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Strabane District - An Economic Development Agenda
Strabane District Council and the Employment Task Force recently engaged Mr. Neil Gibson, Director and Economist for Oxford Regional Forecasts, to delve into the Strabane District Statistics to make sense of the fact that despite the loss of over 1500 manufacturing jobs the overall employee levels has remained relatively unchanged. Mr. Gibson’s paper entitled Strabane District: Developing for Tomorrow has created a baseline profile of where Strabane is now and where it should be in 2015.
The paper outlines Strabane’s economic difficulties, which are well documented. Strabane’s position as one of the weaker performing areas in the UK is an all too frequently quoted statistic. The challenge, and indeed aim of, economic development is to think prospectively and look towards opportunities and scope to deliver an alternate economic future which tackles some of the oft-quoted problems. It is also important to consider how true a reflection of actual economic conditions all data sources might be.
The manufacturing sector has halved in employee levels in just 6 years, a devastating effect on an economy the size of Strabane. With this backdrop there is little wonder that overall employee levels has remained relatively unchanged, in fact it is perhaps a positive note that this job loss has been offset by growth in other sectors. The decline in agriculture is a feature throughout NI and is expected to continue, though part-time working and family work on farms perhaps means that official employee estimates are not the best measure of this sectors performance (the Farm Census is perhaps more helpful). The construction sector has grown steadily and surpasses the manufacturing sector in employee levels.. This growth is fuelled by overall expansion in the economy, house building, urban regeneration and also demolition work. The prospects are strong given the growth projections for the surrounding areas and the potential for the North West Initiative, ILEX regeneration plans for Derry and the Ebrington site that will bring major construction work to Derry and the surrounding Councils.
Indeed, Regional Forecasts predict that the distribution/ retailing employee levels have risen steadily in Strabane as they have across NI. This is perhaps surprising given the rising rates, house prices and job loss in the area. However house price rises have also helped people become richer and fuelled a retail boom in NI as major high street retailers locate in Strabane town. Expansion of the ASDA store shows the potential in the Strabane area and continued job creation is likely in this sector. The arrival of Northbrook Technology NI (owned by Allstate Insurance in the US) can clearly be seen in the finance and business sector, which takes a sharp upturn in the most recent data, this highlights the difference a major firm can make to overall employee levels.
