Cecilia Wong

Developing Indicators to Inform Local Economic Development in England

Based on a conceptual framework of 11 factors that are widely perceived to be the major determinants of local economic development (LED), 29 indicators were identified to measure these factors. Principal component analysis was first used to examine the structure of relationships among the compiled LED indicators for local authority districts in England and to explore the spatial patterns that emerge from the analysis. A series of multiple regression models were then calibrated to investigate the relative strengths of relationship between the LED indicators and various performance variables. The final section concludes with the key issues revealed by the findings of these multivariate analyses.

The relationship between quality of life and local economic development: An empirical study of local authority areas in England

Abstract Recent academic literature has increasingly placed more emphasis on the importance of the quality of life factor to local economic development. High environmental quality, culturally desirable working and living conditions, and convenient local amenities are believed to be vital to foster economic growth and job creation by retaining local businesses and attracting inward investment. However, there is another argument that the initial attractiveness of the growing agglomeration economies will soon turn out to suffer from the negative impacts of growth in terms of a deteriorating quality of life. This paper aims to explore empirically the views of policy-makers in two English regions over the contribution of quality of life factors to the process of local economic development. It then uses a set of indicators to examine statistically the relationship between quality of life and other local economic development factors of 363 local authority areas in England.

Indicators for Urban and Regional Planning : The Interplay of Policy and Methods

1. Introduction Part 1. Indicators Usage and Policy-Making 2. Indicators and Policy-Making 3. Changing Ethos of Indicator Usage 4. Management and Organisation of National Statistics Part 2. Conceptual , Methodological and Analytical Issues 5. Data: A Requirement and a Problem 6. Technical or Analytical Synthesis of Indicators 7. Methodological Process of Indicator Development: A Revisit Part 3. Case Studies 9. Deprivation Indicators 10.Sustainability and Planning Indicators 11. Conclusion

The Spatial Interaction of Housing and Labour Markets: Commuting Flow Analysis of North West England

The consideration of housing and labour market interaction is a relatively recent development in an academic and policy debate which has traditionally considered home and work in isolation. This paper aims to examine empirically the spatial process of housing and labour market interaction in the form of commuting at the sub-regional level via a case study of North West England. A statistical analysis and visual GIS mapping of commuting flows are adopted to explore the relationship between the two functional areas. In light of the inadequacies of traditional modelling approaches at capturing the complex nature of housing and labour market interaction, this approach is intended to generate more relevant intelligence to inform policy development. Based on the analysis of housing and labour market interaction, some pointers for future research and policy implications are drawn out.

Securing housing choice: New opportunities for the UK planning system

This review paper is primarily concerned with the fall and potential rise of housing tenure choice in the UK. It reviews those policy directives, implemented during the 1980s, which were instrumental in eroding social renting opportunities and, more broadly, tenure choice. In the second part of the paper, reductions in tenure choice are explored at the district level using a Census derived choice index. This description of changing patterns is followed by an examination of policy shifts in the 1990s. Emphasis is placed on changes to the planning system at the local level. It is argued that new mechanisms for bringing forward affordable rented housing may contribute towards restoring tenure choice. But this may only be achieved if the new UK government can contain pressures for prioritising sale housing; pressures inherent in the recent household projections and the affordable housing thresholds found in new planning guidance.

Fragility and recovery: housing, localities and uneven spatial development in the UK

Hincks S., Webb B. and Wong C. Fragility and recovery: housing, localities and uneven spatial development in the UK, Regional Studies. Uneven spatial development has long been a characteristic feature of the economic and social fabric of the UK. The north–south divide has become something of a hegemonic narrative in the UK and this has served to mask an ‘archipelago’ of variegated spatial development in housing and locality conditions at sub-national and sub-regional scales. This paper explores the changing nature of sub-regional housing and locality conditions across the UK and evidence is found of significant spatial variation in the way that places responded to the effects of the most recent economic recession.