The impact of factory closure on local communities and economies: the case of the MG Rover Longbridge closure in Birmingham

Much of the recent literature concerned with the impacts of factory closure refers to closures occurring in the 1980s and 1990s and affecting heavy industry - coal, steel and shipbuilding. It also tends to focus on employment and labour market impacts assessed through the subsequent experience of wo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy studies 2008-09, Vol.29 (3), p.305-317
Main Authors: Chapain, Caroline, Murie, Alan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automobile Industry
closure
Communities
Community
Economic Conditions
Economic sociology
Employment
Factories
Industrial economics
Location of industry
long-term social and spatial impacts
MG Rover
Plant Closure
Space economics
Unemployment
United Kingdom
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Summary:Much of the recent literature concerned with the impacts of factory closure refers to closures occurring in the 1980s and 1990s and affecting heavy industry - coal, steel and shipbuilding. It also tends to focus on employment and labour market impacts assessed through the subsequent experience of workers made redundant following closures. It also tends to assume that these impacts are localized. Because of this much of the discussion of policy implications relates to the workers made redundant and to a very local economy. This paper refers to the closure of the MG Rover factory in Longbridge, Birmingham, UK. This closure was regarded as presenting a crisis for government and the local community. The paper responds to arguments in the research literature and explores the spatial and economic impact of the MG Rover closure in more detail. It complements other research which has focused on the experience of those made redundant in 2005 by referring to the loss of employment over a longer time period and identifying a wider impact spatially and socially. The paper draws upon different sources of evidence and concludes with a discussion of implications for policy and research.
ISSN:0144-2872
1470-1006
DOI:10.1080/01442870802159962