Norwich ranks 14th out of 42 cities for its ‘good growth’
Norwich moved up four places in the annual 'Good Growth' index but was below the national average when it came to housing affordability, suggesting property is becoming too expensive. Pic: Getty images
Norwich moved up four places in the national league table for 'good growth' which looks at factors like the unemployment rate, the average income of workers and travel to work times.
The Good Growth for Cities 2019 index shows Norwich moving up four places compared with last year largely due to improvements in income distribution and the work-life balance - measured by the percentage of people working 45 hours or more a week.
The PWC, PricewaterhouseCoopers index measures the performance of 42 of the UK's largest cities, England's Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and 10 combined authorities, against 10 criteria which the public think are most important when it comes to economic well-being. These include jobs, health, income and skills, as well as house affordability, travel-to-work times, income equality, environment such as the carbon emissions and the number of business start-up per head of population.
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For the third year running, Oxford, Reading and Southampton remain the top three performing UK cities with the south-east outperforming the rest of the UK, with seven out of nine cities scoring above the UK average. However, Norwich ranked below the index average for housing affordability suggesting the area is becoming increasingly unaffordable. It was also the only city in the south-east below the national average for the number of new businesses per head of population.
PwC partner and local government leader Jonathan House said: "In an era of political, technological and environmental disruption, cities and regions that want to get ahead need to do things differently. Our research shows the need to take a comprehensive approach to growth, focusing on improving productivity to compete on a global stage, but also on ensuring fairness and inclusive growth so that people and places don't feel left behind.
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"The UK's cities are known globally for their skills, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. Our most successful cities know that they don't compete against other UK cities, they compete against cities across Europe, the Middle East and the US."
To download the full report click here
