The county council works with a number of
sub-regional economic partnerships that operate in the county and
across county borders. These partnerships are able to focus
activity on specific geographic areas to address the needs
identified within them.
Suffolk Development Agency (SDA)
The SDA is an agent for economic development and
regeneration and was set up to draw together organisations and
individuals within the private, public and voluntary sectors with
responsibility for, and the capacity to influence, the development
and performance of the Suffolk economy and to improve the economic
prosperity of the county. The SDA coordinates and delivers a number
of key county wide initiatives:
Inward Investment and Tourism
The SDA coordinates these activities for key partners in the
county. It is responsible for the maintenance of the
Choose Suffolk web
site, which offers information for businesses seeking to relocate
or expand in Suffolk as well as information for those wishing to
visit the county for tourism.
Suffolk Observatory
The
Observatory
provides a range of socio-economic data on the county as well as
specific research reports and analysis.
Investing in Communities
Supported by EEDA. Investing in Communities (IIC) is an innovative
programme, which encourages a holistic partnership approach to
tackling regeneration and renewal in deprived communities in the
East of England. In developing the Suffolk programme the SDA have
drawn on local evidence of need and strategic priorities to draw up
a Business Plan backed by a strong needs analysis for their
proposed interventions.
Please visit the
SDA web
site for further information.
Haven Gateway Partnership
The five Haven ports of Felixstowe, Harwich
International, Harwich Navyard, Ipswich and Mistley represent the
single most important cluster of ports in the UK. Based on their
central role as hubs and generators of economic activity, the Haven
Gateway Partnership provides a framework within which its partner
organisations - from the private and public sectors - can work
together to promote economic opportunities and secure the future
prosperity of the region.
The Haven Gateway 'sub-region' is one of the
fastest growing areas of Britain, significant not only within the
country, but also the European Union. Together the Haven ports
represent the single most important grouping in the UK. Commerce
has flourished given the area's strategic position as a gateway for
the British Isles, the European mainland and the wider world
The Partnership is structurally split into six
working groups which meet regularly to discuss projects and
activities within their sector, and report back to the
partnership's Board. These are:
Education & Skills,
Transportation and Infrastructure,
Planning and
Regeneration,
Marketing & Promotion,
Business Development and
Tourism and Culture. In addition, the partnership also
manages its own Investing in Communities programme
(
http://www.haven-gateway.org/activities/investing_in_communities.asp)
The Government has put the Haven Gateway sub region
firmly on the map by declaring it a 'New Growth Point'. The
special status will help deliver critical funding for vital
infrastructure and development projects through a new long-term
partnership between the Department for Communities and Local
Government (DCLG) and the Haven Gateway Partnership.
In support of Haven Gateway's growth ambitions
Government has allocated around £5.52m in 2007-08 from the first
year's funding pot, subject to detailed negotiation and
appraisal. A further allocation of £17.4, spread over
2008-2011 was announced in December 2007. For further
information please visit the Haven Gateway website at
http://www.haven-gateway.org.
Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth
The sub region straddles the county border between
Suffolk and Norfolk. Both towns have had similar problems in
recent years resulting in high unemployment and pockets of
deprivation.
A number of recent studies of the area have
recommended that alongside the development of the existing
industries there needs to be a diversification into new sectors. In
particular there is a need for continued social and physical
regeneration of the area, which should be focussed on the
regeneration of the two towns as a whole. Two key development in
response to this have been the creation of the Lowestoft and Great
Yarmouth Urban Regeneration Company and the support for the
offshore renewables sector based in the sub-region.
1st East Urban Regeneration Company
1st East is an Urban
Regeneration company aiming to generate economic growth by
co-ordinating development in the brownfield and waterfront
areas of Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.
An Urban Regeneration Company (URC) is a separate private legal
entity. It seeks to achieve a radical physical transformation of
its area through implementation of its shared vision in a way that
could not be achieved through individual ad hoc decisions. A URC is
an expert in its local area, and the local authority, local
employers, amenity groups and community representatives play an
important part in its work, with the regional context represented
by the Regional Development Agency (RDA). A URC coordinates
investment plans from both the public and the private sectors, and
attracts new investment through the purposeful and imaginative
promotion and regeneration of its area. For further information
about related activities, please visit our
Economic Regeneration Projects page and the 1st East web site
at
www.1steast.co.uk.
Offshore renewable sector
Lowestoft and
Great Yarmouth, in the East of England, have traditionally a strong
industry base in the offshore oil and gas sector, with substantial
energy and marine experience. The ports of these twin towns
are ideally located for serving a large number of offshore wind
farms. As the most easterly point of the UK, they are between
two of the UK, “Round Two” offshore wind areas, where 13 of the 15
licenses for large scale offshore wind farms were awarded: the
Thames Estuary and the Greater Wash area.
The region has
the ambition of becoming one of the key players in offshore wind
energy for the UK. This aspiration has broad political and
institutional support. One key project to further this
aspiration is the planned high profile OrbisEnergy
Centre in Lowestoft, which will be opening in July 2008.
Funded by the Regional Development Agency, Objective 2 and local
councils, the Centre will support the development of the
offshore renewables sector, providing quality office accommodation,
a landmark building for the sector and the region, and the
opportunity to closely link research and education with business
activities. For further information on this project, please visit
the OrbisEnergy website at
www.orbisenergy.net.