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Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 13:25
About 27,000 people travel in and out of Bath for work every day, many of them from Norton-Radstock and outlying villages.
A report called From Recession to Recovery: The Local Dimension, forecasts that the Bath travel-to-work area should be one of the areas which is relatively safe from job losses.
The report was published on Monday at a credit crunch summit in London. It predicts how each area of the country could be affected by economic downturn, if no action is taken.
Highlighting the areas most and the least vulnerable to job loss in the period 2008-10, it says that areas around King's Lynn, Halifax, Derby, Burnley and Wolverhampton are most vulnerable, whereas areas around Hastings, Bath, Ashford, London and Merseyside, are the least vulnerable.
The report forecasts that in the period up to 2010, up to 130,000 jobs could go in the South West, 5.1 per cent of all posts.
Within the West Country, the Cheltenham and Gloucester area is most at risk of job losses, and Bristol is also said to be in danger. Somerset is included in a lower-risk category, while former Avon, which includes B&NES, is in a medium-level area of risk.
The report says the hardest-hit industries will be construction and manufacturing, while high-skilled industries look set to remain relatively unscathed.
Norton-Radstock has already suffered cuts in manufacturing industry in recent years, and in the last three decades highly skilled printing jobs have filled many of the gaps left by the closure of coal mines and railways.
The Local Government Association's chairman, Margaret Eaton, says councils can take a lead to find solutions to problems.
She said: "From keeping people in their own homes and offering support to the unemployed, to helping small businesses stay afloat, councils are already acting.
"Councils will be pulling out all the stops over the coming months and years to protect people and businesses from the worst effects of the slump.
"The recession is going to hit different parts of the country in very different ways and even within individual regions there are marked differences as to how local areas could fare."
Research shows that the fastest way to get out of recession is for more decisions abut the economy to be taken at local level, added Mrs Eaton.
"With greater freedoms over transport, infrastructure, planning, economic development and skills, councils would be able to do even more for people," she said.
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