Greater powers need to be devolved to the regions chamber boss tells MPs
GREATER Birmingham Chamber of Commerce has stressed to MPs the importance of devolving power to the regions.
The chamber’s chief executive Jerry Blackett delivered the message when he when he gave evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee.
Blackett was at Westminster representing the region’s Local Transport Board, created by Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP).
He told the committee that GBSLEP was willing and able to take on decision making and funding for its own area.
He stressed that on transport, the Local Growth Fund was a good start but would require more funding from across Whitehall to have the transformational impact envisaged by Lord Heseltine in his report ‘No Stone Unturned’.
He told the Committee that while the current system of bidding for transport projects through the Single Local Growth Fund was adequate, more needed to be done as there was still a centralised decision-making procedure at the end of the bidding process.
“We also worry that a large amount of the Local Growth Fund pot has come from the Department for Transport. There is the question of how much of that money we would want to spend on other local projects. That might mean there is actually less money to spend on transport,” he told the MPs.
The Committee asked how LEPs across the region could work together to prioritise transport plans. Blackett responded that at the very highest level, LEP chairs were making sure that the GBSLEP’s Strategic Economic Plans synchronised.
“We’re working on creating a Midlands demand-led strategy for transport. It’s down to the quality of local relationships but we are conscious that we are always working within each agency’s own strategy’s budgetary periods. Local communities often have to fit in around this,” he said.
When questioned on the role of HS2 for local growth, Blackett said: “HS2 will have large regenerative benefits on the region and will help fix the capacity problem.
“We are trying to make sure that the procurement opportunities for local businesses are seized. In order to bring HS2 alive to as many people as possible, we need to map out the local connectivity to the stations.”
Following the Committee hearing, Blackett added: “The Transport Board has already submitted written evidence to the Committee and it is important that we underline those views in person.
“High-quality transport infrastructure is vital to sustaining economic prosperity and it is important that the people who use it – and businesses and economies that depend on it – play a key role in the decision-making process.”
He said organisations like local authorities, enterprise partnerships, passenger transport executives, integrated transport authorities and local transport boards, must have the capacity to assess, prioritise and deliver local transport schemes.
“We need to examine the best way of dealing with major transport schemes that cross local authority boundaries or have wider regional impact and look at how local bodies can work effectively with each other and with Government departments and national transport agencies,” he said.
“It’s important that we know what impact next year’s devolution of funding to Local Transport Bodies and the introduction of the Single Local Growth Fund will have.
“One of the vital points is what freedom local authorities will have for attracting investment from the private sector for the delivery and maintenance of transport projects. What scope is there for the use of alternative funding streams.”
