Runnymede’s Economic Characteristics

Runnymede continues to have local economic strengths and a skilled workforce, with many commercial enterprises in the town centres, industrial estates, enterprise zones and business parks. Runnymede is home to a number of key attractions such as Runnymede Meadows (where the Magna Carta was signed), the River Thames and Thorpe Park which drive tourism and sustain jobs.

The main retail centres of Addlestone, Chertsey and Egham play an important role in meeting people’s day to day needs. Good rail and road connectivity to London, Heathrow, and being home to Royal Holloway University of London, contribute to Runnymede’s economic growth and attractiveness.

The following map shows the university campus, town centre boundaries, and our Strategic Employment Areas.

Employment sectors represent the current industry or business where people work. The following link to the ONS mapping tool shows the distribution of different employment sectors based on the percentage of residents in each neighbourhood (MSOA) aged 16 and over who work in each sector.

Occupation types are categories for different types of job within the labour market, and relate to the common tasks shared by different occupations, and the skills and qualifications required to do them. The following link to the ONS mapping tool shows the distribution of people with different occupation types based on the percentage of residents in each neighbourhood (MSOA) who are in this type of occupation.

In each case, enter ‘Runnymede’ in the ‘Area’ field.

Economy, Employment & Skills Headlines

Runnymede has a relatively highly skilled economy, with high levels of participation in the workforce, high job density, and unemployment levels consistently below regional and national averages. Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the local economy and employment trends in Runnymede, the demand for skills will continue to increase and change in the future, driven by factors such as automation as well as the growing significance of the green and digital economies. It is likely that the Runnymede area’s population will continue to be highly qualified and have access to high earnings with low rates of unemployment compared to other areas.

Runnymede has a largely service-sector based labour market, dominated by high levels of employment in high-skilled professional sectors. Compared to national averages, Runnymede has much higher shares of employment in information and communication; professional, scientific, and technical industries; and arts, entertainment, and recreation. Conversely, the borough has much lower shares of employment within the manufacturing and retail sectors.

Increased working from home has reshaped commuting habits, which may have significant implications for a Runnymede area which previously had a net inflow of commuters daily.

There has been an overall increase in employment floorspace (mainly office uses) since the adoption of the 2030 Local Plan, set against relatively smaller losses of general industrial and storage and distribution floorspace. However, permitted development rights have led to employment floorspace being converted to residential units, even within designated employment areas. An Article 4 Direction restricting permitted development rights to convert commercial premises to residential in Runnymede’s protected employment areas will come into force in 2027.

Regeneration at Magna Square in Egham and Addlestone One has helped to consolidate the vitality and viability of these areas, but further improvement is required. Retail vacancy rates in Chertsey are high relative to the Borough’s other town centres and to the south-east.

Within this overall positive narrative, there are communities in Runnymede experiencing socio-economic challenges, including those of Englefield Green West and Chertsey St Ann’s. A localised effort is required to support residents back into long-term, good quality employment to ensure sustainable economic growth and secure quality of life and health outcomes for these residents.

What does this mean for the Local Plan?

The new Local Plan, as far as it is able to do so, and without repeating national decision-making policies (NDMPs) should retain, strengthen and/or implement policies/actions which promote economic growth and development including for specific sectors/clusters and SME’s as appropriate. The Local Plan should seek to improve the quality and offer of the towns through regeneration and ensure delivery of jobs and skills through employment development, protect Runnymede’s most important/strategic areas of employment and promote tourism, leisure and creative and innovation industries. The Local Plan should also ensure development is supported by the infrastructure needed to support economic development: supporting digital connectivity, transport connectivity, and security of energy/electricity/water supply is important in achieving these aims.

The new Local Plan will also need to consider the impact of permitted development and conversion of office/employment uses to residential uses. In addition to the Article 4 Direction protecting Runnymede’s strategic employment areas, further protection of employment  outside of the strategic areas may be required.

Sources of further baseline information

The Runnymede Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (2026) and Retail & Town Centre Uses Study (2022, 2025) identify additional baseline information, and provide a detailed analysis of key trends.

Detailed baseline information, an analysis of existing conditions and future trends and how this information will inform the new Local Plan can be found in Chapter 12 of the SA Scoping Report available at Evidence Base weboage.

Sources of other useful information: