£8bn investment matters to us all
Mar 13 2009 from Avantage West Midlands
Public sector funding is playing a vital role in keeping the wheels of economic development moving across the West Midlands region during the recession.
The financial world may be in turmoil but organisations such as Advantage West Midlands have a major role to play in ensuring every pound of public sector investment achieves maximum impact.
At the Government’s request, this region has developed a phased and prioritised plan over the next ten years for £8 billion worth of public investment into transport, housing, regeneration and economic development in the West Midlands.
This Regional Funding Advice (RFA) plan was prepared by the shadow Joint Strategy and Investment Board, which comprises local authority leaders and Advantage West Midlands board members, consulting with other regional partners including the Learning and Skills Council, the Housing and Communities Agency and Highways Agency.
In the past six months, partners have been testing economic development, housing and transport investment plans, identifying the schemes that yield the best economic return to the region and that are deliverable in the current economic situation.
Key strategic documents such as the West Midlands Economic Strategy, the Regional Spatial Strategy, the Regional Transport Strategy and the Regional Housing Strategy have all come under the spotlight.
That diligent work and resulting authoritative content is what makes the RFA such an important document – and the timing of its submission to central government could not be more appropriate. It is a classic example of the regional partners working together with local government to get the best deal for our region.
Given the backdrop of an economic recession, the RFA suggests focusing on key projects that will assist the region’s businesses and communities face up to the current economic challenges and set the direction of travel so a stronger regional economy emerges in the future.
The RFA concentrates the spotlight on impact investment locations across the region. These are places where different strands of public investment can come together to create the biggest impact in terms of jobs and homes and the transport needed to make it all happen.
In transport, the RFA calls for a programme of investment in a range of transport schemes that will improve accessibility within the region and asked DfT to work more closely with regional partners so that we can speed up the pace at which transport schemes are delivered.
The RFA will contribute to closing the region’s output gap through three priorities: sustaining and strengthening the West Midlands’ economy; delivering urban and rural renaissance, including housing growth and provision of affordable homes; and expanding skills and employment.
So, while the news headlines focus on the impact of the recession, a lot of hard work is going on behind the scenes to prepare the economy for the upturn.
The RFA is an important document that matters to everyone in the public sector because it reminds us all that we must do everything we can to help the economy through this crisis.
It is also a document that matters to everyone in the region and to regional businesses as it will focus funding on those schemes that provide us all with the greatest possible benefits in the shortest possible timescale.
* Column provided by Advantage West Midlands - www.advantagewm.co.uk
