Mind the Enterprise Gap: Is enterprise policy working to help businesses in deprived areas?

Article

The Centre for Cities' City Markets Project has surveyed 348 businesses in deprived areas in Derby, Doncaster and Sunderland. This paper presents the results of that survey.

Building enterprise in deprived urban areas is a key policy goal. But relatively little is known about the effectiveness of enterprise initiatives in deprived areas, or about the needs of businesses that are located there. The Centre for Cities' City Markets Project has surveyed 348 businesses in deprived areas in Derby, Doncaster and Sunderland. We have found out about the market factors affecting business location in these areas and the real impact of enterprise initiatives.

Our survey reveals three key findings. First, connectivity is the main asset of these deprived areas. Building on this and other assets is the way forward. Second, business support schemes such as Business Link are not well recognised, but those who use Business Link are reasonably satisfied. And third, the benefits of Enterprise Areas are hardly utilised - only two percent of our sample had used any of them. Click here for information on the research methodology.

Centre for Cities has re-launched as an independent think tank. You can visit them online at http://www.centreforcities.org.

Related items

  1. Young male delivery cyclist working part-time, riding through city streets with food backpack on.

    Raising the bar: Strengthening living standards while banning exploitative zero-hours contracts

    Labour’s manifesto committed to banning exploitative zero-hours contracts as part of sweeping upgrades to workers’ rights.
  2. The Bank of England is watched over by a statue of the Duke of Wellington seated on his horse

    Beyond headroom: Why we need a better fiscal framework to fix the UK’s long term problems

    There has been long-standing debate about the UK’s fiscal rules and fiscal framework.  
  3. Drax coal fired power plant in North Yorkshire, UK with coal stack and Biomass storage tanks at sunset

    Financing carbon capture, usage and storage: The case for extended producer responsibility

    The government has run out of road on funding infrastructure through energy bills.