Northamptonshire Review
The future of formula one in the Uk is still far from certain. We report on the latest news surrounding silverstone and efforts in the region to broaden its motorsport cluster away from just F1. we also update you on other developments in the wider northants region. Read on....
FORMULA ONE CHICANERY
The future of formula one in the Uk is still far from certain. Erikka Askeland reports on latest news surrounding silverstone and efforts in the region to broaden its motorsport cluster away from just F1. we also update you on other developments in the wider northants region.
Britain is home to Motorsport Valley where a pool of world-class, high- performance engineering companies provide big, loud, petrol-guzzling fast cars to the UK and the world. Similar to Hollywood's film industry, Motorsport Valley's inhabitants are all within a few hours drive of each other, concentrated in the Midlands and the South East and overlapping to other regions. Motorsport Valley's heart is arguably the Formula One (F1) grand prix track Silverstone in Northamptonshire.
But it's not all F1. Motorsport of all types takes place at a number of venues across the UK - world rally, British touring cars, hill climbs, sprints and drag racing.
Motorsport Valley is a classic example of cluster as defined by Harvard Business School professor and author Michael Porter. At its centre is a massive event with global appeal - the F1 at Silverstone. This in turn drives a number of research-intensive major constructors such as BAR and Jordan Grand Prix, supported by a host of small and medium-sized companies in the supply chain. It is estimated that the cluster involves 4,200 businesses, employs 38,500 people and contributes £34.6bn to the economy.
The ongoing feud between Silverstone's owner, the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC), and multi-millionaire F1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone has reached an entente, ensuring that the grand prix will continue at Silverstone until 2006 "on the understanding that there will be significant long-term investment at Silverstone to raise the standards of the circuit and its facilities to the level of its international competitors".
According to Invest Northamptonshire acting head of operations Jez Goodman: "I don't think you get a guarantee longer than that, really."
However, governments in Bahrain and Malaysia have pulled out all the stops in order to attract grand prix, including investing hugely in track and facilities. Both Silverstone-based BAR and Jordan bosses have talked publicly about the financial incentives of relocating their businesses to the Middle or Far East.
In the UK, a host of national and regional governmental bodies have responded to the need to placate demands for more government support with a raft of initiatives, including road improvements and incubation facilities for small businesses in the motorsport industry. But according to James Stancombe, project director at the Government Motorsport Unit (GMU) in Northants, when it comes to F1 it is a matter of "cash handouts no way".
He says: "There've been all sorts of proposals from BRDC to put Silverstone on a par with the circuits in Bahrain and elsewhere but what we've been trying to do is find appropriate ways for government to support them. It is not a case of giving cash handouts or blank cheques."
Instead, the GMU is looking at ways to bolster the entire industry. "F1 is important," says Stancombe. "It's what everyone sees and knows about - it's the pinnacle of the UK motorsport industry. But various estimates put it at 15 per cent of the total of £34.6m per annum the industry creates in terms of the UK economy. Only 15-20 per cent is F1, which is very important but not all there is."
Both national and local government - including organisations in Northants, which has the most to lose - are keen to play down the impact on the supply chain if F1 eventually leaves the UK.
Goodman, whose organisation is responsible for retaining industry in the area, says: "We are never complacent and the government has been working with the motorsport industry to secure Silverstone as an F1 circuit. That is not to say that the motorsport activity we have in Northamptonshire is entirely dependent on it. Motorsport teams like BAR and Jordan are tied to it, but research has been undertaken that demonstrates a lot of activity there isn't entirely dependent on it."
Some might argue that the motorsport industry is indeed dependent on F1. According to research completed by the Motorsport Industry Association, the 2002 British round of the FIA Formula One World Championship attracted nearly £335m of expenditure and maintained the equivalent of 1,150 full-time jobs.
"The British Grand Prix is an important annual event and demonstrates the best in high-performance motor manufacturing and research," says Derek Mapp, chairman of the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA). "We are proud to have the fulcrum of this vastly important industry in such a tight geographical area."
Andrew Waller, chief executive of Brands Hatch Circuits, is equally unequivocal about the contribution of the event to the UK economy. "The British Grand Prix at Silverstone is a jewel within UK sport tourism, attracting substantial visitor activity and event-related spending. This excellent piece of research underlines the ongoing value of the British Grand Prix and the importance of retaining it for years to come."
However, as growing economies such as Turkey, India and Russia vie for the favours of F1 promoters with promises of luxury venues, the former airfield at Silverstone will continue to struggle to keep in the F1's affections.
"All the experts tell us that the world motorsport industry is growing," says Stancombe. "The UK is still a major player but it's losing its share relative to a bigger cake.
"The other thing experts tell us is no matter where these businesses go to they still tend to use UK expertise. Worldwide engineers, designers, event specialists and so on still come back to the UK to update their knowledge. That is the pool of knowledge in the UK we want to target."
Many of the recommendations put forward by the DTI motorsport competitiveness panel focus on skills development and training, not deluxe toilet facilities and plush stands at the track. The GMU has been given a £316m budget over five years to implement these projects, including a motorsport academy linking a number of higher and further education engineering and motorsport training courses with a potential training facility at Silverstone. Efforts will also be made to widen participation by encouraging youngsters who like fast cars but who otherwise might become a street nuisance to participate in Cruise Sport, a programme managed by the BDRC to increase the dwindling number of licensed competitors and crew. Other projects include a learning grid, attracting students from infant school to university into science and engineering through motorsport, and a national training plan for new and existing volunteer officials.
The GMU is also focusing its resources on the development of energy-efficient motorsport, investigating the use of alternative fuels on the racetrack.
Recently three race teams received £3140,000 to test the viability of alternative fuels. In return Mardi Gras Motorsport at Silverstone (liquid petroleum gas), Team Nasamax in Sittingbourne, Kent (bio-ethanol) and Taurus Sports in Watton, Norfolk (diesel) provide data to promote the viability of alternative fuels in mainstream motorsport.
Two of the teams recently competed at Le Mans. "What we hope might be able to happen is more alternative fuel cars might appear in more races, or the regulations will allow those cars to appear in races and compete on a par with conventionally fuelled vehicles," says Stancombe.
In January work started on the biggest cherry of government support directly aimed at F1 - a £34.2m business innovation centre for the UK motorsport industry.
The new business incubator is a joint venture between track owner BRDC and EMDA which is investing £31.8m into the project. In addition, the Northamptonshire Partnership - one of seven sub-regional bodies supported by EMDA - paid for the design feasibility study that ultimately led to the centre being located at Silverstone. Scheduled to open in October, the development will also generate income for the circuit the year round.
The centre, on Silverstone Technology Park, will house up to 40 high-performance engineering start-up companies as well as more established, growing businesses operating in motorsport and related industries.
The centre will include 16 incubator units which will be let on flexible terms to start-up companies receiving a time-limited package of support. There will also be 27 suites for growing companies rentable for periods of three to five years, and tenant firms will be encouraged to get involved with other activities designed to boost their competitiveness.
Alex Hooton, chief executive of the BRDC, says: "We are very excited by this project and see it as a critical element in the development of the hi-tech park at Silverstone, which we intend will catalyse the motorsport industry. We have ensured that the centre's high standard of design and build quality reflects the centre's role in supporting this aim."
Regeneration in private
Parts of northamptonshire such as corby are pursuing regeneration without access to large sums of public money
Northamptonshire is the quiet, sleepy place that borders the top of the manic and overcrowded South East region. It rarely makes the headlines but is known as home to at least two unique and important industries, although the future of both looks rocky.
Shoemaking and leathercraft in Northampton was once led by R Griggs, the makers of world-renowned Doc Martens - the footwear of an international generation of young hipsters which eventually included Madonna and the Pope. The industry still thrives in a high-end, niche market way through Church's and Crockett & Jones, which make expensive handmade leather shoes. But in 2002 R Griggs shut down manufacturing in the UK and relocated production to China, with the loss of 1,000 local jobs.
Motorsport is the other unique industry, which draws fans from around the world. Other industries of note include logistics, thanks to the central nature of the county in relation to the South East and the rest of the country; likewise printing, including Quebecor and Oxford University Press, which moved its distribution centre up the road from London in the 1980s. The county's rural nature means it is a significant food producer and there is also some general manufacturing still left over from the area's steelmaking heydey.
The government is investing £350m in Northants over the next three years. Agencies such as Invest in Northamptonshire, which is to be formally launched in September, will deal with inward investors and businesses already established in the area thinking about growth.
"Research shows that around 70 to 80 per cent of any investment comes from existing employers rather than from outside," says Jez Goodman, Invest Northamptonshire's acting head of operations. "That is a continuing trend because globally the amount of foreign direct investment has declined."
Growth is important if the 370,000 homes needed in the area are not going to become commuter dormitories for Londoners. According to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Milton Keynes/South Midlands area (which includes Northampton) shows "potential for growth to 2031 is for up to 300,000 jobs and some 370,000 homes". The growth will be allocated in five core areas including: Milton Keynes itself; Luton /Dunstable/Houghton Regis; Bedford; Wellingborough/Kettering/Corby; and Northampton.
Regeneration in the south is different from that in the north of the country. Areas in the north of England tend to rely on larger influxes of European structural funds for investment but lack the attention of national bodies such the Highways Agency when it comes to important infrastructure: the Leeds ring road has been left unfinished since the 1930s, while Manchester's ring road was only completed in the last five years.
Northamptonshire has got a strong bargaining position with central government. For the South East to maintain its growth and position as the engine of the UK economy, it needs houses, many of which will be built on Northamptonshire's former steelworks and other brownfield sites.
"There is a very strong political consensus here that we are going along with the growth agenda providing that the infrastructure is put in place," says Goodman. "So we have our schools, we have our hospitals, we have the road network to make sure it is actually economically and environmentally sustainable. Otherwise the businesses won't come here, therefore jobs aren't created, therefore people won't come here - it's just a common-sense approach. And the investment has to come before, not after."
What'll it do, mister?
30 per cent of the UK's top 20 motorsport engineering companies are based in Northamptonshire.
Two F1 constructors, BAR and Jordan, represent a 20 per cent share of the world's F1 constructors and 33 per cent of UK F1 constructors.
F1 engine suppliers Mercedes Ilmore and Cosworth Racing in Northants account for 40 per cent of the F1 engine market.
Other specialist engine makers include Langford Performance Engineering, Knight Racing Services, Goodman Racing Engines and Jondel Racing Engines.
Northamptonshire has more motorsport circuits than any other county in the country. They include Rockingham, Santa Pod and Silverstone. The county also has Whilton Mill kart circuit and Northampton International Raceway short oval.
Motorsport companies in the county are almost three times more likely to export than other businesses.
79 per cent of motorsport companies in the county generate a turnover of less than £31m.
Skilled trades account for more than 50 per cent of Northants' motorsport workforce.
40 per cent of core motorsport businesses generated three quarters or more of their turnover from customers in the county.
53 per cent of companies spend more than 5 per cent of turnover on R&D. A third spend more than 15 per cent of turnover on R&D.
Regenerating Corby
Northamptonshire is home to the country's sixth richest postcode - Grange Park in Northampston. But if there is a troublespot amidst the county's quiet but affluent lifestyle it is in the northern city of Corby.
Home to a failed mining and steel economy, it has suffered from neglect - even lacking a train station. Which is why urban regeneration corporation Catalyst Corby has been established. Its chief executive, Bob Lane, moved down from the north in 2002 where he was chief executive of Liverpool's Speke-Garston Development Company, responsible for regenerating some of Merseyside's deepest, darkest areas of deprivation and neglect. Lane says the effect of the South East economy gives the regeneration effort in Corby "a very different feel".
Unlike Merseyside, which was awash in £3800m of European Union Objective One funds, regeneration will come from a bit of public pump priming and effective management of natural private-sector growth. "There are some regeneration needs in Corby but it is using the growth of the area to achieve that regeneration, so it is mainly using private money rather than public money," says Lane.
One of the main aims of Catalyst Corby is to nearly double the area's population. According to Lane, Corby should have a thriving population of 100,000, as envisioned when Corby became a new town in the 1950s. The closure of the steelworks in the 1970s stalled this growth and the population currently stands at about 53,000.
"Economically Corby has not been successful," says Lane. "It's a small place and it has got a lot of manual work so it has not got high wages. And it has not grown big enough to have a good shopping centre and good quality leisure facilities because the population doesn't have the spending power."
Unemployment is not an issue. Lane reckons that Corby has a working population of 20,000, and 29,000 jobs, which means the area imports labour. The area is currently "desperate" for HGV drivers, but the eventual aim is to increase the types of jobs available and the wages that people are earning, which will be a challenge without a university.
Another need is a passenger train station. Although Kettering, with its 50-minute direct rail service to Kings Cross, is only seven miles away, Corby is the largest town in the UK not to have a passenger station. The train line only deals with freight. "We do need a station in the town because of people commuting in and out of the town."
A recent Strategic Rail Authority study has found that Corby will have "a real case" for a train station if growth continues on its upward track but this is not likely to happen until 2010.
"We want to grow the town residentially for people who work in the town," says Lane. "We accept that you will get a bit of commuting if we get a railway station but the main people we want are people who live and work in the town and spend their money in the town. We don't want to create a dormitory community town. There's not too much danger of that because we haven't got a large employment base already in the town but we do need more people."
Corby forms part of the Milton Keynes and South Midlands growth area. Under the draft housing strategy Corby is being allocated 600 housing starts per annum, up to 2011. From 2011 to 2021 it increases to about 900 starts per annum. Northamptonshire in general and Corby in particular are well suited to a large growth in housing. Former industrial sites will be the main focus of housing growth. "We've got less resistance than most places because it is not talking about beautiful farmland. But we are right in the middle of the beautiful countryside."
With Rockingham Speedway to the north of Corby, Lane hopes to also use it as an economic catalyst. "Rockingham Speedway is certainly important land use in the town and has big events there. We haven't yet capitalised fully on the employment spin-offs but we do want to create something similar to the technology park that has been developed at Silverstone. We are working on identifying some land next to Rockingham Speedway that can be used for that type of employment."
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