As Wales’ largest county, Powys has had some notable industrial successes throughout its history. It was the birthplace of Robert Owen, the creator of the co-operative movement and the location of the first mail order business in the world – Pryce Jones of Newtown. It is also where Laura Ashley, arguably one of Wales’ most famous entrepreneurs, chose to start her textile business in the 1960s which took Welsh fashion designs around the globe.
Given this business heritage, it is disappointing that, in terms of economic policy during the last decade, Powys has become very much the forgotten county of Wales.
For example, when Wales applied for European funding back in the late 1990s, Powys was omitted from the list of counties that was put together to make up the artificial region now known as West Wales and the Valleys.
As a result, not only did Powys then lose out on a share of the £1.2 billion of European funding made available to West Wales and the Valleys, but it also lost out on any assisted area status for the vast majority of the county with the notable exceptions of Machynlleth and Ystradgynlais.
This status is critical for companies wishing to expand their operations or for those inward investors looking to relocate as it means that a higher level of grant support can be given to a company setting up or expanding in an assisted area. As a result, maximum grant support of up to 50 per cent has been available within West Wales and the Valleys since 2000 whilst none has been forthcoming for any business wishing to relocate or expand within the majority of the county, including the main conurbations of Newtown and Welshpool.
The question, of course, is whether this failure to include Powys within the West Wales and the Valleys region has affected the Powys economy at all?
If we examine the economic data for the county, it does suggest that there has been a slowdown as compared to the rest of Wales.
For example, official data from the Office for National Statistics shows that Powys has now suffered a fall in economic prosperity (GVA/head) from 75.0 per cent of the UK average in 1999 to 66.1 per cent in 2007. This decline of 8.9 per cent compares with an overall fall in the prosperity per head of West Wales and the Valleys of only 1.9 per cent.
By the time the first round of Convergence funds via the Objective 1 programme was drawing to a close in 2007, the GVA/head in Powys in 2007 was £12,771 per head. In four of the counties receiving funding it was higher, namely Swansea, Gwynedd, Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot.
Indeed, whilst the economic prosperity of West Wales and the Valleys had grown by 41 per cent during the period 1999-2007, that of Powys had increased by only 29 per cent.
Given this, you have to ask the question why the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) did not make a case for Powys to be included in the second round of European Structural Funding for the period 2007-2013, which has resulted in an additional £2 billion of funding for the West Wales and the Valleys region?
Why didn’t anyone within WAG stand up for Powys during this time, especially given the fact that it had been overtaken in economic prosperity by other counties which still qualified for funding? Would it have been too difficult to make a strong case for inclusion and therefore access to vital funding for economic development?
Assuming that Powys would have had its fair share of the two European funding programmes, this exclusion has meant that the county has lost out on around £200 million of additional financial support for the economy during the period 2000-2013.
One can only imagine what such investment would have done for its prosperity during this time.
If the Welsh economy continues to decline relative to the rest of Europe, then current estimates suggest that the fifteen counties that make up West Wales and the Valleys may well qualify for an unprecedented third time.
If that does happen, then there is certainly a case to be made for Powys to be included in this next round of European funding and therefore gain access to funding opportunities that could turn around the economic decline suffered by the county during the last decade.
