Future proofing rural communities in Warwickshire

Warwickshire’s rural dwellers are being encouraged to move to the forefront of the battle to address climate change by creating a ‘cheaper, greener, more sustainable’ future for their countryside communities.
Warwickshire Rural Community Council (WRCC) says that, historically, rural communities have always been willing to embrace change and see the strong community spirit at the heart [...]

Inward investment: record high for West Midlands

In the period 2008 to 2009 the West Midlands region received 117 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, a record high since records began in 1991 (shown by the blue line in the graph below).

Observatory collaborates with CSWP to develop new sub-regional strategy

The Observatory is pleased to continue our long standing links with the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Partnership (CSWP) through a forthcoming project aimed at exploring future economic prospects for the sub-region.
We were commissioned in 2007 to deliver an initial economic assessment for CSWP. This report provided CSWP with a review of the strengths and weaknesses [...]

Latest gross disposable household income estimates indicate metropolitan West Midlands is UK’s poorest sub-region

The 2007 Regional Gross Disposable Household Income (GDHI) (Word, 411KB) estimates are released today by the Office for National Statistics.
Indexed GDHI per head (where UK=100) for the West Midlands in 2007 was 90, stable in comparison to the revised 2006 index value of 90.
GDHI per head in the West Midlands rose from £12,700 in 2006 to [...]

West Midlands rural areas hit particularly hard by recession

The Observatory’s Skills Team are working on an assessment of skills and labour market issues in the rural areas of the West Midlands on behalf of the Regional Skills Partnership and the Rural Affairs Forum.
While we expect to publish in April 2009, we can report now on emerging findings relating to the impact of the recession.
Rural areas [...]

State of Warwickshire Report 2008

The State of Warwickshire Report provides messages that will assist Warwickshire County Council decision makers in identifying priorities and understanding some of the key issues facing Warwickshire today.
This is the first State of Warwickshire Report published by the Warwickshire Observatory.

Warwickshire economic briefing

Warwickshire Observatory and Warwickshire County Council’s Regeneration Strategy Team have joined forces to produce their first economic bulletin to monitor the impact of the economic downturn on Warwickshire.
The bulletins are scheduled to be released monthly, and the first issue begins by looking at the national picture with the country now officially in recession following two [...]

West Midlands local development annual monitoring reports

The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires local planning authorities to regularly monitor planning policies that affect the planning and development of their areas.

Each council is required to produce an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) which is published in December to assess the effectiveness of policy in the Local Development Framework.
These show whether the progress [...]

West Midlands produced 3rd strongest regional growth in England, according to latest GVA per head figures

The 2007 Regional and 2006 Sub-Regional Gross Value Added (GVA) data are released today by the Office for National Statistics. Indexed GVA per head (where UK=100) for the West Midlands in 2007 was 86.0, a marginal decrease from the revised 2006 index value of 86.1. GVA per head in the West Midlands rose from £16,300 [...]

Sharing intelligence from Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire

Yesterday, I attended the Coventry, Solihull and Wawickshire Researchers’ Forum to demonstrate the Regional Resource Catalogue and show how the data and intelligence in the catalogue might support the work that they’re engaged in, and also to encourage further contributions to the catalogue from members of the forum to help share their data and intelligence [...]

Research vacancies in the West Midlands

The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement is currently advertising for two posts in their Research and Evaluation team on a secondment and maternity cover basis.
The posts are both full time and based at the University of Warwick Campus in Coventry. For details on how to apply, job description and contacts, visit the NHS Institute [...]

Questionnaire on benefits of local information systems

This questionnaire is part of a research project, commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government, to investigate the way users of local information systems benefit from the data and statistics the systems provide. The aim of the questionnaire is to obtain information about how you use the system and the way it helps [...]

West Midlands Regional Integrated Economic Assessment published

The West Midlands is the first English region to produce a Regional Integrated Economic Assessment. The aim of the project is to provide an assessment of the performance of the West Midlands’ economy and of the factors which contribute to it. It also assesses the relative position of the different parts of the region.
The Assessment [...]

Wychavon the best council to work for say employees

Wychavon District Council has been nominated as the “Best Council to Work For” based on a survey supported by IDeA, Local Government Employers (LGE), Best Companies Ltd, and The Times newspaper.
It was also selected as the best council for training and developing its staff in the 2008 survey. Three other West Midlands councils were in [...]

Local Area Agreements: The next generation

In June 2008, 150 new Local Area Agreements (LAA) were signed off by central government. A Local Area Agreement is a three year agreement, based on local Sustainable Community Strategies, that sets out the priorities for a local area.
The 14 strategic authorities in the West Midlands each have a Local Area Agreement.