Supply chain logistics is one of the emerging industries that could become an economic powerhouse for the South East, new research by the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) has found.
The sector saw £10 billion of investment funding nationally in 2022 alone, compared to £3.5 billion of investment funding in the previous 20 years combined.
It is just one of a number of new and emerging sectors whose presence, from business counts to turnover, has been explored in ‘State of the Region,’ SELEP’s analytic report of the South East economy.
Others include life sciences, net zero, digital creative industries, advanced manufacturing, food tech, modular construction, and agritech.
The report also sets out how in the last five years, SELEP has seen strong growth in sectors such as manufacturing of clothing, textiles and beverages along with warehousing, film/TV production, specialised construction activities and civil engineering.
SELEP incoming Chief Executive, Helen Russell, said: “This is a great piece of work from our Strategy and Intelligence team, providing a comprehensive review of SELEP’s current economic performance and how it has been impacted in recent years. It considers over 40 indicators covering place, economy, employment, skills and sectors and is intended to provide an evidence-based approach to strategic economic growth, supporting the LEP and its partners in economic planning, strategy and business case developments.”
The report also provides a snapshot of the SELEP economy, with GVA estimated to be £101.6 billion in 2023, a 5% share of the UK total. While this was a loss of £3.2 billion, or 3.2% from 2019 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a smaller impact than the 3.6% of the UK as a whole, suggesting the SELEP economy is relatively resilient.
With a population of 4.268 million in 2021, SELEP has 6.4% of the total UK population, covering the areas of Essex, Southend, Thurrock, Kent, Medway and East Sussex. It is the largest LEP area outside London in terms of population size. Its population is also larger than that of Wales.
The SELEP housing stock stood at 1.89 million dwellings in March 2022, and increased by 8.4% or 146,200 net new dwellings in the most recent ten-year period. In 2022/23, SELEP remained the most productive LEP for housing delivery outside of London, with 4,170 more new dwellings completions than South East Midlands, the next largest provider.
In addition, the region produces 3.8 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per capita, which is less than the UK average of 4.6.
For further details click here to read the report. Or, here for a summary of key findings.