‘Super-region’ partnership chair slams ministers’ decision to end its funding

Government funding for the Western Gateway, the partnership set up five years ago to boost economic growth in a ‘super-region’ stretching from Swindon to Swansea, is to be withdrawn this summer.

The move was described as “hugely disappointing” by the Western Gateway’s chair, who said it risked putting the brakes on what had proved to be a massive economic opportunity.

Sarah Williams-Gardener also claimed ministers behind the decision had refused to engage with the partnership, business leaders or locally elected leaders and MPs ahead of announcing it.

She said in just under five years the Western Gateway had played a prominent role in ensuring South Wales and Western England became the fastest-growing economic area outside of London.

During the current year, it had brought in more than £2m of in-kind and financial support for its work from local and national organisations.

With this, it had launched the Severn Estuary Commission to look at harnessing the UK’s largest tidal range, attracted more than £100m to ensure the area could develop the UK’s first small modular reactors and hosted three national conferences attracting 1,500-plus business leaders and government ministers to the area.

More than 100 business and academics supported the partnership’s continued funding in a government consultation on the issue just before Christmas.

While all of the 28 local authorities making up the partnership were committed to continuing cross-border collaboration – especially to continue work on tidal energy in the Severn Estuary – without government funding the secretariat team in its current form would cease to function from 6 June, the partnership said.

The partnership said in a letter from the minister responsible, Jim McMahon, earlier this month he made it clear that the decision was based on the role that mayoral combined authority mayors would in future play in bringing together pan-regional areas.

This was despite the fact that mayoral combined authorities do not exist in Wales and, therefore, cross-border economies such as the Western Gateway would not be supported by this new model, the partnership argued.

Representatives from the Western Gateway, the area’s business community and parliamentarians had attempted to engage the government and the minister on this point on numerous occasions since but had been denied a meeting, it added.

Sarah Williams-Gardener, pictured, said: “This is a hugely disappointing decision from the UK Government.

“It’s been a great journey we’ve been on having delivered hundreds of millions of pounds of investment into key sites across the area, putting together a credible, locally supported cross-border economic plan for growth which recognises our natural economic geography, and bringing together leaders from across the political spectrum to deliver for the 4.8m people who live here.

“Whilst the UK government have decided to put the brakes on this massive economic opportunity, I and our board of local authority leaders are committed to ensuring we can still deliver on our area’s potential.

“The evidence our partnership has uncovered shows that our area can become the fastest growing economy outside of London and we will do what we can to achieve this, with or without the government’s help.”

As well as continuing work to harness the potential of tidal energy in the Severen Estuary, the partnership has committed to providing a platform for the 28 local authorities in its area at the UK’s largest investment conference, UKREiiF in Leeds in May.

It said this would be a key opportunity for them to come together to drive investment into the area and discuss a future for the cross-border collaboration between South Wales and Western England.

The Western Gateway became the UK’s first partnership to bring together a coalition of cross-party leaders from across two countries when it was launched in 2019.

Its first chair was Bristol-based Katherine Bennett CBE, a former senior vice-president of aerospace giant Airbus. Sarah Williams-Gardener, the ex-CEO of FinTech Wales, took over as chair just over a year ago.

Last week the Midlands Engine, which promotes growth and investment in a region stretching from North East Lincolnshire to Shropshire, confirmed it is to be wound down following a similar cut in its funding.