5. East Sussex Prosperity: The strategic framework
Overview
To achieve a vision to 2050 of a place where people live and work well, the strategic framework is underpinned by the net zero carbon mission and the principles of a circular economy. It defines two themes: of a county of opportunity and ambition, and a county of creativity and innovation, which the following chapters translate into specific areas for action.
Vision and Defining Principles
Within the East Sussex Prosperity Strategy, the Vision is that:
By 2050, East Sussex will be a place where people live and work well. It will be characterised by well-paid work and good opportunities; innovative and thriving businesses; and an excellent quality of life in an outstanding natural environment.
Within this Vision, the emphasis is on working as well as living – whilst recognising that both may look very different by 2050. It is important, specifically, that people have the opportunity to engage in well-paid work locally, so that they can also enjoy the benefits of living within East Sussex’s outstanding natural environment and enjoying its cultural and creative assets.
For this to be possible, East Sussex must be a place where businesses flourish and thrive – whether local micro businesses, established enterprises or potential inward investors, and across a wide range of sectors.
In delivering the Vision, there are however two Defining Principles which will be applied throughout. Both relate to environmental imperatives:
- The economy of East Sussex will achieve net zero carbon by 2050. In one sense, this commitment is a non-negotiable, given the UK’s legal commitments. However in delivering this strategy, we intend to embrace the journey to net zero carbon positively and with real purpose, and our aim is to be in the vanguard nationally.
- The principles of the circular economy will shape what we do. In other words, we will have real regard to the efficiency of resource use, and we will aim to repurpose, reuse and recycle materials and inputs wherever it is possible to do so. We will take account of lifecycle costs, and we will factor these into our decision-making.
Themes
Framed by this overarching Vision and the two Defining Principles, the core of the Economic Prosperity Strategy is defined by two broad Themes.
Theme 1: A county of opportunity and ambition
East Sussex will thrive over the period to 2050 only if it provides opportunity for – and unleashes ambition among – both its people and its businesses. The county needs to be a place of aspiration, particularly for those starting out in their careers, and it needs to be a place where their dreams (including in relation to home ownership) can be realised.
In practice, this means that it needs to nurture and support existing, new and growing businesses, particularly in key and/or emerging sectors. It needs, positively, to welcome business investment and growth – whilst respecting fully its landscape characteristics and designations and advancing the transition to net zero carbon. It also needs to be supported by a connected transport system.
East Sussex is seeing many of its younger people leaving the county to pursue their studies, but then staying away – although some choose to return much later in life. To some extent, this process is inevitable and elements of it are wholly positive, but East Sussex must provide reasonable options for its younger people if the loss of young people (and the growth in the dependency ratio) is not to accelerate further.
These options relate most directly to employment: currently too many jobs in the county are poorly paid and offer few or no real prospects for progression. This needs to change.
But they also relate to housing. It is really important that younger people who work in the county have some prospect of home ownership or secure long-term tenancies; currently, neither appears to be possible for many.
Opportunity and ambition are equally important for those who are ‘mid-career’ – and for those who are either choosing or needing to work for longer than they had perhaps anticipated.
An older workforce will be a defining feature of the period to 2050, and the Economic Prosperity Strategy must unlock both ambition and opportunity linked to it.
Both employers and workers will need to adapt, novel forms of work will have to be navigated and technology must be embraced positively. Genuine lifelong learning will need to be commonplace, and providers of education and training will need to work alongside both businesses and individuals in spearheading an exemplary response. There is an opportunity – and indeed a need – for East Sussex to lead the way nationally.
Theme 2: A county of creativity and innovation
East Sussex is a creative place: it has many major creative and cultural assets as well as a burgeoning creative sector consisting, in the main, of networks of micro businesses and freelancers. But this second Theme is not a sectoral statement: it is concerned with creativity and innovation in the round. It is as relevant to land-based businesses as it is to small gaming companies – or to larger financial services businesses or public sector organisations.
Despite the strength and potential of the creative sector, the evidence suggests that East Sussex as a whole is not currently especially innovative – and this needs to change.
The imperative is to harness the assets that exist county-wide – both creative and environmental – and to use these as a catalyst for ‘doing things differently’. All sorts of implications follow – from better and more extensive business networking, to deeper relationships with anchor institutions in or close to East Sussex (University of Brighton, University of Sussex, Plumpton College – plus major public sector organisations like schools or NHS organisations), to new and different sources of early-stage investment (recognising the value of the experience and resources linked to those who move to the county in later life).
Within this context, ‘value’ might also be understood in new and different ways. There is enormous value linked to the designated landscapes in East Sussex, and the intention ought to be to reflect this across the local economy. Moreover, the scope for innovative practice linked to resource-use efficiency and the journey to net zero carbon ought to be actively nurtured and encouraged.
Conclusion
Through these two Themes – and the Guiding Principles – the Economic Prosperity Strategy will navigate the period to 2050. Across a generational timescale, it will ensure that East Sussex continues to be an inclusive county in which people of all ages genuinely thrive.
The chapters that follow explain how this will be achieved, linked with the drivers of productivity explored in Chapter 4.