Mayor announces leadership for Birmingham East Development Corporation

Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, has today announced the senior leadership for his Birmingham East Mayoral Development Corporation (BEMDC), set up to accelerate one of the most significant regeneration programmes in the UK.

Birmingham-born Dame Bernadette Kelly, one of Whitehall’s top former civil servants who served as permanent secretary for the Department for Transport until her retirement last year, will chair the newly formed corporation.

Paul Richards, who is currently the deputy chief executive of Stockport MBC, has been appointed as chief officer. He will work alongside Dame Bernadette to lead the acceleration of more than £11bn of regeneration investment at the heart of the UK’s second city, creating new opportunities for the wider East Birmingham, one of the country’s most deprived areas.

Paul was chosen by then Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, to lead his first Mayoral Development Corporation in Stockport in 2019, where his achievements include the delivery of a multi-award winning Stockport interchange and a range of regeneration programmes.

The Mayor said: “This MDC is big, bold, and ambitious. It will be a magnet for investment, offering a once in a lifetime opportunity to end the deep-rooted deprivation that has blighted lives in East Birmingham for far too long.

“A project of this magnitude needs leaders of the highest calibre, who can harness the powers it will bring to cut through red tape and provide the stability needed for investor confidence.

“I can think of no one better than Bernadette to be chair. As a native Brummie she knows this city well and her many years’ experience at the top of Whitehall give her the expertise and strategic insight to extract the most benefit possible from these huge investments.

“Combine that with Paul’s specialist understanding and proven track record from leading one of the first ever Mayoral Development Corporations, and we are ready to take East Birmingham from strength to strength.”  

The huge investment is expected to create more than 50,000 jobs and 20,000 new homes generating benefits that will reach across the east of the city where, in some places, child poverty exceeds 50% and around 27% of adults have never worked – more than double the national average.

Following a tour of some of the BEMDC regeneration sites in Digbeth, Dame Bernadette, said: “I’m delighted to be taking on the role of chair of the Birmingham East MDC and look forward to working with Paul. He has exactly the skills and experience needed to deliver against the huge ambition we have for this part of the city.

“The MDC has a unique role to play in bringing together investors, partners and communities and as a catalyst to accelerate growth and create jobs and homes. My priority now is to build the team and get to work unlocking that potential.

“As someone who grew up in Birmingham and still has strong family ties to the city, I’m excited to have a chance to make a difference to its future prosperity. I’m particularly excited about the role the BEMDC can play in creating jobs and opportunities for local communities and especially young people, harnessing the talent and potential that exists here in Birmingham and building for the future.”

Paul Richards said: “I am delighted to be joining Birmingham East MDC at an exciting time for the city and am extremely grateful for the opportunity that the Mayor and Dame Bernadette have given me. I believe that working alongside colleagues at Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Combined Authority, we can deliver something that the residents and businesses in the city can be proud of.

“My time at Stockport has been the privilege of my career. I hope my experience and my belief in the value that MDCs can add, together with the positive changes we have been able to deliver in Stockport, will allow us to go further and faster in Birmingham East.”

The BEMDC is the most significant to be launched in the UK since the London Legacy Development Corporation was set up to transform large parts of East London following the 2012 Olympic Games.

It also includes a major sporting element by encompassing the £3bn Birmingham Sports Quarter site and its showpiece 60,000-seat Powerhouse Stadium.

Covering the size of more than 600 football pitches, it includes some of the biggest regeneration projects in the UK and Europe including:

• The £4bn Birmingham Knowledge Quarter
• The HS2 Curzon Street Station and adjoining Central Heart site
• The £2bn Smithfield development next to the Bullring
• A major creative industries hub in Digbeth

The senior leadership will be tasked with making sure the MDC delivers at pace – combining focused resource and capacity, and a range of powers around land, property and infrastructure to accelerate the injection of billions of private and public sector investment into the area.

While East Birmingham continues to experience some of the worst deprivation in the UK, the large-scale regeneration projects within the BEMDC area are expected to provide unprecedented opportunities for jobs, homes and skills training for local communities.

The Mayor has worked in partnership with Birmingham City Council to structure the Corporation to unlock large-scale regeneration, accelerate development, and attract investment in a way that brings real and lasting change for local communities.

Cllr Roger Harmer, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “These are really positive appointments. Dame Bernadette grew up here and still has ties to the city so will bring that important personal knowledge to the role as well as vast experience working at the top of Whitehall. She shares our vision for East Birmingham, and I am confident that she will shape the MDC to ensure it plays a crucial role in bringing investment to the city, creating thousands of jobs and homes for the benefit of all our communities and the wider region.

“She has made a big start by appointing a leader of exceptional talent in Paul, with a strong track record in delivering major regeneration programmes to drive forward our exciting opportunities in the heart of the city centre.”

The BEMDC is also expected to transform surrounding neighbourhoods, improve transport connections, including a new Metro tram route to the Sport Quarter, and help raise living standards for tens of thousands of local people.

By bringing land assembly, funding, and a coordinated approach to planning and delivery together, supported by new transport and energy infrastructure, the BEMDC will be able to ‘fast-track’ development and make it easier for investors and developers who will only need to engage with one organisation instead of many.