Harrogate Borough Council

VAT registrations and de-registrations provide an overview of business start up's and closures and can therefore be used as an indicator of the health of the local economy and levels of entrepreneurship.  The most recent figures (2004) show a net increase of 75 in VAT registrations in the Harrogate District, as illustrated in the table below.  This represents a decrease compared to the net change in registrations in the previous year (2003 = 135) however it is in line with the level of change in the previous 5 years.

 

 

 

The fact that de-registration rates are only slightly lower than registration rates can suggest high levels of competition in the economy.  In addition this trend can point to an economy characterised by seasonality as well as a high proportion of small sized firms who are more 'at risk' of closure.  This high 'turnover' of enterprises is characteristic of many rural areas.  The net change in VAT registrations by sector is illustrated in the table below:   

 

 

 

It is also interesting to look at the overall net change for the 9 year period (1995-2004) in terms of the most significant sectors of growth and decline in stocks over time.  This is illustrated below:

 

 

 

As the graph illustrates above, the most significant growth over the last 9 years in Harrogate district business stocks has been evident in the Business Activity (Sector J) sector, and the total Business Stock.  Slight growth has also been seen in the Hotel and Restaurant (Sector G), Transport (Sector H), Manufacturing (Sector C), Finance (Sector I) and Public administration (Sector K) sectors.  Over the same 9-year period, the most significant overall decline in business stocks is evident in the Retail sector (Sector F) and, to a lesser extent, in the Agricultural (Sector A) sectors.  However we can see from the earlier table that the decline in retail was most significant at the start of the 9-year period, with the sector remaining relatively static during the past 4 years.