2103 Local Economic Study of the Alde and Ore Key Headline Messages for Regional and Local groups

Summary of headlines (1) Residents/Second home owners: The people who choose to live here or have second homes here choose the area because it is peaceful, beautiful and has a wide range of cultural activity. They are spending more than they have ever done, are likely to retire here, and spend their time in parts of the area that depend very heavily on continued defence of the present environment Farmers/Landowners: Not only the £12m of output and the 2,300 jobs presently supported by Alde and Ore farming are at risk if sea defences fail and abstraction/irrigation becomes unfeasible – greater losses will be felt through the supply chain, and local income and employment dependent on the supply chain will be at risk as well. Parishes/Communities: Concerted, local action is a major priority for local communities, so that we can all continue to benefit from the unspoilt, quiet and beautiful countryside we presently enjoy; without a collaborative plan for improving and maintaining our sea defences all this is at risk;

Summary of headlines (2) Businesses: businesses in the Alde and Ore area benefit immensely from tourists and other visitors to the area, whose continued choice of the area depends heavily on the local environment and the cultural and sporting opportunities it provides – the most important factors that local businesses quoted to us are the environment, the countryside, the river and the unspoilt nature of all three. Environmental/Policy Groups: Concerted, local action is a major priority for local communities and policy-makers, so that the economic, cultural and social benefits that we and the region derive from the unspoilt, quiet and beautiful countryside can be preserved. The key benefits and assets are spread across a wide range of stakeholders, and a similarly widely-shared collaborative plan for improving and maintaining our sea defences will be needed to meet the challenge

Residents and Second Home owners People choose to live here because they value the environment and the scenery; because they like living near the coast; and because it is peaceful here; Second home owners take exactly the same view, and it’s not surprising therefore that - Nearly four in ten residents who answered our survey moved here to retire; possibly because the same number, 40%, have family links here, enjoy the huge range of local activities and specifically enjoy the musical and artistic life of the Alde and Ore area; Most residents spend money locally on leisure activities and day to day shopping (70%), with larger items bought elsewhere –second home owners buy most of what they need locally (80%); Total annual local expenditure is around £4,700 for homeowners and £5,100 for second home owners.

Residents and Second Home owners Both residents and second home owners are spending a lot more than they did in 2004, when we last surveyed the local economy – the overall average spend has doubled in real terms; expenditure on food and drink is the most important category; When people live here or visit their second homes (which they do on average 12 weeks a year), they go shopping, they take walks, and they go to the beach - this hasn’t changed since the 2004 study; The next most popular activities are cycling, concert-going, sailing and sightseeing. KEY MESSAGE: the people who choose to live here or have second homes here choose the area because it is peaceful, beautiful and has a wide range of cultural activity. They are spending more than they have ever done, are likely to retire here, and spend their time in parts of the area that depend very heavily on continued defence of the present environment

Farmers and landowners Farming is a very significant contributor to the economy of the Alde and Ore area, with an annual crop value of around £12m from the 3,000 ha under cultivation, and around 2,300 jobs supported purely by cultivation; Farming in the very low rainfall coastal area currently depends heavily on water availability – farming uses around 30% of all the water used in the Coastal catchment area; Water availability in its turn is largely a matter of irrigation and without irrigation by abstraction, the value of agricultural land could drop by up to a third (£13.5 k/ha to £9.5k/ha); Irrigation points within the flood cells protected by existing and planned sea defences supply water to up to 7,000 ha of agricultural land; and the same defences protect around 320 ha of land which could be completely lost if seas defences fail; Key message: Not only the £12m of output and the 2,300 jobs presently supported by Alde and Ore farming are at risk if sea defences fail and abstraction/irrigation becomes unfeasible – greater losses will be felt through the supply chain, and local income and employment dependent on the supply chain will be at risk as well.

Parishes and Communities There are around 7,500 resident households and 1,000 second homes in the Alde and Ore area; Every year, 280,000 day visitors and 100,000 overnight visitors join local residents to enjoy our part of Suffolk; In our survey, all of these people (as well as local sailors and others) stressed the importance to them of the local environment – the most used words were unspoilt, beauty, tranquil, peace, scenery, river; About 1,000 businesses are to some extent dependent on the same things; visitors and residents told us that their most usual activities were shopping, beach visits, walking, sailing, sightseeing, concert-going, most of which generate income for local businesses – and all of our visitors and residents are spending more on eating, drinking and travelling; Our local landscape and wildlife reserves are important to the maintenance of this environment, as well as being a draw in themselves for thousands of visitors each year; local attractions such as Snape Maltings, Orford Castle and the Aldeburgh Food Festival are increasingly popular;

Parishes and Communities The value to our local economy from all of these activities is immense; just looking at leisure spending, the Alde and Ore area generates around £96m a year from residents, second home owners, tourist visitors and cultural/sporting activities, with a further £12m from farming activities; All of this income depends, to some extent, on the local area retaining its attraction to visitors and settlers here (around 40% of residents settled here in retirement; most of our tourist visitors come several times a year); and the overwhelming response to our survey has been that preserving the estuary through maintaining its defences against the sea is a high priority; Key message: Concerted, local action is a major priority for local communities, so that we can all continue to benefit from the unspoilt, quiet and beautiful countryside we presently enjoy; without a collaborative plan for improving and maintaining our sea defences all this is at risk.

Politicians, local and regional ? As for Environmental and Policy Groups ?

Businesses There are probably around a thousand local businesses in the area covered by our survey, and around 35 of them responded to the survey – which means that our results are likely to be biased towards those with a stake in the maintenance of the local environment; Many of those businesses are dependent on expenditure generated by the 280,000 day visits made to the area each year, the 100,000 overnight visits, and the 8,500 local households, which generate roughly £59m, £17m, £17.6m respectively, with a further £2m from sporting enthusiasts; The businesses we surveyed employed between them about 520 staff, on a highly seasonal basis, suggesting that they are dependent to a great extent on the visitor and tourist trade; the tourism trade in total in the Suffolk Coastal area employs around 5,400 staff, around 11% of all employment in the area;

Businesses 97% of the businesses responding to our survey declared themselves in some way dependent on the quality of the local environment; and 86% would find themselves badly affected if river activities declined; The most important activities that draw visitors to the area to become customers of local businesses are beach visits, walking, shopping, concert going and sailing, with a dozen others only slightly less important; Aldeburgh Music and the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival between them generate around 110,000 visits a year, without accounting for day to day visitor traffic to the Snape Maltings shops and restaurants, and are a very important element of the area’s tourism offer, especially with the increase in the importance of local food and food ‘tourism’. KEY MESSAGE: businesses in the Alde and Ore area benefit immensely from tourists and other visitors to the area, whose continued choice of the area depends heavily on the local environment and the cultural and sporting opportunities it provides – the most important factors that local businesses quoted to us are the environment, the countryside, the river and the unspoilt nature of all three.

Environmental and Policy Groups There are around 7,500 resident households and 1,000 second homes in the Alde and Ore area; Every year, 280,000 day visitors and 100,000 overnight visitors join local residents to enjoy our part of Suffolk; In our survey, all of these people (as well as local sailors and others) stressed the importance to them of the local environment – the most used words were unspoilt, beauty, tranquil, peace, scenery, river; About 1,000 businesses are to some extent dependent on the same things; visitors and residents told us that their most usual activities were shopping, beach visits, walking, sailing, sightseeing, concert-going, most of which generate income for local businesses – and all of our visitors and residents are spending more on eating, drinking and travelling; Our local landscape and wildlife reserves are important to the maintenance of this environment, as well as being a draw in themselves for thousands of visitors each year; local attractions such as Snape Maltings, Orford Castle and the Aldeburgh Food Festival are increasingly popular;

Environmental and Policy Groups The value to our local economy from all of these activities is immense, with around £96m in leisure spending and a minimum of £12m agricultural income; The overwhelming response to our survey has been that preserving the estuary and its amenities through maintaining its river and sea defences is a high priority; the knock-on effects in terms of agricultural income and asset values and residential property values were not a part of the survey methodology, but it is clear that these too would be at consequential risk, and the values here are clearly equally significant; Key message: Concerted, local action is a major priority for local communities and policy-makers, so that the economic, cultural and social benefits that we and the region derive from the unspoilt, quiet and beautiful countryside can be preserved. The key benefits and assets are spread across a wide range of stakeholders, and a similarly widely- shared collaborative plan for improving and maintaining our sea defences will be needed to meet the challenge

Key Numbers Numbers and Income: – Homeowners 7,585£16mNB total population – Second Homes 964£1.6mis around 16,000, of – Day visits 280,000£59mwhich 21% are >65 yrs old – Overnights100,000£17m – Yachtspeople1,400 sample£1.4mNB 359 homes at risk of – Wildfowlers100£0.65m flooding non-res Agricultural – Crop area/Income3,000ha£8.8 - £12.025m Tourism/Employment – Tourism in SCDC area297,000 trips/901,000 nights/£37m spend – Holidays only151,000/533,000/£28m – Staff employed4,800 (2,200 FT/2,600 PT Plus 600 owners etc Survey responses H/V 355; Yacht 131; Business 37; Wflr:37 NB 20,000 is total employment in A&O