Background & Economy

Pictures Courtesy of Taunton Deane Borough Council

Wellington has a strong industrial heritage dating back to the eighteenth century when the Fox family established its woollen mill. The town maintains its manufacturing base with production most notably of top quality beds, furniture and aerosols. In 2002 34.6% of employees in the town were in manufacturing.

Chelston Business Park on the outskirts of the town offers a modern business environment, which has attracted a range of other business types to the town including distribution because of its location, proximity to the M5 and reasonable access to mainline rail services.

Wellington Economic Partnership was established by Taunton Deane Borough Council, Wellington Town Council and Wellington Chamber of Trade to promote the economy of Wellington. The partnership meets every couple of months to discuss future developments in the town; ways of attracting new businesses to the town; how to make effective use of the councils' investments; and to find ways of promoting the town. The partnership is made up of elected councillors from the three local councils; officers from those councils and members of the Chamber. It receives regular reports from council officers who attend meetings when they are requested, to brief the partnership on specific matters.

Wellington Steering Group for the Market Towns Employment Project is a sub group of the Wellington Economic Partnership.

The baseline analysis of the employment situation and economy in Wellington identified:

• Significant net loss in manufacturing jobs of 20% between 1998 and 2002
• Overall 13% employment losses between 1998 and 2002
• Good growth in working age population is expected
• High reliance on manufacturing
• Three of the top five employers are in declining sectors representing 1,200 jobs
• Good proportion of employment in sectors forecast to increase, BUT loss of employment in those sectors recently
• High proportion of unemployed who have never worked
• Poor performance at Key Stage 2 but good performance at GCSE