Informing the development of the Buckinghamshire Economic Strategy

Overview

We are seeking views from businesses to help inform the development of a refreshed Economic Strategy for Buckinghamshire.

What we are doing

We are refreshing our Economic Strategy. The previous economic strategy, the Buckinghamshire Industrial Strategy, was published in 2019.

The refreshed strategy will consider long-term drivers of change and what we can do at a local level to improve economic productivity and therefore the vitality of the local economy.

We want to ensure the new strategy takes the views of Buckinghamshire’s businesses into account. We are particularly keen to understand the benefits and challenges of operating a business in Buckinghamshire (excluding Milton Keynes), and what could be done at a local level to help businesses improve profitability and / or grow.

How the strategy will be used

The strategy will be used to guide local investment decisions, co-ordinate the work of institutions who have the ability to influence economic growth and help attract national and international funding into the county.

About the Buckinghamshire economy

Whilst Buckinghamshire's economy is stronger than the economies of many other areas of England, it is not as strong as it once was, and tends to be out-performed by its neighbours and the rest of the South East.

More about the local economy More about the local economy

Tradable sectors (i.e. sectors producing goods and services that can be traded outside of the area in which they are produced) tend to generate the best returns for local areas in terms of high-quality jobs and knock-on benefits for other sectors of the economy. Buckinghamshire has a smaller tradeable sector than our neighbouring areas of Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes.

The construction, manufacturing and wholesale sectors generate the most economic output for Buckinghamshire. Whilst the administration and support services, and the health and social work sectors provide the most jobs within the county.

Buckinghamshire’s strategic growth sectors and clusters as identified in 2019 are TV & film, high performance engineering, space and MedTech. In addition, a number of global life science companies are based in the county.

Buckinghamshire’s green economy specialisms include low carbon transport, ‘reduce, repair, recycle’, diversion of waste from landfill and power.

Buckinghamshire has a relatively low proportion of high growth firms, and the number of high growth firms in the county has fallen year-on-year since 2018.

Micro firms are more dominant in the Buckinghamshire economy than the national average, but large companies provide a significant number of jobs.

Buckinghamshire’s largest businesses (employing more than 250 people) are mainly located in the far south of the county (in particular along the M4 corridor), in Aylesbury and in the far north of the county (in the area which includes Silverstone Park).

Our thinking so far

The ultimate aim of a refreshed economic strategy for Buckinghamshire will be to ensure that we maximise potential to create a thriving, sustainable economy that creates good work for all.

The strategy will consider how the public and private sector can work together to:

grow key sectors in which Buckinghamshire has a comparative advantage, including:
- innovation assets
- firms undertaking world-leading research and development
create the conditions for good growth, including:
- appropriate skills pipeline
- right commercial premises offer
- right strategic employment sites
- good transport links
- affordable housing
- vibrant town centres
- high quality business support
improve the productivity of our business base, for example:
- supporting leadership and management development
- supporting businesses in the adoption of new technologies
- improving the commercialisation of innovation
- growing export activity

Looking over the next 10 years, it is proposed that spatially, efforts are focused on:

completing the Buckinghamshire Enterprise Zone programme
ensuring there are appropriate strategic employment sites in the north and south of Buckinghamshire
- strategic employment sites are significant areas of employment land which have locational advantages and / or provide opportunities for regionally or nationally important economic growth
improving the viability of our towns as places to work, live, study and do business

How to have your say

You can tell us your views in one of the following ways:

complete the online survey using the link at the end of the page
email us at pgsandcommunitiesbi@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

The online survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

If you have any questions about this activity, please email us at pgsandcommunitiesbi@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

Please tell us your views by 11:59pm on Sunday 7 July 2024.

What happens next

The responses to the survey will be reviewed and will help inform the final strategy.

The final strategy is due to be published by the end of 2024.

Privacy

We will use the information you provide here only for this activity. We will store the information securely in line with data protection laws and will not share or publish any personal details. For more information about data and privacy, please see our Privacy Policy.

Your data will also be shared with Buckinghamshire Business First who operate the Buckinghamshire’s Growth Hub. For details of how they process your data, please read their Privacy Policy.

If you have questions about data and privacy, please email us on dataprotection@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or write to our Data Protection Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF.

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