Economic development strategy - London Borough of Hillingdon

HILLINGDON FOR BUSINESS AND THE HILLINGDON BRAND
Business activity
Industry trends
The transport, storage and communication
industries employed 32.2% of the borough’s
workforce in 2002, having increased 24.5% between
1991-2002. Of these almost 70% were employed in
air transport. However with over 70,000 people
employed on the airport site alone, this represents
only 11.5% of the airport’s employment needs,
emphasising the importance of Heathrow as an
employer to both the local and regional economy.
The number of people employed in the construction
industry in Hillingdon increased by 42.9% between
1991-2002, reflecting the borough’s proximity to
major construction projects including Terminal 5,
Paddington Basin, Wembley Stadium, M25
widening, etc. As the Mayor of London proposes
60,000 additional new homes in London, with many
of these in outer London, the outlook for the
construction industry looks promising in the
medium term.
Local businesses have cited their inability to recruit
skilled staff and managers as a significant
impediment to economic growth in Hillingdon.
Sectors that have particular recruitment problems
include: hotels and restaurants; public
administration, defence, and social security;
wholesale and retail trade, repair etc; real estate,
renting and business activities. The hospitality and
retail industries have a high demand for people
with entry-level skills. Local employers claim
Heathrow Airport and its associated hospitality and
retail infrastructure, impact on the local jobs market
and artificially inflate wages.
Small and medium sized enterprises
Although Hillingdon has a reasonable supply of
small business space for both offices and factories,
as Table 8 illustrates, there is a lower than average
start-up rate of small and medium sized enterprises
(SME) in the borough. Problems that hamper
homegrown entrepreneurs are the quality and cost
of the available accommodation. SME
accommodation is frequently expensive and the
lease terms are inflexible and require a large
financial commitment up-front such as six months
deposit. In addition, much of the accommodation is
unsuitable particularly for specialist high-tech
services and manufacturing. It is reputedly difficult
for businesses to start-up and to grow in Hillingdon.
Table 8: VAT registrations per 1000 VAT registered firms
40.0
20.0
0.0
-20.0
-40.0
-60.0
-80.0
-100.0
VAT registration
per 1000
Hillingdon
London
Agriculture/Fishing
Energy/Water
Manufacturing
Construction
Retail
Hospitality
Type of firm
Transport and
Communications
Finance
Real Estate
Public Sector
HILLINGDON’S ECONOMIC STRATEGY FOR A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY 2005-2015 - A PROSPEROUS BOROUGH
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