Britain: An official handbook > 1956

V. INDUSTRY
ORGANIZATION AND PRODUCTION
The United Kingdom is one of the most highly industrialized countries in the
world. Ten people work in mining, manufacturing and building for every one in
agriculture.
Location
The factors that have influenced the location of industry in Britain are many and
various. During the rapid industrialization of the nineteenth century, probably the
most important influence was the proximity of coal, then the major source of power,
particularly when it was associated with ease of access to other raw materials such
as iron ore in the West Midlands and salt (for chemicals) in Cheshire, and to the
coast which in turn offered easy access to imported raw materials and a quick outlet
for exports. In the course of the past hundred years, the pull exercised by coal has
been progressively weakened as improved means of communication and an alter¬
native source of power in electricity have been developed and have enabled
advantage to be taken of other sites—e.g., those near to big consumer markets and
plentiful supplies of unspecialized labour. During the inter-war period there was a
notable tendency for the ‘ new ’ industries such as motor vehicles, electrical goods
and rubber manufactures to develop rapidly in the South (especially in and around
Greater London) and the Midlands. On the other hand, this period was one of acute
depression for the older industrial areas which specialized in the great staple
industries coalmining, steel, shipbuilding, marine engineering and cotton. These
factors prompted official action which, since the war, has aimed at encouraging new
industrial development and diversification in the areas concerned and discouraging
further industrialization in congested areas such as Greater London and Greater
Birmingham.
Although industry is today widely dispersed, the areas of industrial concentration
are still, with one exception (London), the areas which saw the beginning of
Britain’s industrial greatness and which, with two exceptions (London and
Northern Ireland), are on or near coalfields. These areas and their main industries
are listed below. Four of them—Lancashire, South Wales, Tyneside, and Central
Scotland—contain Development Areas (see p. 129) where, as in Northern Ireland,
considerable success has been achieved by Government action to diversify the
industrial structure at the same time as prosperity has returned to their staple
industries.
Greater London. In addition to its building, food and drink industries, London is
the main centre in Britain of the clothing industry, of printing, of the manufacture
of furniture, of materials for the arts, of precision instruments and of many other
specialized goods. Small firms predominate in all these industries, so that the average
size of manufacturing firms in London is well below the national average. London is
also an important centre for light engineering and has some heavy engineering.
Indeed, London is so large and its industries so diverse that it is a centre, if not the
principal centre, for many of the broad groups of manufacturing industries, with
the notable exception of textiles.
Midlands. The main Midland industrial area consists of the great conurbation
centred on Birmingham and Wolverhampton which includes portions of Stafford¬
shire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire, where there is a wide variety of industry,
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