Photosales
niJobfinder
niCarfinder
Home Delivery
Propertynews
Slump city: Belfast will be among UK’s worst-hit by recession
Monday, 26 January 2009
Belfast will be among the worst hit cities in the UK as the grip of recession tightens this year, a new report has warned.
Independent research organisation Centre for Cities said that with rising unemployment and a high number of people with no qualifications, Belfast could be badly exposed to the downturn.
It ranks the province’s capital alongside Liverpool and Hull as the places least well placed to ride out jobs losses and business closures in coming months.
The report found that cities outside the south-east of England are likely to be worst affected by economic problems.
Dermot Finch, director of the Centre for Cities, said: “UK cities will be hit harder than they think by this recession. Nearly all say they are well-placed to weather the storm — but they can't all be right. The recession will hit our cities in different ways — and some will be hit worse than others.
“Cities will lead us out of recession, but they can't just rely on action from Whitehall. Each city needs its own front-line action plan, to keep jobs and retrain workers — and more powers over economic development.”
The Cities Outlook report ranks the economic performance of 64 of the UK’s largest cities and towns. It defines Belfast as the aggregate of Belfast City, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Lisburn, Newtownabbey and North Down.
The report follows official confirmation last week that the UK is in recession and employment figures that showed Northern Ireland has already been hit harder by the economic crisis than any other region.
Six towns in the province were in the top 10 UK dole blackspots, based on regional increases in claimants in the last year. Magherafelt and Cookstown topped the list of claimant increases due to their high exposure to the struggling construction and manufacturing industries.
Commenting on the latest report Sir Jeremy Beecham, vice chairman of the Local Government Association, said a UK-wide “one size fits all” approach to coping with the recession would not work.
“The fastest way to get out of recession is for more decisions about the economy to be taken at the local level, which means councils and other local bodies continuing to work together with local people and businesses.
“All over the country councils are reacting quickly to the needs of businesses in their area. Councils are keen to be partners of Government in fast-tracking investment in infrastructure and the environment and in addition to stimulate the local economy by promoting the take-up of council tax and other benefits alongside small business rate relief.”
- Text Size
Belfast = Titanic.
Sunk by ineffiency, an inflated opinion of itself, and greed.
Posted by Paeder | 27.01.09, 14:28 GMT
I wouldn't call Titanic Quarter a useless project...it is providing construction jobs and will finish with a new tourist magnet and credit crunch or no credit crunch Belfast's tourist indutry seems unaffected (why would there be so many new hotels, I can count 3 under construction!!)
Posted by Stephen | 27.01.09, 01:33 GMT
If Bombardier Shorts closes then it's Goodnight Nurse.
Posted by Leroy | 26.01.09, 21:54 GMT
I watched with Interest Barack Obama's statement on a new energy economy in the Untied States. While serious politicians are creating new economies and opportunities our politicians push a few million's' between depts.
I think we all know exactly what Northern Irelands problem is; a complete failure in vision and leadership. I guarantee the loud and proud anti-green lobby will disappear in short succession when an energy revolution creating 1000's of jobs turns into reality, yet were will we be?
I take my hat off to all those short sighted people with their heads in the trough, the reckless and feckless facists on the hill and the God squadders screaming for redemption. For it seems that is all Northern Ireland is good for.
Posted by M Spence | 26.01.09, 19:26 GMT
Steven - 'Belfast doesn't have as large a university educated population' - because we all leave to find jobs elsewhere that pay decent money.
Posted by amanda | 26.01.09, 18:57 GMT
lets' no overstate this, N.I will survive, a young reasonably well educated workforce, a shortage of quality houses in good areas, yes the boom was mad,prices were increasing too fast, a fact! However prics will not fall much further, i am a proper trader and have sold stuff recently, people do want to buy! what upsets me the most is that this crisis is a 'property related' one, however houses are not like bank shares, they are important and will remain so.
dr lucy.
Posted by dr lucy | 26.01.09, 17:45 GMT
Do people think houses should be sold for a tenner? Market Value means people are paying the prices set. granted the rich tend to push the prices up by having less of a concern for price. this pushes up the smaller value houses
the reason they are no longer paying the same prices is due to inflation pushing the price of everything else up therefore people can't afford the mortgages.
The price of oil effectively scuppered the sub-primers ability to pay mortgages, therefore defaulting and others had to pick up the pieces.
House prices will drop and good mortgage deals will stimulate buying again, its only a matter of time.
Posted by Michael | 26.01.09, 17:08 GMT
As I read this article I keep hearing the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt as he described the 1933 depression: “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”. Northern Ireland IS well placed to ride out this recession for the reasons given by Stephen and indeed many more as he has not even touched upon such as our ability to make the difficult choices such as pay cuts, and the work ethic of our population - it is headline hitting articles such as this that destroys consumer confidence, giving us something to fear, stopping us spending our money, and ruins our economy!
I do believe that the construction/houses issues needed to be "addressed" (sorry for the pun) and that this gold rush will have burn investors fingers enough to leave it well alone in the future for first time buyers - but this adjusting of the market has been so overblown - surely we don’t rely on building so much as one industry can cause this chaos?
Posted by ATM | 26.01.09, 16:28 GMT
Property prices are still at ridiculous levels, sucking all the money out of the economy. Unemployment may be less of a problem because we have the largest public sector in the UK, particularly at Stormont. Public sector job cuts are unlikely. Benefit fraud is the highest in the UK. Grandiose and useless projects like the a sports stadium in the middle of nowhere, the Titanic Quarter, expensive 'cultural' projects like the Irish and Ulster Scots language departments.
We can hardly hope that our incompetent politicians will address the economic problems as they are too busy bickering. over absurdities.
Posted by Denis | 26.01.09, 15:51 GMT
Steven and Sean both make good points. Reality is, things are going to get much, much worse than they are now. An economy needs to produce things to be of worth, but the problem is that our economy doesn't produce much. We rely on our neighbours in Asia for that, so therefore we are a net importer. Thing is with no money, people can't buy so there's no point producing.
Maybe it's time to start bartering with friends in your community, i.e. I'll fix your car for a bag of spuds you've grown in your garden, etc, etc. This way the government doesn't tax us to death and we still manage to trade despite a lack of jobs.
Posted by The Real Liam | 26.01.09, 14:12 GMT
Well said, Steven.
Posted by Sharon Owens | 26.01.09, 11:51 GMT
Steven, which Civil service department, PR agency or local government quango do you work for? Belfast will be shattered by this drawn-out recession. Nowhere personifies the boom to bust bubble better than Belfast with its absurd property prices, massive over-reliance on a bulging public sector, and a failed political structure. Not to mention that the worst has yet to come. I think its finally time to be both honest and realistic.
Posted by Sean | 26.01.09, 11:46 GMT
Having visited the Center for Cities website to view this report, one wonders who is responsible for these think tanks. This is basically a gathering of statistics presented together for comparison. How on earth can you compare the ability of Grimsby's local economy to withstand recession with that off London? Just because a city has had a higher level of unemployment prior to the recent crash doesn't mean it is going to become a blackspot. Although Belfast doesn't have as large a university educated population, it still has a well educated workforce and offers excellent value for money for companies in a lot of industries. It is also in a favourable position in terms of tourism and retail because of the proximity of the Eurozone border with the Republic - something this report has completely ignored. The report also fails dismally to provide any historical data for comparison. Progress made recently will also provide an indication on the city's ability to withstand recession.
Posted by Steven | 26.01.09, 07:50 GMT