Mid Wales Economy

Cultural and Physical Beauty
The Mid Wales economy covers the counties of Powys, Ceredigion and the Meirionydd area of Gwynedd. It is one of the most sparsely populated and physically beautiful counties within Wales. Mid Wales is home to some important natural and historic landscape features, from the extensive Cardigan coastline to the wild mountains of the Brecon Beacons.

Cultural and educational attractions are also plentiful, including the picturesque village of Portmeirion – home of ‘The Prisoner’ – and the innovative and environmentally friendly ‘Centre for Alternative Technology’ near Machynlleth.

The area’s physical and cultural beauty is just one of the region’s attractions, and may help in explaining why Ceredigion has seen a 14% increase in population in just 10 years (1991-2001). During this same time period, Wales as a whole saw a population increase of just 1%. These significant increases are mostly a result of in migration – showing the Mid Wales region to be an attractive destination for newcomers.

The Economy and Future Job Opportunities
The Mid Wales economy has traditionally relied on sectors such as agriculture, forestry and manufacturing that have recently suffered as a result of price pressures and foot and mouth disease. However, manufacturing employment has now been brought in line with the UK average, and has even strengthened in recent years, despite the overall UK decline. An increasing proportion of Mid Wales manufacturing job opportunities are now in the higher value added areas, highlighting the broad range of diverse opportunities now available in Mid Wales.

Mid Wales, with its geography, topography and skills base, is well placed to take advantage of alternative growth opportunities such as wind farming and oil and gas exploration. In fact 3 wind farms are already in operation in Ceredigion, with licenses also issued for gas and oil exploration. These new growth sectors will offer high quality job opportunities in the region.

Although almost half of all registered businesses in Mid Wales operate within the agriculture and fishing industries, further employment opportunities are emerging from fast developing, new sectors, such as tourism and the related distribution and hotels sector. The growing popularity of the traditional seaside resort also provides Mid Wales with an excellent opportunity to both encourage visitors, and create new jobs.

ICT Infrastructure in Mid Wales has, up until recently, not been of a generally high standard outside of areas such as Newtown and Aberystwyth and their immediate surrounding areas. However, the recent Assembly and Welsh Development Agency (WDA) £100m initiative to stimulate the supply and demand for broadband offers Mid Wales a host of new opportunities. The package will ensure that broadband is available to all users in Wales at a roughly equivalent price, no matter where they are located. This technology will provide opportunities for teleworking, new business ventures, and will allow the full range of e commerce transactions to be conducted by organizations in Mid Wales, a further signal of a diversifying region.

Figure 1: Main Sectors of Employment within Mid Wales

Currently, just over a quarter of all working people within the mid Wales region are self employed; far higher than the average for Wales as a whole. This indicates a real opportunity for innovative small business growth and new enterprise.

Tourism – The High Growth Sector
The region has a great deal to offer the tourist, from the Brecon Jazz festival to the coastal resorts of Cardigan Bay. A new landmark project called Terra Nova, capable of attracting some 200,000 visitors to its 8 historic farms dating back 4,000 years – is also currently under review, again showing the new opportunities for employment and tourism in the Mid Wales region. The Royal Welsh Agricultural Show is also a vital part of the economy, attracting over 200,000 visitors yearly, and pumping an estimated £35m per annum into local businesses.

Other popular tourist activities are based around the region’s natural beauty, and include walking, golfing, riding and cycling, together with more unusual sports such as bog snorkeling.

The Mid Wales Tourism Strategy of 1999 intends to grow the tourism sector in Mid Wales by £41m by 2008, creating an extra 1,200 local jobs opportunities.

Language and Education
The Welsh language is an important element of the region’s culture and heritage. In many towns and villages around Mid Wales, Welsh continues to be the first language, and with the growing number of regional administrative centres, job opportunities in the medium of Welsh are set to increase.

Education standards in Mid Wales are excellent, with lower class sizes and higher GCSE attainment than for Wales as a whole. Further and higher education in the region is also impressive, with over 20% of residents in Mid Wales qualified to degree level or higher. These achievements point towards the region’s strengths of so many further and higher education institutions, including Coleg Powys, and Universities of Wales Aberystwyth and Lampeter.

A Superior Quality of Life
Quality of life in Mid Wales is high, benefiting from space, physical beauty, cultural richness and diversity. These factors, together with increasing job opportunities in new sectors, and high education standards make Mid Wales an attractive area in which to reside and work.