St Albans - still competitive despite the Government
4th September 2008
Anne Main, MP for St Albans, has reacted to a new survey which shows that St Albans is still amongst the most competitive places in the UK.
Anne Main, MP for St Albans, has reacted to a new survey which shows that St Albans is still amongst the most competitive places in the UK.
The survey, conducted by the Centre for International Competitiveness, shows that St Albans is the second most competitive City outside London in 2008. However, in the overall rankings out of 407 areas St Albans' score has dropped ten places since 1997, and five places, from 18th to 23rd, in the last two years.
Anne said:
"Whilst it is great news that St Albans is still one of the most competitive places in the country, it is troubling that our placing is continuing to show a downward trend.
St Albans competitiveness has dropped ten places since 1997 and, whilst we are still the second most competitive city outside London, it is worrying that our score is falling when other areas, particularly in the North of England, are showing marked rises.
This is another indictment of East of England Development Agency, which has been given a great deal of money to maintain our competitiveness. EEDA is clearly a busted flush, wasting huge amounts of funding to no avail. To arrest decline we must scrap this unelected Government quango and put this funding in the hands local people. After all, this survey demonstrates what a great job people in our area have done historically to maintain our competitiveness.
There are no two ways about it - St Albans contributes a great deal to the UK economy - particularly in the knowledge-based sector, but we must try to ensure we maintain this record, and continue to be an attractive area for investors.""
