News: Cautious optimism for Rotherham economy

Recently released figures on Rotherham's economy are prompting cautious optimism.

Figures released earlier this month by the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward and UKTI show that Rotherham has helped to attract a record 147 overseas investors to the region in the last 12 months, the highest ever.

South Yorkshire has proved the most popular location for investment, attracting 43% of the total business investments. North Yorkshire 9%, West Yorkshire 33% with the Humber attracting 23%.

Investments in Rotherham include Swedish-owned Sandvik Medical, spending £7.5m on developing the Sandvik European Centre of Excellence and Dutch-owned Pegler selecting Manvers in Rotherham for a £7m warehouse development.

Foreign investment also came in the form of acquisitions such as Elite Tooling being acquired by Tivoly, the largest manufacturer of cutting tools in France and the third largest cutting tool manufacturer in Europe.

"Amid the tough times as the country comes out of recession – and we as a council are not immune – there are some grounds for optimism," said the Metropolitan Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Planning and Transportation, Cllr Gerald Smith.

July saw steelmaker, Corus announce another recruitment phase to support steel manufacturing and steel rolling operations in Rotherham and the resumption of apprentice and graduate recruitment.

In the commercial property market, the biggest deal of its kind in South Yorkshire this year was announced last month when contract manufacturing specialist MTL Group announced it was relocating from its current Sheffield base to a new 300,000 square feet advanced manufacturing facility in Rotherham.

The latest figures from the council's regeneration arm, Rotherham Investment & Development Office, show an increase in business inquiries and demand for space. June's inquiries rose to 53, 16 more than in May, 19 more than the same month in recession-hit 2009 and even seven up on 2008.

To the inward investment results can be added existing Rotherham companies' successes in winning business worldwide. Together, these may help account for fewer people claiming Jobseekers' Allowance in the borough.

June saw a drop of 538 from May, to 7,498, or 4.8 per cent. That is the lowest since January 2009 and the fifth fall in the first six months of the year. Rotherham's rate is above the regional 4.4 and national 3.8, but the rate of decline is sharper than both.

RiDO's business development manager, Tim O'Connell, said: "We're seeing progress and investment everywhere from business parks to town centre, where retailers are seeing the opportunities. We're also helping people set up their own companies, including in our purpose-built business centres."

Rotherham Investment and Development Office

Images: corusconstruction.com