Hammond unveils £392m Midlands Engine strategy

Chancellor Philip Hammond is set to visit the Midlands today where he will unveil a £392m package of investment into the Midlands Engine project that will include new projects across the East Midlands

This cash will support projects including creating a global hub for space technology in Leicester, £12m to improve road connections around Loughborough and £11m for the regeneration of Derby city centre.

The full list of schemes across the East Midlands includes:

– Over £11m to regenerate Derby City Centre, including through creating the Derby Portal, a 5,000 capacity performance venue and the redevelopment of brownfield land to create over 750 new homes and commercial space.

– £10m to refurbish Broadmarsh bus station and car park. This investment will provide a new tram stop, and deliver a new retail area in Nottingham city centre.

– £2.4m to enable Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire (D2N2) Local Enterprise Partnership to purchase strategic sites that will make sure the area benefits as much as possible from HS2. The land will be used for housing and employment.

– £1.9m to create a new Creative Quarter Digital Skills Campus in Nottingham.

– £6.8m to create a Convergent Science and Technology Centre in Nottingham. This will help to speed up the development of healthcare products.

– £6.5m to boost the agri-food sector in Lincolnshire. This will provide services and infrastructure for the Holbeach Food Enterprise Zone, and support the establishment of a new Food Enterprise Zones at Holbeach and Hemswell Cliff in addition to another site near Grimsby.

– £5m to develop a new Centre for Health Science in Lincolnshire. This is the next step towards the establishment of a full medical school in the region.

– £8m to regenerate town centres across Nottinghamshire, and redevelop Nottingham Castle.

Hammond’s Midlands Engine strategy will also include the setting up of a Midlands trade and investment programme which will include events in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, according to reports, and £20m for a flagship Midlands Skills Challenge programme to improve employment prospects for people living and working in the region. This will include providing additional work coaches, language training and testing innovative approaches to lifelong learning.

Sir John Peace, chair of the Midlands Engine, said: “We have come together across a wider geography than has been attempted before – to deliver a collective view of what the Midlands can achieve. We are confident in our physical, economic, commercial and cultural assets – and in our people -and our potential to contribute more to the success of UK plc.

“We believe that with the right investments in place the Midlands can raise its performance to match global cities like Singapore, Shanghai and New York. We can grow faster and generate more wealth, helping the government to create an economy that serves everyone well.

“The Government sets out in the Midlands Engine Strategy what more it believes we are capable of achieving when we organise as a region and how they will support us. We will consult widely amongst our partners, particularly among young people who will live in the future we work to create.

“We will publish an ambitious vision of the Midlands of the future. A vision of a Midlands that thinks big, acts big, and aims higher, through a realistic plan to make it happen.”

Alongside the Midlands Engine Strategy, the Government has also published the Midlands Transport Strategy that identifies the key infrastructure investments that it says will better connect Midlands towns and cities.

Midlands Connect has been tasked by the Government to identify transport initiatives to unlock the growth potential of the Midlands, presenting its final strategy to Westminster this week following 18 months of detailed, evidenced-based work.

Hammond said: “The Midlands has enormous economic potential and as we lay the foundations of a stronger, fairer Britain outside the EU it is more important than ever that we now build on its existing strengths to make sure it fulfils it.

“The Midlands Engine Strategy is an important milestone, setting out the concrete actions we are taking, where we are not only investing in what it does well but also tackling some of the longstanding productivity barriers in the region, including skills and connectivity.

“It is a vital part of the Government’s work to create an economy that works for everyone, and all parts of the country.