The Council has welcomed a report that says Bath has become a major ‘hotspot’ for positive social and environmental investment, coming third in a list of ten places.
The city has leapt up to third place in the Top 10 positive investment ‘hotspots’ with four offers amounting to £2.3 million, behind Oxford and Bristol, according to the Ethex’s report into Positive Investing in the UK.
Oxford is the winning hotspot this year, having seen the most active engagement from positive investors, followed by Bristol, Bath, Brighton and South/Central Devon.
Much of the investment is in renewable energy, leisure and credit union projects.
Councillor Ben Stevens (Lib-Dem, Widcombe), the Council’s Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “This is fantastic news. Last year’s report identified 15 hotspots of positive investing around the UK.
“This year, Ethex found that two in every five UK businesses that has sought to raise funds in the last two year is based within 20 miles of one of these hotspots.
“This confirms that hotspots such as Bath are still the communities leading the trend towards local investment in positive social and environmental change.”
Ethex says the UK positive investing market has grown significantly since the 2013 report was published.
On a like for like basis, the size of the market is up 33% from nearly £1.6 billion to £2.1 billion. However, new data reveals £1.14 billion of savings with Northern Ireland credit unions, available for the first time this year, taking the total market size to £3.25 billion.
Direct positive investing makes up only 8% of the total UK positive investment market but showed the most marked rate of growth, rising by 78% since the last Ethex report to £249 million, as individuals sought out new investment opportunities.
The report was published to coincide with Good Money Week (18th-25th October) and gives an overview of the rapid growth of the positive investment market in the last year and the large numbers of people now participating in it, who they are and where they live.
Ethex makes three recommendations on how the people interested in engaging with this emerging market can be supported and the market improved.
In the longer term, an emphasis on education, investment in infrastructure and proportionate regulation to support investors will help create opportunities.
To read the Ethex report, go to https://www.ethex.org.uk/positiveinvesting.
