Foreword

The South West Observatory network supports evidence-based strategy, policy and decision-making within, and about, the region.  The network collectively contributes to, and promotes, the development and common understanding of a shared evidence base through the pooling of best practice, resources and intelligence. 

The State of the South West is a key element of the evidence base for the South West region. Updated annually online, it draws together inputs from the wider Observatory network to provide a comprehensive account of the characteristics of the region.  It describes recent trends and highlights key challenges and issues faced by the region. The online resource provides detailed access to underpinning data, and individual chapters will be made available to download in pdf form. The State of the South West printed report (you can download a copy from the State of the South West 2010 homepage) is published every three years, and provides a highlighted snapshot of the online resource. Together, the online resource and printed document represent a huge collaborative effort.

In the run up to the production of State of the South West 2010, contributors conducted a review of the product and the process for putting it together. As a result, I am pleased to note that we have incorporated a number of improvements this year:

• Firstly, the printed document is shorter than the 2007 version, while the online version is more expansive. The printed document aims to be accessible to a wide audience giving a good contextual overview of the state of the region. The slimmer document will of course use less resource to print and post, and will be easier to carry.  It will be supplemented by a “What’s Changed?” document in 2012.

• Secondly, the online version provides more sub-regional context than previously. As well as more sub-regional data, datasets can be more readily broken down into key groups, there is more information on the context and limitations of data, and there are more links to other data sources.

• Thirdly, all the online and printed chapters have been subject to a light touch academic review from a specialist in the field. Academics were asked to ensure that the chapters were using the best available data and that any written inferences followed logically from the data. This has been a successful exercise with authors feeling it has added value to their contributions.

I would like to thank all the contributors and reviewers for their efforts in sticking to deadlines and their constructive feedback and suggestions throughout the process.  Special thanks however, go to the State of the South West Production Team at the Observatory Core Unit for pulling everything together.

We welcome any comments, suggestions or contributions you feel would improve our next edition.  Please email enquiries@swo.org.uk. 

Vinita Nawathe

Managing Director, South West Observatory Core Unit