Centre for Cities chief tells West Midlands to use all powers at its disposal
The West Midlands should be using all means at its disposal to ensure its voice is heard as Britain negotiates a new role for itself in the world order, devolution think-tank Centre for Cities has said.
Alexandra Jones, chief executive of Centre for Cities, said the region had to push the new West Midlands Mayor as well as ensure the West Midlands Combined Authority and the national government were promoting its interests.
Addressing patron members of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, she said: “It will be really important to contribute to the Government’s new industrial strategy and set out how national Government can best support West Midlands businesses.
“Investing in people and skills will be vital to future growth, so will making the most of Birmingham, one of the UK’s largest cities and one which has grown rapidly in recent years.”
She told the patrons that the region’s business community would have a big role to play in making devolution a success.
“You should be spelling out, as a group, what priorities you think the mayor should have and what changes you would like to see that would help business thrive in the years ahead,” she added.
“Mayors will matter not just because of their formal powers but also their ‘soft’ powers – to convene people and change conversations. When mayors invite people to lunch, they will come. Mayors have the ability to bang heads together and get organisations working together.”
She said the region needed to be clear that a big focus of devolution would be making the most of businesses, supporting economic growth and sharing prosperity.
“The West Midlands is not as well-known as it should be, despite its strengths and successes. Skills are a real issue for this area. One of your main challenges is making sure you have enough skilled people at all levels,” said Ms Jones.
“Areas as big as Birmingham and Coventry should be more highly skilled than they are, particularly with the universities you have. You need to improve skills as that will make the area more attractive to businesses.
“Make sure transport in the area is improved and that you ensure that high profile national projects like HS2 are also an opportunity to improve local transport. And ensure that you make the most of the opportunities for innovation that cities with lots of universities and knowledge intensive businesses offer.
“You have made a lot of progress on working in partnership and gaining devolution in a short space of time. From May, the West Midlands will have greater control over transport, roads and housing and other areas. You are in a good position to make the most of this to support growth in the years ahead.
“As businesses, you should think about how you make the most of devolution to support growth and ensure you bang the drum in setting out your expectations of the elected mayor. There are huge opportunities for the mayor, who will have a mandate from the whole electorate, to make a big difference to growth in the local area.”
Ms Jones said that the West Midlands should learn from other areas, in the UK and around the world. For example, Greater Manchester’s long term partnership, across local authorities and with the private sector, had benefitted from sharing a clear vision and ambition for the area, and developing a strong shared evidence base from which to work.
The chamber is launching a joint campaign – Business Priorities 2017: Vision for a West Midlands Combined Authority Mayor – in partnership with the Black Country and Coventry & Warwickshire Chambers of Commerce next month.
