West Midlands Futures Green Paper

Our local authorities’ Place-Based Strategies each identify clear opportunities for growth and investment. Some of these are part of adopted Local Plans, some of them are associated with transport or other types of infrastructure investment, some of them have special designations as part of national programmes of support, and some of them are 28 simply areas of local interest and concern. It is impossible in the Green Paper to list them all, but there is a small number of sites which – for different reasons – could be identified as regionally significant. These would include:

HS2 stations

HS2 is one of Europe’s largest infrastructure projects and will reduce travel times from the capital to Birmingham and the West Midlands to just under or just over 40 minutes for the Arden Cross Interchange and Curzon Street respectively. The Arden Cross Interchange, bringing forward 680,000 sqm of commercial development and 2750 homes, and Curzon Street station at the heart of Birmingham, will be magnets for international investment and drivers of catalytic economic transformation. The HS2 connection – ‘The Innovation Line’ – is already sparking collaborations between research institutes at either end and unlocking a new cultural and creative quarter for film and TV in Digbeth creating a pathway for access new talent-pools, new markets, scale-up and grow.

The West Midlands Investment Zone

The West Midlands was one of the first Investment Zones designated nationally. The WM Investment Zone blends a mix of capital investment, tax incentives and business support programmes to generate long-term economic growth in advanced manufacturing, and its intersection with green industries, battery technology, med-tech and digital. The programme is key to our economic ambition to develop our region’s cluster strengths, and has the potential to create over 30,000 jobs for our residents. It is anchored by three key sites:

• the 240 ha Coventry-Warwick Gigapark (Greenpower Park) focusing on electric vehicles and battery manufacturing;
• 130 ha of research and incubation led activities in digital technology and med-tech at the Birmingham Knowledge Quarter;
• and sites across the Wolverhampton Green Innovation Corridor driving new growth in green industries.

Each location is underpinned by triple-helix partnerships between the public, private and academic sectors, and are already attracting significant investor interest. Business rate retention in Birmingham and Coventry-Warwick sites also generate unprecedented levels of investment confidence to underpin long-term financing for site development and wider regional growth.

In addition to the above, there are several other significant opportunities to deliver inclusive growth in Walsall, Sandwell and Dudley through a potential metro extension, leveraging capital investment in infrastructure enabling access to training and employment.

Growth Zone sites

There are also three major strategic site clusters that have attracted a similar business rate retention offer:

• along the Sandwell to Dudley Metro Extension corridor;
• around J10 of the M6 in Walsall;
• and in the strategic corridor from East Birmingham to North Solihull.

The retention of business rates uplift in these areas can underpin upfront investment through models such as tax increment financing and provide the relevant local authorities with wider reinvestment opportunities to support growth.

Birmingham City Centre

The city is embarking on a renaissance powered by the alignment of public sector commitments, political alignment at national, regional and local level, and private sector investment.

• HS2’s Curzon Street Station sits immediately beside one of the region’s most successful Enterprise Zones – delivering new commercial spaces that have attracted the likes of Goldman Sachs, Arup and PWC, and sparking landmark growth in the creative industries in Digbeth.
• To the north of Curzon Street lies the 30ha Birmingham Knowledge Quarter. With an ambition to become a global innovation district in tech inspired innovation, particularly in medical solutions and advanced manufacturing, the area is realising the opportunities present from HS2 to have similar impacts in research and innovation as Kings Cross innovation district. Such an aspiration is already attracting interest from partners such as Imperial College in London who are looking to collaborate and share innovation grow-on opportunities.
• Birmingham Sports Quarter, less than 2km to the west of Curzon Street represents a £3bn commitment from Knighthead Group to bring forward a new 46,000 seater stadium and national leisure attraction – maximising the HS2 connection to London and integrated rapid transit corridor to Birmingham Airport and beyond, and creating jobs and skills opportunities in one of the most deprived areas in the country. It is estimated that this will deliver an additional £370m pa of Gross Value Add to the region's economy, and act as a gateway into wider regeneration to the east.

Corridors of Opportunity

A number of these sites are associated with key transport hubs or illustrate the potential for development along transport corridors.

Four ‘corridors of opportunity’ stand out and deserve closer attention and development:

• A Wolverhampton – Walsall corridor along the Green Innovation Corridor and further south-east connecting into Walsall Growth Zone sites, including the Walsall Gateway and Wolverhampton’s City Centre West developments
• Along the Sandwell-Dudley metro line.
• Between the two HS2 stations through East Birmingham and North Solihull.
• Between Coventry city centre and the investment opportunities therein linked to the Coventry-Warwick Greenpower Park.

Mayoral Development Corporation

WMCA and colleagues in government and local authorities are positively exploring the most appropriate and effective routes to delivering on these strategic site opportunities. These could include the establishment of a Mayoral Development Corporation – working with partners to secure in one vehicle the planning, investment and land assembly powers to accelerate delivery. Alternative models that focus on delivery through alignment and collaboration, rather than formal powers, are also under consideration. The best model will be informed on a case-by-case basis attuned to the needs and opportunities of the strategic sites.