What can the East do to stop the talent exodus to London?

Year after year droves of the brightest talents in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex pack up their bags to head to a big city on the promise of pay packets and better prospects.

But what can regional hubs do to incentivise these highly-skilled workers to stay on, or indeed to bring them back?

Moreover, how can the East level up career opportunities for school aged children ready to hit the job market in years to come?

The latter, it appears, is already being addressed at the highest level of government with the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech this week.

The bill seeks to offer a lifetime skills guarantee for access to education and training across the UK.

And the pandemic is already bringing some higher-earning individuals to East Anglia.

According to a report from the London Assembly Housing Committee, 14pc of Londoners say they want to leave the city as a direct result of the pandemic.

A further third wanted to move house – with 46pc of that group saying they wanted to move outside of the capital.

Norfolk and Suffolk can attract these individuals in a number of ways, according to Anthony Breach, a senior analyst at Centre for Cities.

“On the supply side regions need to be looking at whether they have enough housing. That’s not just suburban houses, that’s smaller flats and semi detached homes as well,” he said.

“Historically Ipswich has had more a problem with building as many of the right homes for the number of people wanting to move there for convenience of commuting.

“The other aspect is demand, which is questioning whether we’ve got enough of the right sort of businesses and office spaces in our smaller cities which make them attractive to workers.

“Similar to areas we’re seeing emerging in Manchester and Birmingham, and areas like Shoreditch and Canary Wharf in London, it’s these pockets of businesses where individuals can move between roles at like-minded companies but also bounce ideas off peers in similar sectors.

“But more than that, it’s hubs where people can go for a drink on a Friday night after work and get chatting with someone who works for a similar company. The opportunities – both for business and education can go from there. It’s really important for regional hubs to be considering this when they look at planning and strategy moving forward.”

His point is illustrated by Hermione Way, a brand consultant and former head of European communications for Tinder, who swapped the big city business hub of San Francisco for Suffolk several years ago.

Ms Way is one of the founders of business hub Innovation Labs and believes creating attractive workspaces can help East Anglia retain its talent.

Hermione Way, former head of communications at Tinder Picture: COURTESY OF WEST SUFFOLK COLLEGE (Image: Archant)

“When people walk in here they think ‘oh, this is exciting’,” she said.

“This isn’t like a boring old corporate stuffy office. This is a young, funky co-working space.

“People really do care about where they work and the kind of environment they work in.

“I think Suffolk and Norfolk need to build more centres like this.

“People have realised that they don’t need to be in London or New York or San Francisco to get a high-powered job or build a million-pound start-up.

“The internet means that remote working is here to stay and the pandemic has really reinforced that.”

She was echoed by Louise Birritteri, founder and chief executive of Norwich-based fintech start up Pikl, who said: “We are starting to see more start-ups popping up in Norwich which is great, and we’re getting people emailing us asking if we have any vacancies because they want to work for these smaller businesses.

“What I really think we need though is more training and school, college and University level when it comes to training, particularly in areas like software engineering. We have loads of really brilliant people on the design side but we struggle to find these skills in Norfolk which is why we work with a team in New York.”

Louise Birritteri, CEO and founder of Pikl. Pic: Archant

And such policies should be heeded, added Mr Breach, as although commuters contribute somewhat to the local economy there can be too much of a good thing.

He explained: “When you look at towns like Southend for example you have one of the highest average wages in the country. However when compared to worker salaries – so the people who actually work and live in Southend – it’s very low.”

As a result this pushes up the price of living expenses in that area – making it more difficult for socially immobile people to improve their standard of living.

“Commuters are a good thing but cities need to make sure they’re fostering enough original economic growth and production themselves as well,” he said.