Member Article

Warrington tops Centre for Cities Small Business Outlook table

Centre for Cities has published its annual Small Business Outlook report which ranks Warrington as tenth in the list of UK’s top ten cities where small and medium enterprises (SME’s) are pursuing high-growth strategies that are fuelling the nation’s economic recovery.

The report looked at and compared 64 UK cities. Warrington is classified as a ‘city’ in the report by population (207,000). Warrington is the only ‘city’ in the sub-region listed in the top ten.

Warrington was also ranked in the findings as number one in the UK for high growth SME’s (for the period 2010 -2013) and also as having the third highest SME average job gain per business.

Firms pursuing high-growth strategies are more likely to be more productive and more profitable, and drive national economic growth over the longer term, the report declares.

However, the report also identifies significant regional variations in small business performance across the UK, with cities including Cambridge, Edinburgh and Warrington significantly more likely to house firms pursuing high-growth strategies than cities such as Liverpool and Chatham.

The Small Business Outlook report once again demonstrates that Warrington is one of only a few ‘cities’ that continue to improve and is setting the pace for the North West region and outstripping most of the UK.

Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, Alexandra Jones, said: “Cities with the largest share of SMEs employing high-growth strategies have wages that are, on average, 18 per cent higher than the bottom five cities.

“Firms that adopted higher growth strategies are less likely to have taken cost-cutting approaches – such as implementing redundancies – during the recession, and are now more likely to be actively recruiting and expanding their businesses in the recovery’.

Cllr Terry O’Neill, Leader, Warrington Borough Council, said: “This is yet another affirmation of Warrington’s status as one of the premier UK locations for business. We have in place a robust framework to maintain and grow that position, Warrington Means Business.

“And we do mean business, over the last twelve months we’ve announced projects totalling £476 million of which £227 million is either built or is underway.

One project that has just started on site the construction of an £8.5 million Business Incubator that we are building in the centre of town. Warrington is a business start up hot spot and we are keen to assist those start ups to flourish.

Steve Park, Managing Director, Warrington & Co., Warrington’s partnership for driving economic growth said: “SME’s are the lifeblood of a local economy and so for Warrington to be ranked number one in the UK is a clear sign of business confidence in the town and its investment potential.”

Warrington & Co. is working in partnership in driving a number of key regeneration projects that are well underway. Omega is a prime example and we now have the £190 million Stadium Quarter project on site and soon to be followed by the £52 million Bridge Street regeneration scheme. And more announcements are forthcoming. Watch this space.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .