State of the South West

• The State of the South West 2010 was published as a hard copy and online on Wednesday 31st March to coincide with the South West Observatory Annual Conference.

• To access the online version of the report, please click here. To request hard copy of the condensed version which will be posted to you, please click here.

• For chapter downloads (as PDF files), please see the links in the right hand column.

• Please field any State of the South West related questions to Sarah Hardwick, Report Editor, at the Core Unit.

*STOP PRESS - Government & Politics Chapter

• The UK General Election and Local Elections, held on Thursday 6th May, resulted in various changes in the South West.

• For an updated political map of the region, denoting the new political colours and new Westminster constituency boundaries (in places) please click here. For the full breakdown of results, please click here.

• For an updated South West County and Unitary Councils map, please click here. For the updated Unitary and District Map, please click here. For the full breakdown of results, please click here.

The South West Observatory network supports evidence-based strategy, policy and decision-making within, and about, the region. The network collectively contributes to, and promotes, the development and common understanding of a shared evidence base through the pooling of best practice, resources and intelligence.

The State of the South West is a key element of the evidence base for the South West region. Updated annually online, it draws together inputs from the wider Observatory network to provide a comprehensive account of the characteristics of the region. It describes recent trends and highlights key challenges and issues faced by the region. The online resource, available at www.swo.org.uk provides detailed access to underpinning data and individual chapters be downloaded in pdf form. The State of the South West printed report (this document) is published every three years, and provides a highlighted snapshot of the online resource. Together, the online resource and printed document represent a huge collaborative effort.

In the run up to the production of State of the South West 2010, contributors conducted a
review of the product and the process for putting it together. As a result, I am pleased to note that we have incorporated a number of improvements this year:

Firstly, the printed document is shorter than the 2007 version, while the online version is more expansive. The printed document aims to be accessible to a wide audience giving a good contextual overview of the state of the region. The slimmer document will of course use less resource to print and post, and will be easier to carry. It will be supplemented by a “What’s Changed?” document in 2012.

Secondly, the online version provides more sub-regional context than previously. As well as more sub-regional data, datasets can be more readily broken down into key groups, there is more information on the context and limitations of data, and there are more links to other data sources.

Thirdly, all the online and printed chapters have been subject to a light touch academic review from a specialist in the field. Academics were asked to ensure that the chapters were using the best available data and that any written inferences followed logically from the data. This has been a successful exercise with authors feeling it has added value to their contributions.

I would like to thank all the contributors and reviewers for their efforts in sticking to deadlines and their constructive feedback and suggestions throughout the process. Special thanks however, go to the State of the South West Production Team at the Observatory Core Unit for pulling everything together.

We welcome any comments, suggestions or contributions you feel would improve our next edition. Please email enquiries@swo.org.uk.

Vinita Nawathe
Managing Director, South West Observatory Core Unit