Disposable income in 11 towns and cities has risen twice as fast as rest of UK | Economic growth (GDP)
Disposable incomes of 11 towns and cities in the UK, including Warrington, Barnsley and Wakefield, have grown twice as fast as the rest of the UK over the last decade, a study has found.
A report from the Center for Cities, a think tank, showed that between 2013 and 2023, the disposable income of residents in these top-performing towns and cities rose by an average of 5.2%, compared to a 2.4% increase in urban areas in the UK.
If all of the UK’s 63 largest towns and cities had achieved the same growth rate as the 11 best-performing cities over this period, people would have pocketed an average of £3,200 more in disposable income, the report said.
Its report found that the best-performing towns and cities were all focused on creating a strong local business base and higher-skilled jobs, and that there were a significant number of productive firms in “tradable” industries such as software, marketing and finance that were able to sell to markets outside the local area.
The Center for Cities argued that central and local government often focus on piecemeal actions to improve the cost of living, such as capping bus fares or providing money for energy bills, rather than focusing on policies aimed at improving economic growth, which are said to lead to stronger incomes for everyone.
“By focusing on fixing the symptoms, the government risks missing the cause,” the report said. “The underlying problem of cost-of-living pressures, stagnant incomes and persistent deprivation is the lack of economic growth.”
Andrew Carter, chief executive of the thinktank, said: “If you look at these top performers, their focus is on increasing more high-skilled, high-tech jobs in their field and they are very conscious of trying to do that.”
According to the report, in Barnsley, which has used its M1 corridor location to become a logistics hub, the council has opened industrial land around motorway junctions to help grow activities in this area. A further 6,000 private service jobs have been added to the town since 2015, a third of which are highly skilled jobs.
Other targeted interventions focused on enabling residents to participate in work or education, improving public transport connections and increasing the amount of affordable housing.
In Barnsley, disposable income increased by 5.6% between 2013 and 2023, and in Warrington, Cheshire, by 5.3%. The top performer was Brighton with an increase of 8.1 percent, followed by Worthing with 7.8 percent and London with 5.8 percent.
The report also highlighted cities that have struggled to improve the living standards of their residents since 2013. In Cambridge, for example, where residents spend an average of 17% of their spending on housing, the think tank found that real disposable incomes have fallen by 3% overall since 2013. If Cambridge matched the 11 best-performing towns and cities, residents would pocket an extra £10,900 over ten years, the report said.
The top 11 regions also outperformed the 18.4% average economic growth for urban areas, with a 27% increase over the decade.
Warrington had the highest total economic growth of all locations at 41%. Since 2013, both economic and disposable income growth in Warrington has been 2.2 times the national average. It was the city with the highest disposable income in the north of England and the only city in this part of the country where workplace wages were above the UK average.
Carter said: “It’s about making tough decisions. In Warrington, they’ve enabled and supported the expansion of some business parks on the edge of town. They’ve also taken a fair share of their green belt to build more homes, which is no easy task. So it’s about: Do you know what needs to be done, but are you also willing to do it?”
