East Riding of Yorkshire case studiesThe East Riding’s Economy as a Business Classroom
Examiners reward students who apply theory to real businesses. The county has clear examples across bridge tolls, a freeport and business grants, and we use them in lessons.
Pricing & demandA £1.50 bridge toll, frozen for five years
The Hull & Humber Chamber’s undated page on the Humber Bridge said tolls were frozen for five years, with a car at £1.50, or £1.35 with a Humber TAG, 15p or 10% less by our arithmetic. The bridge board’s chair said the £1.50 toll helps the Humber economy, and that the Government had halved the bridge’s debt. A tourism plan would not be funded at the expense of regular users. The page gives no traffic figures, and we can’t say when it was written, though the newest items on the site are dated 21 October 2026.
Why might a bridge freeze its toll and offer a discount for regular users, and what would you need to know to judge whether it raises demand? Practise this in AO2 Application.
Interpreting numbers£1bn pledged, 700 jobs and £200m for 4,000
Humber Marine Renewables reported on 5 August 2024 that the Humber Freeport’s first year had brought over £1bn of pledged investment, 700 skilled jobs at its Hull and Goole tax sites, and 400 or more jobs from Metsä Tissue on 211 acres. A £200m Yorkshire Energy Park could support 4,000 jobs, a £25m seed fund would go on skills, and CATCH aims for 1,000 apprentices a year by 2029. The Humber ports handle 17% of UK trade. £1bn over 700 jobs is about £1.43m a job and £200m over 4,000 is £50,000 a job by our arithmetic, but the figures cover different things.
Why might £1bn pledged and 700 jobs not be comparable with £200m and 4,000 jobs, and what would you want to check? Step by step in AO3 Analysis.
Strategy & stakeholdersGrants of up to £50,000, and a cap on how many
East Riding Council said on 4 September 2025 that it had over £500,000 of UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Rural England Prosperity Fund money for business grants: growth grants up to £50,000, start-up grants up to £750 and training grants up to £1,000. It said it had supported more than 2,000 businesses over two years. £500,000 would pay for at most 10 maximum growth grants by our arithmetic, so most firms would receive far less. The page doesn’t say how it chooses between applicants, and we haven’t checked how the money was spent.
Should a council spread grants across many small firms or back a few large ones, and who gains or loses? A real judgement for AO4 Evaluation.
Sources: Hull & Humber Chamber (undated); Humber Marine Renewables, 5 August 2024; East Riding Council, 4 September 2025. The 15p, 10%, £1.43m, £50,000 and 10 grants figures are our arithmetic. The tolls page is undated and gives no traffic, the Freeport pledges and jobs cover different things, and we haven’t checked how the grants were spent.
