The County Councils Network (CCN) has called for the government to “unshackle” levelling up in county areas as a new report reveals that foreign direct investment (FDI) is unevenly focused across England.
Research from EY, commissioned by the CCN, has found that between 2018 and 2021 there were 761 FDI projects secured in counties, which is 7.3 per capita. This is almost half the ratio of projects secured by the nine combined authorities (13.2 per capita) and seven times less than London’s ratio of 50 FDI projects per capita.
The report also revealed that county and rural areas are better placed to support a more diverse range of FDI investments to help the economy through a recession. However, counties currently lack the skills, workforce and infrastructure to attract investors.
Tim Oliver, CCN chairman, said: “County areas lag behind the major cities and London when it comes to FDI, which is unevenly spread across the country.
“The cities are the ones with devolution deals where they can pull the levers that make places more attractive to investors, so it is vital the government turbocharges devolution to the county areas currently at an economic disadvantage.
“If we are to level up the country, then government must unshackle county areas.”
Levelling up secretary Michael Gove has announced that he was beginning devolution discussions with nine county areas in February. However, devolution deals have only been agreed in three areas so far.
The CCN has therefore called for the government to speed up negotiations and begin a fresh wave of county deals before the end of the year to enable counties to attract more FDI.
Rohan Malik, EY’s UK&I government and infrastructure leader, said: “The potential for local authorities to attract greater private sector investment is there, but it will require a combined approach with business, central government and local authorities working closely together and taking action for the long term.”
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