Local Economic Assessments
provide Local Authorities with an opportunity to better understand their
area in order to better target resources and better plan for the
future.
Developing a Consistent Approach to Economic Assessments
SWO worked alongside all Local Authorities in the
South West to help coordinate and support their evidence needs to do
this. To read our project report on this see Developing a Consistent Approach to Economic Assessments (below), compiled in June 2011.
Further
to the change of government in May 2010, guidance in relation to LEAs
was removed. Local Authorities are now free to determine how they take
forward their own LEAs however the government has suggested they play a
'crucial role' in underpinning the work of LEPs. As a result of the work which had taken place in the South West, most LEAs in the region were comprehensive.
Functional Geographies
Economic analysis is best undertaken at a level at which a relevant economic market operates. This is often referred to as a functional economic market areas (FEMA), bearing in mind for different markets functional areas might overlap. As part of the Local Economic Assessment project SWO commissioned a Spatial Economic Analysis Tool - SEAT South West - which allowed different datasets to be overlayed for analysis purposes (read a briefing on the Spatial Analysis Tool). Datasets included within SEAT South West were arrived upon in consultation with South West Local Authority Economic Development Officers. The work that went into SEAT South West has been incorporated into the HCA's SIGNET online tool.
