Region will ‘get the nod for Channel 4’, declares Street

Channel 4's London headquarters

The West Midlands will “get the nod for Channel 4”, Andy Street has declared, as he continues to pour his political capital into making sure securing the broadcaster’s relocation is the big achievement of his first year as West Midlands Mayor.

Street has very publically been leading the campaign to bring Channel 4 to the region and earlier this month the Government acknowledged its own protracted negotiations with the London-based company were gathering pace, with an announcement expected by Easter.

The list of cities bidding to become the new home of Channel 4 reads like a England map index and includes Brighton, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Sheffield and York.

The West Midlands bid has put forward several potential sites, including Solihull, Coventry and Dudley, but its most likely destination in the region is near the site of the planned HS2 station in Birmingham city centre.

Street told an audience of 550 business people at the Signature Awards in Birmingham that he was “confident we will win”, which would complete a hat-trick for the region following the successful Commonwealth Games and City of Culture bids.

Street said: “I am prepared in front of these witnesses to predict another success of teamwork this year and it will be that we do get the nod for Channel 4.”

Andy Street speaking at the 2018 Signature Awards (Credit: Jas Sansi)

Despite reports elsewhere, the Cabinet reshuffle which saw Staffordshire Moorlands MP Karen Bradley change roles from Culture Secretary to Northern Ireland Secretary in January was not bad news for the West Midlands bid.

TheBusinessDesk.com understands that Bradley, a Manchester City fan who worked for KPMG in Manchester before embarking on a Parliamentary career, was warm to the idea of Channel 4 moving to the North West to build on the strength of Media City in Salford.

The decision will now be made by Matt Hancock who told the House of Commons earlier this month the Government is “clear about the need for the company to have a major presence outside London”.

He added: “I have seen the campaigning with verve by the Mayor of the West Midlands for Channel 4 to move there. Our argument is that Channel 4 needs to do more outside of London and I can certainly see the arguments for it moving its headquarters.”

Street, who is 10 months into his 36-month term after winning last May’s election by fewer than 4,000 votes from Labour’s Sion Simon, understands the importance of delivering the high-profile wins.

Despite the momentum being felt in the region, there is a keen awareness that the successful bids by Birmingham to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games and Coventry to be the 2021 UK City of Culture were led by their respective councils and were well underway before the mayoral office was created.

Unlike the bid to host the Commonwealth Games, the competition to become the home of Channel 4 is one that a number of other cities want to win.

Street’s public comments on Channel 4 are particularly interesting because they are very different in tone to his comments during the Commonwealth Games bid process. Then he was careful not to put Birmingham in the role of favourites when the city was battling against Liverpool to secure the backing of the UK Government.

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