Tag: Economic growth

DP World storm highlights big questions about our economy

Investment summit backdrop with PM at conference on October 14 2024

In the end, it was little more than a storm in a tea cup.

Weekend headlines led with suggestions that £1bn in investment from Dubai-based DP World was at risk because of a minister’s comments about its operating company P&O.

The comments from Transport Secretary Louise Haigh likened P&O to a ‘rogue operator’. She added for good measure that consumers should boycott the company for laying off hundreds of employees and replacing them with agency workers in 2022.

For all the furore, the government’s set piece investment summit went off today with DP World’s investment in the London Gateway container port intact.

The funding is one of a raft of commitments outlined in a £63bn package today, which promises to create 38,000 jobs across the country.

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Thoughts from #SevernGrowthSummit: no ‘powerhouse’ needed

As business events go, the Severn Growth Summit at Celtic Manor was high profile judging by the response it generated.

I was one of about 350 people to attend the conference, which looked at how government can and businesses improve the economies around the West of England, Cardiff and Newport.

Welsh Secretary and Vale of Glamorgan MP Alun Cairns used the recent decision to abolish tolls on the Severn Bridge to press the case for a Western Powerhouse to drive growth across the areas. The comms teams should be delighted with the coverage this generated. I’ll come back to the powerhouse theme shortly.

There is more than a touch of symbolism to the tolls going. For those who use the bridge every day, it’s said by JLL’s Chris Sutton to be worth an extra £1,500 a year. There are 25m journeys made across the bridge each year and thousands of people use it on their daily commute. It’s a good example of how government action can make working between the three cities easier and more successful.

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Why we’re deserting supermarkets – and saving money

Fruit and veg

Tesco over-egging its profits by £250m (yes, that’s a quarter of a billion quid) rightly led to statements of shock across the media this week.

Twice the price; 5kg of spuds for £3.50
Tesco price: 5kg of spuds for £3.50

Explanations for its ‘fall from grace’ are varied. They range from being caught in a sector-wide pincer movement between Aldi and Lidl and Waitrose, to a rise in internet shopping. This feeds sense that shoppers have simply fallen out of love with Britain’s biggest retailer.

It’s still making hundreds of millions in profit each year. But the CEO Dave Lewis probably can’t afford too many hits like this, even though his response to the outbreak of the crisis was swift and impressive.

I’ve worked as a comms person for Tesco, supporting local consultations designed to inform its planning applications for new stores.

I was struck by the dedication and drive of those connected with the business; everyone bought into the vision.

We’ve shopped there for years and been devotees of its Clubcard loyalty scheme, which we’ve used to ‘reward’ ourselves with meals at Pizza Express and trips to Longleat.

Seems like a good deal? Our weekly shopping receipt stating that we’d saved 34p compared to the same shop at Sainsbury’s suggested that it was. How they can confirm this when their in store pricing is so haphazard is a mystery. But ‘every little helps’ after all.

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Why I’ve stayed with my bank – until now

Bank logo

I’m a stickler for good service and can’t stand organisations who don’t deliver what they promise.

Being ripped off is even worse and will result in offenders being dumped. Train companies, utilities and firms like PayPal (one of the worst in my book) have borne the brunt of my complaints when I’ve known who to complain to.

On many occasions, I’ve been offered compensation as a sweetener, which I take and then leave. I’ve worked through the ‘big six’ energy companies and found them all to be a disappointment.

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City Deals: big news outside London

An aerial shot of housing in Bristol, with views of the cityscape and the River Avon

I’ve been following the news in my car and online today for reaction to the Government’s City Deals announcement, which hands more powers to some of England’s largest metropolitan areas outside London.

These deals for Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester will see them take on new responsibilities and, in some cases, form new bodies which aim to drive growth and create thousands of new jobs in their areas.

If the recent mayoral referenda acts as any yardstick, then a story about boosting city economies does not excite the London-centric media, despite the fact that England’s eight core cities have more than 17m residents and generate around 25% of the country’s wealth.

And, true to form, the response from the national media seems to have been to play it straight or not at all (I had to dig around some websites amongst stories about Bob Diamond and cuts to the Army, also announced today, to find any coverage on this).

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Pictures bring Devon bridge-lift to life

Bridge lift in Exeter

I’ve been sent some pictures of the recent successful installation of a new bridge over the M5 near Exeter, which show the scale and complexity of the job in fantastic detail.

The motorway was closed overnight to allow the new 230 tonne structure to be craned over the motorway near Junction 29, with only a few select people and camera crews looking on.

The cycle and pedestrian bridge at Redhayes was one of a handful of network improvements funded with £5.5m from the Community Infrastructure Fund, which is administered by the Homes and Communities Agency. 

It is part of a new package of infrastructure to support the major growth and development planned for the area east of Exeter.

The pictures below are courtesy of Matthew Davison Photography, who also retains the copyright (please credit him if you download them from the site).

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