UK Vitality Index

Manchester saw the biggest annual rise in LSH’s annual ‘UK Vitality Index’ rising into the top 20, which reveals those towns and cities best placed to support economic expansion over the next 12 months.
 
The ‘UK Vitality Index’ assesses the UK’s largest towns and cities outside London to provide a health check of their local economies and identify which are most robust, are best positioned to support growth and will provide the greatest opportunities for businesses to expand.  The results are based on the analysis of 20 datasets, with each location ranked within six separate categories: most productive, fastest growing, most entrepreneurial, best educated, greenest and most affluent.

Top 10 towns and cities

Overall, the top 10 towns and cities in the 2015 UK Vitality Index are:
1.            Guildford
2.            Cambridge
3.            Brighton
4.            Reading
5.            Warwick
6.            St Albans
7.            Milton Keynes
8.            Oxford
9.            Edinburgh
10.          York

(18)     Manchester
 
Alongside Manchester, the report also identifies Northampton and Derby as the most significant improvers over the past 12 months.

Manchester grows from strength to strength

Abid Jaffry, head of LSH’s Manchester office, said: “There has been much recent talk of creating a ‘northern powerhouse’ to rival the economic strength of the south-east and the Manchester success story sits right at the heart of this aspiration.

“The Greater Manchester region is already enjoying unprecedented investment with hundreds of millions in schemes like Airport City with significantly more in the pipeline such as the recently announced science research centre.

“This is already having a significant impact on attracting and retaining talent and consequently helping to boost the labour market, all critical factors as Manchester’s prevalence in the global marketplace goes from strength to strength.”

The national picture

Ezra Nahome, CEO at LSH, added: “The country’s major towns and cities have made a considerable contribution to economic growth over the past 12 months, and our research suggests that they will continue to do so in 2015.
 
“Almost 80% of UK GDP is generated outside London so it is vital not to overlook the importance of the regions to national economic and business expansion.
 
“Although the South East remains the best performing region – half of the top ten is located in the area – it is encouraging to see York joining the top tier for the first time and destinations such as Manchester, Northampton and Derby climbing up the rankings.  All of the regions have an important role to play in delivering economic prosperity and it appears that they are making progress in fulfilling this obligation.”

Visit the UK Vitality Index microsite