Leicestershire provides the right economic environment where government departments and agencies can be confident they can operate successfully for many years. Business disruption will be minimised by locating here. Financially, Leicestershire will provide significant cost savings on both labour and property, compared with London. What other location can combine significant financial savings with an integrated package that includes a central UK location easily accessible from all major UK cities and regions, close proximity to London, excellent communications links and a dynamic, multi-racial and skilled labour market?
Leicestershire is recognised as enjoying a unique set of characteristics to support successful regeneration and investment. Due to its unique set of demographics, the area is a dynamic and creative place, which is ideal for an organisation committed to innovation. It offers government departments and agencies a test-bed of the very varied needs and challenges that the public sector must address.
A detailed assessment of the local economy together with a wide range of research reports can be found on the
Leicester Shire Intelligence web site. Leicester Shire Intelligence provides high quality research and intelligence about the City of Leicester and County of Leicestershire. It acts as a central point for economic information for Leicestershire, providing key statistics, analysis and access to quality assured research projects.
A Place to do Business
Recent independent reports that have recognised Leicestershire’s advantages include:
King Sturge – Leicester is the only place that came out in the top quartile in every category in the review examining suitability of locations for the relocation of public sector offices.
ICC Credit Survey (2005) of the proportion of profitable firms in UK towns and cities with a turnover of £7 million or more – Loughborough (Leicestershire) ranked 10th, Leicester ranked 37th, Nottingham ranked 54th, Derby ranked 75th
Leicester is rated in the top 10 UK retail destinations, in terms of consumer sales. The £250 million
Shires Shopping Centre Extension capital investment scheme (including a new John Lewis store) in 2008 will further increase the area’s status as a national shopping location. The Fosse Park Retail Park on the outskirts of Leicester is the UK’s third largest retail park in terms of sales. Leicester (2), Fosse Park (9) and Loughborough (10) also rank in the top ten retail centres in the East Midlands.
A City for the Future
The City of Leicester is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Recently dubbed the “Cinderella City”, this dynamic and cosmopolitan city has embarked on an ambitious and exciting £2 billion investment programme that will see the creation of a new City Centre office quarter next to the railway station, an expansion of the Shires Shopping Centre to be anchored by a new John Lewis department store, a £48 million performing arts centre, a massive programme of city centre town and waterside housing, waterfront and marina development, and the biggest investment in acute health care services outside London. This investment will provide a dynamic new future, not only for the City but the region as a whole.
Examples of investment planned in Leicester over the next 5 years:
- The New Business Quarter (Office Development) in the City Centre - £165 million
- A New Science and Technology Park at Abbey Meadows, to the north of the City Centre - £100 million
- Wolsey Island (residential) Development, next to Abbey Meadows - £295 million
- New Community (Housing) Development - £275 million
- Waterside Development - £344 million
- A new Performing Arts Centre - £48 million
- Retail Sector expansion - £250 million
- City Centre Public Realm investment - £15 million
- University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust - £761 million "Pathway" investment in its hospital services
- Leicester City Primary Care NHS Trusts - £50 million to provide health and social care centres
- University of Leicester - £300m development plan is transforming its campus
- De Montfort University - £250 million spent or committed to massive regeneration of the University Quarter
- Leicester City Further Education Colleges - for example Leicester College's £40 million rationalisation and rebuilding of its estate
Business Activity
The year-on-year figures for central Leicester over the last 4 years show a 99% increase in major planning applications compared to the previous 4 years. This compares to an average of 25% nationally.
In the Summer 2005 Leicestershire Business Survey, 42% of companies in Leicestershire reported an increase in turnover and 42% predicted an increase in profits over the next six months.
Half of all Leicestershire companies are planning to expand with 10% saying they plan to expand rapidly and 39% gradually.
The outlook for exports is also looking positive, with 28% of companies in Leicestershire saying their advanced overseas orders had increased over the past six months.
60% of companies in Leicestershire area reported that they were recruiting staff and that recruitment difficulties were lower than six months ago.
In terms of e-commerce, 80% of internet users now used Broadband, an increase from 52% in Winter 2003/04. Due to recent investments in broadband coverage, the difference between urban and rural areas is also declining sharply.
Inward Investment
The area is not only experiencing massive public sector investment. Table 1 illustrates the number of recent business relocations and expansions that have taken place in Leicestershire.
Table 1. Recent Relocations and Expansions in Leicestershire
Company | Company Activity | Jobs |
HSBC | Banking | 800 |
TNT | Call Centre/Distribution | 250 |
Centrica Business Services | Call Centre | 1000 |
Leicester Paper Company | Manufacturing | 750 |
British Gas Services | Energy | 600 |
FloGas | Energy | 60 |
Lafarge | Regional HQ | 400 |
Viking Direct | Distribution/Call Centre | 800 |
Infoterra | Space Industry | 80 |
Expedia | Travel Company | 200 |
Meggitt (Dunlop Aerospace) | Engineering | 280 |
Asimco | Automotive Components | 18 |
Source: Invest Leicestershire 2005
ICT Infrastructure
An independent assessment by Ecotec (2004) indicates that Leicestershire is already well served in respect of the advanced ICT infrastructure and services it can offer both the business and home user. There has been significant recent investment in high capacity ICT infrastructure. In line with the area’s
Intelligent Landscape ICT strategy, partners in the area are committed to ensuring that every household and business in the area has access high capacity, cost-effective, resilience technology.
From a business users perspective, the area is exceptional in that it already possesses two business parks - Carlton Park (Junction 21, M1) and Pegasus Business Park (Junction 23A, M1) – which have been designated as prestigious BT eLocations. A BT eLocation benefits from resilient network infrastructure with instant backup systems, rapid installation of operational systems, dedicated high capacity bandwidth, resilient and secure connections, and priority in the national rollout of new technology.
Planning is currently underway for the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will provide on-demand resilient managed bandwidth at speeds of up to 1Gb/s over fibre rings for flagship sites in Leicester City Centre – the New Business Quarter and the new Science and Technology Park. Dark fibre and ducts will be available for organisations with very specific service requirements. The SPV will ensure world-class connectivity and services at a competitive price through aggregation and diversity of supply.
Universal Broadband service coverage within Leicestershire actively supports home working options. All local exchanges with the City of Leicester and County area have been enabled to allow them to provide broadband services.
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