The Cheshire section includes governance, overview, sectors, top 10 companies, knowledge, property, transport, culture and top 10 attractions.
Back to reality
How do you measure quality of life? Nice house, good local schools, excellent transport infrastructure, blue-chip companies providing highly paid work – all are part of the formula.
Cheshire prides itself on meeting all these obvious requirements and though no one can deny that there are pockets of deprivation, the lifestyle and leisure facilities, communication links and local services the subregion offers put it above many others.
Business success is key to that quality of life and owes much to a long-standing industrial heritage. The automotive sector in Cheshire is still one of the strongest in Europe, with 11,000 employees and a range of quality component and metal manufacturers, backed by a flexible pool of skilled engineering workers.
Cheshire is also seen as one of the most technologically advanced regions in the world for the ICT sector. Many of the major historical achievements over the past 50 years have led to a competitive advantage in this rapidly growing industry. Employing over 7,000 people, established companies include Siemens, Fujitsu, Entek and SurfControl.
The Cheshire plain can rightly claim to be the birthplace of much of the UK’s chemical industry and, with a history of producing salt and alkalis going back more than 300 years, Cheshire is synonymous with cutting-edge developments in the sector. There are an incredible 95 companies, employing 6,000 people and the industry in Cheshire has been transformed into a modern dynamic cluster of manufacturers, supported by specialist service companies.
The really big players are here. Brunner Mond, for example, is the largest manufacturer and supplier of soda ash and refined sodium bicarbonate in Europe. Oil and petroleum are also vital: the unique night skyline at Shell’s refinery at Stanlow is often used to illustrate Cheshire’s business success. Biotechnology and pharmaceuticals are a familiar and growing part of the Cheshire economy too. Long-established companies employing large numbers of people, such as AstraZeneca, rub shoulders with new start-up businesses.
A willingness to diversify and to expand into new areas has always been one of Cheshire’s strengths. The traditional automotive and chemical-based industries may still be vital, but horizons have been broadened in the past two decades.
In common with many other parts of the North West, Cheshire has been successful in attracting financial services specialists and call centres, enticing them away from the South East and the Midlands with cheaper set up and labour costs.
If business success and diversity is the key to quality of life in Cheshire, then education must also rank somewhere near the top. Figures show that Cheshire students at every age outperform the national average and academic opportunities at all levels help to attract new investment and talent to the area and refresh the business sector with home-grown expertise.
Cheshire’s geographically central position makes it one of the most easily accessible parts of the UK. Served by two international airports at Manchester and Liverpool, an improved motorway network and faster rail service, the rolling countryside of Cheshire is prime commuter belt for people wanting to live out the rural idyll but with easy access to cities at home and abroad.
Cheshire may conjure up images of country lanes and chocolate box cottages. But, important as its heritage is, no one can accuse Cheshire of being stuck in the past.
Look at the recent business infrastructure developments, improved transport links and regenerated town centres and you would be excused for thinking that someone had their finger on the fast-forward button.
Quality of life is measured in terms of the here and now, not in how things used to be. And, although the tabloid perception of millionaire mansions and shopaholic footballers’ wives may be off beam, the reality is that Cheshire’s home-grown success can make the headlines that really matter.