Stopping Coventry’s Decline!

CovSoc Vice Chair, Tim Brown, asks what’s to be done about the disappointing state of Coventry’s economy? Tim writes……

There has been considerable media coverage of the ‘Cities Outlook 2026’ report. It doesn’t read well for Coventry and the West Midlands. For example, the BBC highlighted that between 2013 and 2023 average disposable income grew by only 0.5% in Coventry. This compares unfavourably with Birmingham (2.5%). Furthermore cities in the West Midlands region grew at only half the rate of the rest of the country. In the case of Manchester, the annual economic growth rate for the last 10 years has been over 3% – this is twice the rate of the UK as a whole!

What this means is that households in Coventry on average have lost out by £4,900 because we have not matched the average growth of other cities over the last decade. 

The report by a think tank, the Centre for Cities, was published in January. It can be found at Cities Outlook 2026 | Centre for Cities. It is important to appreciate that it focuses on 63 principal urban areas and not local authority boundaries. But in the case of Coventry, it is more or less the same.

What else does it tell us about our city?

On the positive side:

• Population growth over the last decade was 13.5% – 8^th highest of the 63 areas: This was mainly due to in-migration as Coventry is a city that is attractive especially for UK and overseas students.
• Strong growth of the housing stock mainly through new build – in 2023/24, over 1,300 extra dwellings were completed – 18^th highest of the 63 areas.   

But these positives are outweighed by the negatives including:

• Unemployment rate in 2025 of 6.4% – the highest of the 63 areas
• Reliance on public sector jobs – the ratio of private to public jobs in 2024 was 1:1.9 – the 49^th lowest of the 63 areas: There is a school of thought that private sector jobs are a driver of economic growth 
• Average gross disposable household income per person in 2023 was under £16,000 – 56^th lowest of the 63 areas.

These negatives have been reiterated in two further reports in 2026 by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and the Resolution Foundation:

• The JRF national annual report on poverty shows that 21% of people are living in poverty, and half of those were in ‘deep poverty’ –  if these figures are extrapolated for Coventry, there are 36,000 people in the city living in extreme poverty
• The Resolution Foundation highlighted that Birmingham and its surrounding area (including Coventry) has performed poorly over the last 30 years and now has “just as great a share of lower-income families as the North West and Yorkshire and is miles behind the South.” 

So, what can be done to improve the prospects for Coventry?

As well as a more successful national and regional economy which might have trickle down benefits for the city, there are six interrelated local opportunities that should be part of our agenda:

• Delivering at speed the Coventry and Warwick investment zone that incorporates Greenpower Park, SERCO Park, Whitley South and Whitley East – the challenge is getting commitments from prospective private sector users such as battery storage and manufacturing companies which so far has proved problematic. Investment here would provide an economic and psychological boost to the city.
• Higher graduate retention rate – our two universities are magnets for students but currently there are not the quality or range of jobs for them at the end of their courses – how can this be changed?  
• Providing training and support for people who are unemployed so that they can find jobs in the new growth industries
• Supporting research and development (R&D) activities not just at Warwick University through its science park and the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and facilitating research networks between both universities and local businesses.
• Delivering a liveable green city that benefits existing communities as well as attracting in-migrants
• Urban development corporations (UDCs) are able to be set up by mayoral combined authorities (such as the West Midlands Combined Authority) to attract investment and manage regeneration of areas – Greater Manchester Combined Authority has set up two UDCs with a further three in the pipeline: So is a UDC for, say, the City Centre North investment zone an option?      

With a significant local election due in Coventry in May, there are questions here for our prospective city leaders to get to grips with.