Welcome to North East England, a place that works

The North East LEP covers the local authority areas of County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

Within this area, we have a population of two million people and a skilled and resilient workforce.

In 2018, the North East produced goods and services valued at £41 billion. This is due to our three great cities, a wider urban economy and our rural and coastal locations which offer a diverse range of investment opportunities and an excellent quality of life.

The North East is built to work, with local road, rail, air and digital infrastructures giving easy access to local jobs.

A great place to live, learn and do business

We are proud of the North East’s industrial history, which helped shape the global economy and continues to influence our future. Our capacity for invention and innovative delivery, from railways, to hydraulics, to stem cells, highlights our creative spirit and pioneering culture.

Our three great cities are globally recognised. Newcastle has vibrant science, education, culture, digital and service sectors. Historic Durham has a leading university, science and tourism sites.

Sunderland is renowned for its manufacturing capability, being the home of Nissan’s world-leading car manufacturing base and the focus of one the Europe’s leading automotive clusters.

Our towns, rural and coastal communities provide employment in a number of sectors. Across these territories, creative initiatives embedding new business growth are underway. For example incubators alongside rural tourism hubs like The Sill in Northumberland, growth in iconic cultural locations like Beamish and Auckland Castle and initiatives to foster digital innovation in farming and water delivery demonstrate opportunities to drive employment across every part of our economy.


Underpinning investment and expansion is a strong sense of regional identity, a skilled and committed workforce, a powerful and engaged business community, and public bodies committed to development and regeneration.

Find out more about our region on the Invest North East England website.

North East England

Our region is home to one of the UK’s fastest growing economies with a highly-skilled, flexible workforce, well connected to global markets and a low cost base, it is easy to see why over 67,000 businesses call North East England home.

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North East England

North East England remains one of the most beautiful, vibrant, exciting and thriving places to live and work.

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