invest in allerdale

Invest in Allerdale

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There are so many good reasons for doing business in Allerdale and we have over 4,000 SMEs, micro and large organisations who will tell you the same. Here are just some of the reasons why moving or starting a business in Allerdale is a great move. 

Case Studies

The Stats

82%

SMEs

82% of the working age population in Cumbria are in work, 72% in Allerdale (2011), Allerdale has the 3rd lowest rate of crime in the county

12

mins

Car

12 minutes on average to reach 8 key services by car

4,500

Business open

As of 2020, there were 23,530 businesses in Cumbria – 4,500 in Allerdale

Tourism

£468M

Allerdale received £468.61 million in tourism revenue from 7.74m tourists in 2018, providing 6,275 jobs

Main employment sectors – wholesale and retail, manufacturing, human health and social work, accommodation and food services and education. Relies heavily on energy and tourism as its principal sectors

Sense of place

82%

In a 2018 survey, 82% of Allerdale residents indicated they were satisfied with their local area as a place to live. 73% of respondents stated they feel a strong sense of belonging to their immediate area and 67% agreed that people in the community looked out for each other

Employment

Allerdale has high economic participation rates, low unemployment and high levels of self-employment.

Manufacturing

22%

Manufacturing contributed 22% of Cumbria’s GVA in 2017 – double the national average

Retail

9/10

9 out of 10 businesses are micro businesses – 68% micro businesses and 32% SMEs

In 2018, Allerdale’s population consisted of 97,500 people – 37,000 of whom were employees and generated £1.8bn of GVA, representing approx. 15% of the total Cumbrian economy

Economy

97,500

47,000

Resident based employment within Allerdale is high at 47,000 (around 20% of the Cumbria total)

Property
Nuclear

Sellafield is a very important source of direct employment for Allerdale but also supports many jobs through its supply chain activities.

Construction

6.8%

The construction sector is noticeably larger in Allerdale, representing 6.8% of all jobs

Key sectors as of 2019 – manufacturing, tourism, nuclear and energy industry and other renewable energy

Stats

Why Allerdale?
We could say it’s the enviable quality of life which includes nearly 40% of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site, the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site, attractive towns and villages and our capital investment plans to make our towns even better places to live and work,  but it’s much more than that.

Business success
You will be joining a host of companies who have prospered here such New Balance, M-Sport, Innovia Films, Holmen Iggesund, James Walker & Co and Amcor. As you can see manufacturing is an important component of our local economy, as we offer specialised construction and engineering services, including fabrication, drilling and testing related to the nuclear supply chain near Sellafield. Tourism, retail and education are also important sectors. The former generates nearly £500 million from the spend of 9 million visitors to our area every year.
 
Skilled workforce
In Allerdale, you will find a skilled workforce as we have a strong and well-functioning vocational education system, especially apprenticeships. Educational attainment is significantly higher than the UK average, driven by the important further education cluster on one site, comprising Lakes College West Cumbria, the National College for Nuclear, Construction Skills Centre and the Civil Engineering Training Centre (opening September 2021).
 
Competitive
Allerdale has a competitive cost base in terms of labour and land with a wide range of land for development. We are a business-friendly council and support business in a number of practical ways with weekly eNewsletters, helping establish self-governing business groups in our seven towns, forums for our large employers, tourism businesses and street markets, as well as making our regulatory services such as planning and environmental health easy to access and deal with.

If you are thinking of starting a business or moving an existing business to Allerdale, we would love to chat. Please contact help@businessallerdale.co.uk where we would be happy to help.