THE FUTURE is bright for Coventry and Warwickshire’s economy, which is set to out-perform the rest of the UK over the next 12 months.
The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce held a Business Outlook event with Warwickshire County Council to assess how the region is set to fare during the financial year.
Dave Ayton-Hill, county council economy and skills manager, said data suggested strong economic growth over the next year.
He added: “The figures are very positive for the region – in terms of business confidence, Coventry and Warwickshire is in a strong position.
“There are a lot of factors that can affect whether that confidence is translated into economic performance, but we can say with a good degree of certainty that the local economy will continue to grow strongly.”
Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, added the region was doing “extremely well” compared to the rest of the UK and the wider West Midlands.
But data also revealed a short supply of skilled labour as unemployment in the region was low – with some nine out of ten 87 manufacturers reporting they had struggled to bring in people with the right skills in recent months.
But Sean Farnell, of Burgis & Bullock and a board member of the Local Enterprise Partnership, said the figures showed strong economic growth across the board.
He said: “It’s positive news across the region – from the very north of North Warwickshire and down past Stratford in the south.
“There is also some difference between the confidence of ‘Remainers’ and ‘Brexiteers’. Those who wanted Brexit are very buoyant while those who wanted to remain in Europe are still confident, but there is a caveat to that based on what might happen in the negotiations.”
