Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

Where are we now?
The purpose of the regional
economic strategy
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However, we still face major challenges. This includes addressing our
recent slowdown in economic performance; the impacts of the current
credit crunch on financial and housing markets; rising food, energy, fuel
and commodity prices; skills and infrastructure deficits; developing a
more sustainable economy and improving economic development
leadership and delivery.
More than ever, there needs to be concerted action to deliver the shared
targets and priorities that have emerged through the process of
developing the strategy. To this end, the RES seeks to direct the activities
and investment of key regional and national agencies; inform the economic
outcomes agreed with local authorities through Local Area Agreements
and enable local government to contribute effectively to the region’s
sustainable economic growth. However, it is vital to recognise that the
private sector is the main driver of growth and job creation.
Critically, the East of England cannot achieve its ambitions for sustainable
economic growth without the support of the government. This is
particularly important because the East of England receives the lowest
level of public expenditure per head of any UK region.
Accordingly, the regional economic strategy outlines a number of ‘asks’
of the government, around which further dialogue will need to take place:
• stronger regional influence on the major drivers of the East of
England’s performance, and in particular the scale and timing of skills
and transport investment
• greater freedoms and flexibilities to enable the region to better
leverage capital from the market, specifically through approval for a
new Regional Infrastructure Fund
• greater share in the proceeds of growth, including the increasing
returns from aviation tax gains from the region’s expanding airports,
back to respective local authorities and the Regional Infrastructure
Fund, to better manage the impacts of growth
• continued development and delivery of national policies that will enable
the East of England to meet ambitious targets for carbon reduction
• increased investment to maintain and grow the globally renowned
science and innovation base of the East of England – a unique asset for
UK plc – in the face of increasing international competition for talent
and R&D expenditure.