EAST ANGLIA - Geography and history
Characteristics
East Anglia constitutes the northern part of the East of England Region. It is bounded by the two other sub-regions of East of England to the south - Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire and Essex - and by East Midlands to the northwest. The northeastern and the eastern parts of the region are bordered by the North Sea. In terms of its administrative structure, East Anglia is made up of the Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils and the unitary authority of Peterborough. It covers an area of 12,561 km2 .
The Breckland, an area of sandy heathland and forest in the centre of the region, and the Broads, large-scale medieval peat workings subsequently flooded, have become tourist attractions.
Population
In 2001, there were 2.2 million inhabitants in East Anglia. Between 1981 and 2001, the population increased by 21.5 per cent in Cambridgeshire, 13.5 per cent in Norfolk, 17.9 per cent in Peterborough and 11.3 per cent in Suffolk ? significantly higher than the UK average of 4.8 per cent. However, the region remains sparsely populated with just 173 people per square kilometre, compared to the national average of 244 people per square kilometre.
The four main urban centres (Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich and Peterborough) contain around a quarter of East Anglia?s population and Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich each have population densities of over 2,000 persons per square kilometre. However, in Ipswich and Norwich the population has actually been falling ? by 2.4 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively over the period 1981 to 2001. This is in marked contrast to the remainder of the region: in the East Cambridgeshire district the population growth over this period was nearly 36 per cent.
East Anglia has an older age structure than the United Kingdom as a whole. In 2001, the proportion of people aged under 25 in the region was lower than the national average (29.5 per cent compared to 31.2 per cent in the United Kingdom) while the share of people aged 65 and over was higher (17.8 per cent compared to 15.9 per cent nationally).
Population growth as the result of natural causes in East Anglia fell in 2001-2002. The birth rate of 10.2 per thousand inhabitants was lower than the death rate of 10.5 per thousand inhabitants suggesting that recent population growth has been due to migration. Furthermore, the infant mortality rate is lower in the subregion compared to the UK.
Economy
East Anglia has a broad economic base. There are significant clusters of biotechnology and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) based companies in and around the Cambridge sub-region. Cambridge?s biotech cluster is the largest in the world outside of the United States. The Cambridgeshire Fens, one of the most fertile areas in the East of England, has a local economy that is predominantly agriculture based while agriculture and related industries also make a major contribution to the Norfolk economy. Industries that are strongly represented in Suffolk include food and drink, telecommunications and transport. Over the past fifteen years, agricultural and manufacturing employment has declined. There has been a growth in the service sector, which reflects the national trend.
1.1 million persons of working age in East Anglia were employed in 2001. The proportion of the working age population in employment was six percentage points higher than the national average while the inactivity rate was three percentage points lower. The percentage of people unemployed and claiming benefit in 2003 was also below the national average in all but four of the 23 districts. Those areas experiencing high unemployment levels were the cities of Ipswich and Norwich and the coastal areas of Great Yarmouth and Waveney.
Part of East Anglia is included in the London-Stansted-Cambridge corridor. This is one of four growth areas in the United Kingdom. These areas have experienced significant economic success resulting in pressures on housing and services which cannot readily be dealt with within existing towns and cities. New and expanded communities are therefore needed to support the sustainable growth of these areas. Within the London-Stansted-Cambridge corridor, growth has been underpinned by clusters of some of the United Kingdom?s most successful businesses in biotechnology, life sciences and ICT. Funding has been provided to help with the consequent need for increased housing provision, with Cambridge experiencing considerable shortages of affordable housing. Growth in housing provision will also, over time, require significant improvements to transport infrastructure.
Infrastructure
There are two regional airports - at Norwich, which provides scheduled services to the continent, and Cambridge. The ports of Felixstowe and Ipswich are two of the five ports that form the Haven Gateway Partnerships. This represents the single most important cluster of ports in the United Kingdom. The Partnership provides a framework within which its partner organisations from the private and public sectors can work together to promote the economic opportunities and secure future prosperity. Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom and the fifth largest in Europe: the new Trinity terminal expansion, which will allow the largest container vessels to dock, is expected to be fully operational by July 2004.
There has been significant investment in wind-generation in East Anglia, particularly offshore. Thirty wind turbines due to generate 60 megawatts by 2004 are being installed on Scroby Sands, 2.3 miles off the eastern shore of East Anglia. Wind farms are also approved to generate over 3,600 megawatts in the Greater Wash area, to the northwest of East Anglia.
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