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Last week I attended the UK government’s first ever regional investment summit in Birmingham. Led by West Midlands mayor Richard Parker and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and attended by front bench ministers, the event offered insights into the government’s growth plan and electoral strategy to business leaders and prospective investors who had descended on the city.
Last year’s investment summit was all about the UK’s global ambitions. The message focused on attracting international capital and highlighting to global investors the wide range of opportunities and innovation they can be a part of.
Fast forward to this year’s event and attention was firmly on demonstrating the potential of the UK’s regions and the role they can play in accelerating growth across infrastructure, regeneration, and world-leading sectors.
For myself and Muse, as a leading nationwide placemaker, this focus was both welcome and positive. Over the last 40 years, we have created mixed-use communities across the UK. A regional, place-led approach has remained at the heart of our strategy, with teams across the country who are committed to creating places where people can live, work, and thrive.
We see that potential every day, with a pipeline of nearly 15,000 homes with 30% affordable, across 17 communities, as well as billions of pounds of inward investment in Solihull, Bradford, Stevenage, Salford and across the country.
The regional investment summit provided an opportunity for me, and others, to continue our dialogue with government and private-sector partners on how we can unlock the full potential of our regional economies.
By working together, we won’t just deliver the homes, jobs, and growth we need, we will enhance our places and strengthen our communities. It is about going further and faster.
This is what I wanted to see from the government. Their role is vital, and with the right approach to partnership and flexibility, we can unlock these opportunities and deliver at pace.
It is a message I shared with the new secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, Steve Reed, at a roundtable for industry leaders in September. Then new to his post, he seemed genuinely engaged and willing to listen to the views shared in that discussion.
At last week’s summit, I was encouraged to see government focused on delivery, with the presence of many parliamentary figures’ testament to that. Announcements of £10 billion of new investment for key growth sectors around the UK, delivering on the plan for change, helped put positive words into action.
Elsewhere, talk of further deregulation and a removal of “red tape” landed positively with the many business leaders in attendance. For the built environment industry, it came shortly after the government’s commitment to a pro-growth package to support the Planning and Infrastructure Bill last week.
While the event was a welcome statement of intent, it now needs to be backed by the necessary action that will enable the delivery of the new homes our country needs.
The initial signs are positive. On Thursday, the government announced a number of measures to ramp up housebuilding in London. This will support progress on schemes like ours in Canning Town, where we are delivering a community of over 800 new homes, 50% affordable, centred around a linear park.
Steve Reed has teased a national housing acceleration programme in the coming weeks. This will make a real difference, including leveraging the partnerships it already has through Homes England.
But to make a difference and alleviate the housing crisis now, the government must work with the industry to overcome challenges, such as viability. If it does, we will deliver not only the homes Britain needs, but the places where people can thrive.
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The post The regional investment summit: a welcome vision for growth – now let’s deliver it appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
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