Mid Sussex named as most prosperous area in the county
Living conditions in the area were also ranked as one of the highest in the UK
Mid Sussex has been rated the most prosperous area in the county by a new national index, with living conditions ranked among the highest in the UK.
The UK Prosperity Index, from The Legatum Institute, was published as a tool to track the progress of the government’s ‘levelling-up’scheme, highlighting areas which face particular challenges.
It details the prosperity levels of each local authority based on 12 pillars, ranging from safety and security to health, education and the local economy.
There were some very healthy findings overall for West Sussex.
Out of the 379 local authorities, Mid Sussex rated 21st, Horsham 24th, Chichester 48th, Adur 50th, Crawley 67th, Worthing 74th and Arun 116th.
All seven areas saw their prosperity scores increase from 2020, with most also ranking higher than in 2019 – Arun and Worthing returned to their 2019 rankings after a drop in 2020.
While the index was designed to highlight the huge imbalances across the country, it also showed some imbalances within West Sussex itself.
For example, Crawley has one of the highest levels of infrastructure in the country, ranking 6th, while Chichester ranks 269th and Arun 235th.
By contrast, when it came to enterprise conditions – how easy it is for businesses to start up, compete and expand – Chichester rated 31st out of 379 while Crawley and Adur rated 258th and 256th respectively.
Steve Sawyer, executive director of the Manor Royal Business Improvement District, said:
“I think the lack of land to accommodate the demand for commercial and residential development, with the impact that has on higher rents, could be a factor in making it a more expensive place to start a business alongside the competition for quality staff.
“This can sometimes be the consequences of a successful economy where high demand can make things more difficult.
“The desire for big business to be in Crawley, having to safeguard land for a possible second runway at Gatwick Airport and Brexit has made life more tricky.”
Almost the entire county ranked highly for economic quality – how well a local economy is equipped to generate wealth sustainably – with Crawley placing 15th, Horsham 25th and only Worthing placing outside the top 100.
Living conditions, the natural environment and safety & security were the areas which saw Mid Sussex shine, placing highest in the county for all three.
When it came to social capital – the strength of family, personal and social relationships, institutional trust, and civic participation – the entire county placed well within the top 100.
But the scores for education – including the level of skills in the adult population – saw the figures range from 216th in Mid Sussex to 314th in Worthing.
Such a contrast between the positives and negatives of one county highlighted a major issue with the whole ‘levelling-up’ conversation – a conversation the Index report said was ‘far too simplistic’.
It added:
“Talk about ‘north-south’ divides misses considerable variation both between and within regions.
“No region is homogeneous; there are different ‘archetypes’ of prosperity in each region, each comes with its own unique challenges and opportunities.”
Baroness Philippa Stroud, CEO of the Legatum Institute, said the UK placed 13th in the global Prosperity Index and had been ‘making great strides in many of the things that already dominate the debate about levelling up, including infrastructure, and the natural environment’.
She added:
“We have a strong economy powered by innovators and a world-class education system, but we are held back by declining enterprise conditions, weak health systems that were simply not pandemic ready, and have insufficiently created the environment in which our family life and relationships have been able to thrive and feel valued.
“All of our concern has been for the economy—but actually our concern should have been much more focused on who we are becoming and not on what we are getting.
“To really become a prosperous nation, Britain needs to become a place where we truly value the family, where we care for one another, investing in our mental and physical wellbeing and where we can innovate and build businesses that are not stifled by unnecessary regulation.”
A spokesman for West Sussex County Council said the publication of a prosperity index was ‘an interesting development’.
Questioning whether much of the data pre-dated the pandemic, the spokesman said they were concerned it ‘does not reflect the current position of our communities’.
They added:
“Use of the index to allocate government funding may therefore have unfair implications on the county”
Professor Matthew Goodwin, director of the Centre for UK Prosperity, said the government needed to be ‘bolder’ when it came to ‘levelling up regions that have historically been left behind’.
He added:
“Amid the UK’s ‘reset moment’, we need to do more than just level up regions to the status quo.
“We need to be much more ambitious and reach entirely new heights, by creating the conditions that will allow all of our regions and communities to reach their full potential.”
That ‘reset moment’ was, of course, Brexit.
Over in Crawley, that and safeguarded land south of Gatwick Airport have proven to be something of a thorn.
Mr Sawyer said:
“I would like to see the freedoms promised by Brexit materialise, for the extent of the safeguarded area to be challenged more rigorously to free up space for much-needed development and to look at ways to make it easier for smaller businesses to find the premises they need to grow.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised, if all the plans in place for the town come to fruition, for Crawley to rise further up the rankings in 2022 and beyond and to reinforce its position as a highly desirable location for businesses and a driver of the Gatwick Diamond economy.”