for growth in supporting the growth of small business and the city’s connectedness to surrounding areas.
The roundtable discussion offered great texture and depth to the data insights from the IGS. Here are three key takeaways:
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Norwich has huge economic potential, but some businesses are struggling to find employees with the right skills.
‘We’ve got profound areas of skills deprivation (within the city and within the county) and we’ve got this profound economic opportunity and growth areas’.
Panellists suggested various solutions to this skills deficit, such as boosting education, upskilling older workers, and tapping into overlooked cohorts of workers (like refugees and people with flexible working requirements).
Another critical issue was public transport and ensuring that local areas are well connected so that people can travel to work across Norwich and the wider area. Ultimately, long-term financial support from the government to develop transport infrastructure and support employees could help local people benefit from Norwich’s economic opportunities.
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Norwich has a strong sense of identity, but there are parts of its community that are more vulnerable and in need of support.
‘It’s a massive positive for all here that it [Norwich] is a lovely desirable place to live, but with that obviously comes challenges’.
While some argued that Norwich offers a great quality of living, others working with local communities emphasised the challenges many people are facing. For example, access to healthcare, dental services, and affordable public transport were all concerns.
According to participants, additional funding is needed to solve these issues, local infrastructure needs updated and that will require additional investment along with wider long-term guidance from central government. However, local businesses can also play a role in supporting struggling communities. For example, they could strategically volunteer their time and expertise to support local charities and non-profits by helping with services like accounting or marketing and communications.
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Housing is a key issue.
‘There is a growth in building…but there is a gravitation towards the city centre, and we have limited resources out in the rural community’.
Although there are many new builds in Norwich, participants worried about the type of housing being built, its location, and what it offers to the community. Residents were also concerned about housing maintenance, lack of private rental stock, and the enormous waiting lists for housing. To improve this situation, a holistic approach is needed so that national policies do not inhibit local development and so that local housing opportunities meet the needs of everyone in the community.
Overall, this roundtable covered many key obstacles to inclusive growth in the South-East region and offered valuable solutions and policies needed to work towards this goal. These insights will be compiled with those from our other roundtables in a comprehensive public report. This report will provide decisionmakers with a clear idea of the landscape across the UK, particularly about what action is happening – and what more is needed – to address the cost-of-living crisis on a local level.
Thanks to the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth for partnering with us on this roundtable series.
To find out more about our roundtable convenings, get in touch with Penny Richards, CEO of the Aspen Institute UK at [email protected]
*This roundtable convening was a private event and participant’s contributions have been anonymised.