Sheffield Economic Masterplan launched

Sheffield launched its Economic Masterplan today in the London Stock Exchange.  The aim of the plan is to boost the city’s economy by promoting the virtues of investing in Sheffield, creating another 30,000 jobs and boosting the average salary.

Although the Liberal Democrats had their doubts about creating the quango ‘Creative Sheffield‘ to lead economic development in the city, the party is at least fully behind the latest initiative, albeit with some doubts about the location and quality of some of the development.  It gives proper recognition to the massive number of small and medium businesses that are so important to the city economy.  It also targets creative industries, which are a logical extension to the city’s manufacturing base, but harnesses that huge and surprising number of artistic and creative people there are in Sheffield.

For me this masterplan is also a serious attempt to make Sheffield’s economy compete with other cities of a similar size.  Sheffield is the fourth biggest city in England, it has two of the country’s biggest universities, it now has some of the fastest rising land values in the country, and it is known throughout the world.  But a legacy of its industrial past is that it still struggles to create private sector professional jobs on a par with more commercial cities like Leeds or Manchester.

That has always been one of the biggest weaknesses in the chain.  Sheffield is a genuinely attractive city in its setting on the edge of the Peak District National Park and supposedly more parkland per person than anywhere else in Europe.  It also has one of the highest stop on rates for students in the country – presumedly because once they move to the city they like it.  But once you reach a certain pay level you stall and often end up having to move elsewhere.  When I moved back to Sheffield I remember being told by countless local job agencies that I would never find the sort of professional jobs at the salary I was looking for in Sheffield and I would be better moving elsewhere.  The thing is that I don’t want to.  I like Sheffield, it is a great city to live in and with great potential for the future.  But we need more better paid jobs to allow people to stay and realise that potential, which will then allow them to contribute to the city economy as a whole.

The thing that did strike me though about the masterplan is that the average salary in Sheffield is currently £22,500.  That may well be the average, but it certainly isn’t the sort of salary that the majority of people in Sheffield will earn.  I earn less than that and I reckon I am better off than most.  The problem is that Sheffield is very divided in its affluence.  The South West of the city usually vies with Tatton in Cheshire for the title of the richest place outside the Home Counties, whereas places like Burngreave, Firth Park and Brightside are some of the poorest.  So whilst we do need to increase the average salary, it is vital that we do something to benefit the huge numbers who earn considerably less than that.  But more on that another time.