Steer Economic Development commissioned to develop Oxfordshire's COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan

Steer Economic Development has been commissioned by Oxfordshire LEP (OxLEP) and partners from a senior stakeholder Task Group (including Chief Officers from Oxfordshire’s six local authorities, senior representatives from the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, and the Oxfordshire Growth Board) to oversee the development of a county-wide COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan (ERP).

Due to the immediate economic challenges created by the pandemic and the disruption caused to employment, trade and supply chains in specific parts of the economy, the ERP has a near-term timeline, focusing on an immediate response and recovery period of 24 months.

The outputs from this project will be a Baseline Assessment Report and a subsequent Action Plan which aims to maximise existing activities and introduce additional responses to regain the pre-COVID-19 growth trajectory for the County and its localities.

The project has the following workstreams:

• An assessment of key socio-economic indicators prior to and, where possible, after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, to understand the impact caused by the event;
• Econometric modelling (provided by our partners Cambridge Econometrics) to project the impact that COVID-19 will have on the economy of Oxfordshire in relation to the rest of the UK, by running a baseline projection and then an updated projection accounting for economic disruption caused by COVID-19;
• Insights on the current and anticipated challenges posed by COVID-19 from 50 key business leaders and stakeholders in eight themed Focus Groups, covering the Visitor Economy, Town Centres, Green Growth, Rural Economy, Strategic Sites and Assets, Inclusive Growth, Business Growth and Supply Chains, and Jobs and Skills;
• Collation and review of existing and pipeline activities that could be included in the ERP; and
• Development of a coherent and ready to deliver Action Plan formed around extent, pipeline, and new projects to enable the LEP and partners to maximise the speed and scale of Oxfordshire’s recovery; and
• Six new funded projects, focused on COVID-19 recovery across target areas, are to be developed to complement extent and pipeline activities, with coaching provided to progress these from concept to application.