Swindon’s economic performance has failed to keep pace with its population growth, a major new report out today shows – leaving the town struggling to compete with the UK’s largest towns and cities.
While the town’s population increased by 14.8% between 2004 and 2013, it was one of the worst performers for jobs growth among the countries main towns and cities over that period. 
It also had fewer people working in private sector jobs in 2013 than in 2004, despite experiencing the second-highest increase in the number of homes over that period.
Swindon’s economic slowdown – which is in marked contrast to its former standing as one of Britain’s best-performing towns – emerges in the latest research from the respected Centre for Cities think tank.
Every year the organisation analyses the economies of the UK’s 64 largest towns and cities – Swindon has performed well on a number of measures in previous reports.
But this year’s findings in the Cities Outlook 2015 report will, on the whole, make uncomfortable reading for many of those charged with driving forward the town’s economy.
Swindon appears third in the table for population growth in the period between 2004 and 2013 behind Milton Keynes and Peterborough. Its 14.8% expansion was more than double the national average between of 6.9%.
Swindon is second for growth in number of homes, behind Milton Keynes, with an increase of 12,030 – of 14.9% – over the period.
Positive economic measures included Swindon’s fourth-place ranking for business growth – a 29% increase between 2004 and 2013 – placing it behind Aberdeen, London and Warrington and above Bristol in seventh place with 22% growth.
However, these new firms did not appear to have created sufficient jobs to replace those lost during the recession. Swindon is among the towns and cities with the lowest jobs growth over the same period – down 6.5% against the national average of 5% growth.
The town is also among the lowest for private sector jobs growth – down 9.8% against national average of 4% growth – a worrying statistic given Swindon has a relatively small public sector and so is much more reliant on businesses to create employment.
The Centre for Cities report highlights the North-South gap as a theme for the next General Election. It shows that between 2004 and 2013 cities in the South grew at double the rate of cities elsewhere – not just the North but the Midlands, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
During this period the population of southern cities increased by 11.3%, compared to 5.5% in cities elsewhere.
Only two cities outside of the South – Northampton and Cardiff – feature in the top 10 cities for population growth. Sunderland was the only city to shrink, losing 1.4% of its population over this period.
Cities in the South also saw a much larger increase in the number of businesses in their cities between 2004 and 2013. There were 26.8% more businesses in cities in the South in 2013 relative to 2004, compared to 13.7% more in cities elsewhere in the UK.
However, the 10 cities with the fastest-growing business base were more evenly split geographically. Aberdeen and Warrington had some of the largest increases in the number of businesses, while Edinburgh and Coventry also made the top 10. Grimsby, which suffered the largest fall, and Blackpool, were the only two cities to have fewer businesses in 2013 than in 2004.
Click here to view Centre for Cities' data sheet on Swindon
