South West

Introduction

The South West is the largest of the nine English regions, extending over 350km from the south west tip of Cornwall to the northern border of Gloucestershire. The region also has the highest percentage of rural land of any English region, and the highest percentage of population living in rural districts. The main urban areas are Bristol, Bournemouth & Poole, Plymouth, Swindon, Gloucester, Torbay, Cheltenham and Exeter. The largest of these, the Bristol urban area, has a population of more than half a million people and is the ninth largest urban area by population in England and Wales. In the South West there are six counties, containing a total of 35 districts; there are also ten unitary authorities.

The three major road routes into the South West from the east are the M4 from London, the A31 along the south coast, and the A303 mid-country. Traffic from the north is mostly along the M5, which continues down the region until joining the A30 serving Devon and Cornwall beyond Exeter. The region has several main line railways, with good services east to west and along the south coast. However, some outlying areas are less well served, as are some north-south connections. The South West has major ports at Bristol (Avonmouth and Portbury), Poole and Plymouth; the latter two include ferry ports. The region also has international airports at Bristol, Exeter and Bournemouth.

There is a marked dichotomy in prosperity within the South West, with the north and east being the economically most productive areas, whereas Gross Value Added (GVA) levels and earnings are considerably lower in the western counties. Cornwall receives EU Objective 1 funding. Although the overall regional breakdown of industries by sector is much as for the whole of England, in many areas agriculture and tourism are economically very important.

Recent Visits

• on 21 May 2008, Jim Fitzpatrick, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, opened a new heavy goods vehicle (HGV) testing centre in Bristol
• on 20 May 2008, Rosie Winterton, Secretary of State for Transport, gave a speech to the Carfree Communities conference in Bristol, and announced funding approval for £42m for the Greater Bristol Bus Network
• on 12 May 2008, Pat McFadden, Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs visited Gooch & Housego (Torquay) Ltd in Torbay
• on 14 February 2008, Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Excequer, visited various businesses in Bristol, including Watershed, Aardmann Animations, Knowle Media Centre and Airbus
• on 14 January 2008, Jim Knight, Minister for Schools and Learners, visited the John Cabot Academy in Bristol to launch a regional roadshow aimed at raising awareness of the 2012 Olympics

Demographics for the South West

Mid-2006 Population Estimates

Figures updated annually. Last update August 2007. Source: Office for National Statistics.

Regional Minister for the South West: Ben Bradshaw MP

Children and Learners

Large-scale Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects are providing new and replacement schools across the region. These include:

• a £57.3m project in Bristol to rebuild/refurbish four secondary schools, including Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision in the form of an autistic unit at one of the schools. The contract was signed in March 2004, and all schools became operational from September 2006
• a £71m project in Cornwall for a new secondary school, a new primary school, and the extension and modernisation of 15 existing primary schools, in the Truro and Penryn areas. The contract was signed in March 2004
• a £79m project in Devon remodelled a primary school and replaced five high schools. The contract was signed in March 2004. The primary school opened in April 2005; works on the high schools were phased from September 2005 to January 2006
• a £62.8m project in Swindon will provide three new primary schools, one new secondary, two special schools (one primary and one secondary) and a replacement building for a further secondary school. The contract was signed in April 2005

Health and Well Being

• over £137m is being spent on major redevelopments within the United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust precinct. These include Bristol Heart Institute, which is scheduled to open by February 2009. The centralisation of specialist paediatrics and Bristol Royal Infirmary redevelopment scheme are scheduled to be completed by 2012-13
• a £374m redevelopment of North Bristol Hospitals Trust's Southmead Hospital is currently in progress; the hospital will be completed by 2013-14. This brings together services that are currently provided in two hospitals sites to Southmead. Construction of a new Academic Centre, including a £45.5m pathology facility, started in 2007
• in Plymouth, £39m was allocated to the Plateau Project to build a new and expanded Cardiothoracic Centre at Derriford Hospital, which opened in June 2007. Funded by the National Heart Team, South West Strategic Health Authority (SHA), Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the Peninsula Medical School, the centre will increase the number of heart operations performed at the hospital. The centre also houses a general critical care unit, research and development unit, and seminar and training rooms for the medical school

Crime

• Bournemouth, Bristol, Exeter, Gloucester and Plymouth have been named as five of the 40 priority Respect Action Areas in England, for being councils who have strong records in tackling anti-social behaviour. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is also backing the scheme with £6m of funding in 2007-08 for parenting classes in the 40 areas
• in 2004-05, the region’s Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) are receiving over £7.5m from the Building Safer Communities Fund to tackle crime and drugs in their communities in partnership with Drugs Action Teams (DATs)
• the region is also receiving almost £3.8m in Basic Command Unit Funding in 2004-05 to help deliver crime and disorder reduction locally, and promote partnership working
• under the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, announced October 2003, Bristol was chosen as a ‘trailblazer’ area, and will pilot action on begging
• over £1.4m has been allocated to Avon & Somerset under the Street Crime Initiative. Additional policing is being provided in the force’s hotspot areas, and research into the problem is ongoing
• over £400,000 has been allocated to Swindon from 2002-05 under the Street Wardens Programme to train and resource wardens in the town, and to encourage under-16s to get involved in one of the first schemes to introduce young wardens

Transport

• resources for Local Transport Plans (LTPs) have increased from £58m in 2000-01 to £168m in 2007-08
• there are three major Local Highway Authority (LHA) road schemes in the South West: the North West Taunton Package in Somerset was completed with a total Department for Transport (DfT) contribution equalling £11.7m, and was officially opened in April 2006; the Barnstaple Western Bypass in Devon opened in May 2007, and the total DfT contribution to this scheme was £37.9m; the final Netheridge section of the Gloucester South West Bypass was opened to traffic in May 2007

Social Inclusion and Regeneration

• investing includes, over £38m from 2001-06, and £16m from 2006-08 to fight crime and tackle the deep-rooted problems faced by the most disadvantaged communities in the region, under the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
• more than £156m has been committed since 1997 for projects under the Single Regeneration Budget, to reduce the gap between the South West's deprived areas and the rest of the country and improve the quality of life for local people
• £3.6m has been allocated over three years for two Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders in Bournemouth and Gloucester, to bring residents and agencies together to improve residents' quality of life, and ensure more effective public service delivery
• funding of £2.4m has been awarded over seven years for a further Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder in North Devon
• as part of the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund, four areas in the South West will also receive Neighbourhood Element Funding from April 2006. These include Bristol, Plymouth, North Somerset and Penwith. Each area will get approximately £1.6m over four years, with Bristol getting £3.2m. In addition to this, Bristol, Plymouth and North Somerset will receive funds of £2.1m over two years to help them achieve outcomes around the Cleaner, Safer & Greener agenda

European Funding

In 2007, the EU launched a new round of European funding programmes for the next seven years to 2013. There are two new programmes - Convergence, which covers Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and Competitiveness & Employment which covers the rest of the South West. Within each programme there are two main funds - European Social Fund (ESF) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). ESF is being managed in this region by GOSW and ERDF by the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA). Within Convergence there are also smaller pots of funding to support the rural economy and fishing industry; these funds are also being managed by the SWRDA.

Details for the two funding streams are given below:

• ERDF: £311m funding for Convergence programme, with an objective to establish the momentum for transforming the economy to a high value added economy where knowledge, environment and quality of life underpin sustainable economic growth. £83m funding for Competitiveness programme, where the objective is to increase the prosperity of the region through supporting enterprise and individuals to develop ideas and plans which contribute to increased productivity and competitiveness
• ESF: the Learning & Skills Council and Department for Work & Pensions, through Jobcentre Plus, have been awarded an initial allocation of £47m and £16m respectively for Convergence, and £35m and £17m for Competitiveness to deliver ESF activity during the first half of the programme. Both organisations are now procuring delivery of a range of training and support to help people into work, and to increase the skills of those already in work. The Convergence programme also includes an initial £18m to deliver Higher Education and higher level skills within Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly