City Markets: Business location in deprived areas

Boosting enterprise in deprived areas has been a recurring goal of government policy. But enterprise programmes have had disappointing results in deprived areas, and been poorly targeted. The Comprehensive Spending Review is now looking to rationalise and improve economic development and regeneration schemes.

This report will contribute to that process, looking at deprived areas according to their levels of business activity. It focuses on a group of 30 business-deprived areas - those Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) districts that have very low levels of business activity. Most are in the North-East (e.g. Sunderland) and the North-West (e.g. Oldham). Five are in London (e.g. Newham). Separately, a minority of deprived areas have relatively high levels of business activity (e.g. Preston, Leeds and Camden).

City Markets concludes that Business-led regeneration should focus on business-deprived areas but that the Government should subsidise business activity only where specific market failures exist, in proportion to those market failures and in line with local labour market and other conditions.

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