South West cities dominate PwC’s Good Growth for Cities Index top five

The gap between the highest and lowest performing cities is narrowing, however progress is too slow, according to PwC’s Good Growth for Cities Index.

The index ranks 50 of the UK’s largest cities, plus the London boroughs as a whole, based on the public’s assessment of 12 economic measures, including jobs, health, income, safety and skills, as well as work-life balance, housing, travel-to-work times, income equality, high street shops, environment and business start-ups.

Cities in the South West of England have improved on last year’s strong performance in the Index, with Swindon (2), Exeter (3) and Bristol (4) all ranked within the top five of the largest 50 UK cities. All five of the South West’s cities included in the Index were within the top 10. Plymouth, ranked sixth in the Index, is also the most improved city in the UK, and Bournemouth, ranked 8th, performs particularly well on environment, health outcomes and transport.

Oxford is the top performing city, with a strong performance on economic measures such as income, employment rates and life expectancy. However it is improving at a slower rate than lower performing cities, such as Bradford.

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The analysis indicates that people are prioritising work-life balance more than in previous years as post-pandemic changes to working patterns allow people greater flexibility, greater control over working location and supporting better work-life balance. As a result, this is helping to unlock good growth in many cities across the UK.

Plymouth, which was the lowest-ranked city in the South West last year, is the fastest-improving city in this year’s report, largely due to its performance on income distribution, work-life balance and commuting times. Exeter also saw rapid growth, jumping eight places in the Index to third, thanks to strong performance on health, jobs and safety.

The South West has the lowest economic growth forecast of any UK region or nation, however, due to the prevalence of low-growth sectors, such as: agriculture; electricity, gas, steam and air; water and waste.

Tom Ayerst, PwC’s market senior partner for the South West, said: “I’m very pleased to see the strength of the South West’s performance in this year’s Index; we have some of the UK’s safest and healthiest cities, with good availability of skills and robust transport infrastructure.

“The Good Growth for Cities Index also points to where action would be most effectively targeted. As a whole, cities in the South West performed less positively on the affordability of housing, support for new businesses and income competitiveness – a complex combination of issues that will require long-term thinking to solve. New approaches to devolution are required to enable our cities’ leaders to make the most appropriate interventions for their own markets.”

Karen Finlayson, regional lead for government and health industries at PwC, added: “While it is encouraging to see the gap between the highest and lowest ranked UK cities narrowing, progress to level up the UK is too slow. Cities should be places of prosperity and opportunity but unfortunately huge disparity remains across the UK, and we are not seeing enough consistent change.

“To make the progress needed to drive inclusive growth, a more radical and innovative approach to devolution is critical. This is not simply a shift in powers between central and local government, but instead an effective redistribution of accountabilities to the best-placed decision makers at a regional, local and hyper-local level to deliver the best results for places and people.”

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