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In the Shadow of a Giant. Coreperipheral contrasts in South East England. Dan O’Donoghue Director of Urban and Regional Studies Canterbury Christ Church University SPATIAL CONTEXT The south east of England is one of the most dynamic economic regions in the world. It is the engine of the British Economy and accounts for approximately 40% of the national workforce. The global city of London is the focal point of this polycentric world city region. Within this global city region there are marked contrasts between core and peripheral sub-regions. This paper will use data from the 2007 UK Annual Business Inquiry . (UK employment census) 46 Travel to Work Areas (TTWAs) in the region. Location Quotients and percentages are used to identify spatial concentrations of selected employment types Spatial contrasts and patterns will highlight some key issues Specific emphasis will be placed on Kent To provide context for field excursions later in the Conference Sectors to be examined FIRE – Finance, Insurance and Real Estate Link between Finance and Global Cities well established in the literature APS – Advanced Producer Services Link between APS and city size well established in the literature Peripheral growth of back office APS functions well established HRB – Hotels, Restaurants and Bars Often associated with tourism / cultural function Higher Education Role of Specialised Centres identified in the literature Public Sector Role of the State in regional development debated in the literature 46 TTWAs 3 NUTS regions •London •South East England •East Anglia Some TTWAs multi-centred Clear Polycentric Pattern Size falls away with distance from London Distance Decay not uniform in all directions FIRE LQs Norwich Highest LQ Largely down to HQ of one firm Dominant regional centre London, Crawley, Brighton, Worthing, Andover LQ > 1 City of London, Canary Wharf Amex, Gatwick Airport Very Low in large parts of East Anglia, and East Kent Rural, isolated, poor transport infrastructure – Ashford? APS LQs Highest LQ Guildford & Aldershot, Reading & Bracknell West London Wedge LQ > 1 London, Cambridge, Luton&Watford, Wycombe&Slough, Milton Keynes&Aylesbury, Oxford, Newbury, Basingstoke East – West Divide Very Low in large parts of East Anglia, and Kent HRB LQs Isle of Wight, Cromer&Sheringham >1.5 Two most distant from London, beyond the shadow? London, along South East Coast, Norfolk Broads and Coast LQ > 1 Tourism, or something else? Very Low in large parts of city region In the Shadow? Distinct ring around London. Hi ED LQs Canterbury, Cambridge and Oxford LQs >4 Then Second tier of University towns/cities London, Lots of Higher Ed, but drowned out by background noise / city size. Very Low in large parts of immediate city region In the Shadow? Distinct ring around London. You are either in or out of London. London Region Average 28% Low - Newbury 16.5% High – Canterbury 39.7% University Towns/Cities and South and east Coasts mainly above average employment in Public Sector London and Western Crescent High Private Sector This region corresponds to APS map Very Low in large parts of immediate city region In the Shadow? The shadow is not uniform. Western Crescent or Arc Re-idendified, some mention in literature Size of Locations, density increases along major motorways, and other communication axes, toward other larger centres in the National Urban System. •Infrastructure matters •Size Matters Away from Peninuslar South East, i.e. Kent, East Anglia •Geography Matters •An Island Matters •Tradition Matters •Europe doesn’t matter? Clear Gradient from London to East Kent East Kent outside the Shadow, West Kent in the Shadow East Kent and North Kent former industrial regions, more so than rest of Southeast – still suffering Main transport networks to Europe seem to make little difference – bypass peripheral areas New Hi Speed Rail not had impact yet, though Ashford has had 15 years of Eurostar. Many declining Seaside Towns, older populations, deprived populations, reliant on public sector. Despite huge Higher Education employment in East Kent not similar eco development as Cambridge and Oxford Loss of Pfizer 3000 more jobs going over next few months, multinational withdrawal National fiscal policy likely to hit East Kent very hard due to high public sector employment and government cuts Conclusions •London casts a huge Shadow over South east region so not all share equally the benefits of London’s Global City Status. •It is clear that distance from London and place in the urban hierarchy are important indicators of employment structure. •Distance, Size, Geography, Transport, History, Politics, Governance all matter. •Policy initiatives needs to be reviewed. More retail led regeneration initiatives are unlikely to work. One size fits all. •Need to build on advantages provided by Geography and Location. Beaches, Piers, Harbours, Runways, Tunnels, Cliffs, Cathedrals and build on the advantages of proximity to London. Olympic Games could show off the region. •East Kent in particular is far enough away from London to be outside the Shadow in some senses. It should take advantage of that.