The East Midlands

The counties of the East Midland Civil Defence Region made up before the war one of the most prosperous regions in the country. The Census of 1935 showed the leading industries of the Industrial East Midlands as coal mining, hosiery, boots and shoes, engineering, the miscellaneous textile and clothing trades, and iron and steel. In the centre of the East Midlands, the possibility of a permanent transfer of certain engineering works into Leicestershire, and in general the possibility of an expansion in the Leicestershire engineering industries, has to be considered in relation to the post-war development of Coventry and Birmingham. The southern parts of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, which largely share the industrial character of the Southern part of the East Midlands, are linked to South Yorkshire by a continuous belt of mining and industrial activity. There appears to be little danger of depression among the more important miscellaneous manufacturing industries of the central industrial area of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.