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Regeneration

Core Business Principles for Regeneration Action Across the West Midlands Region

May 2005

The Business Voice WM is committed to effective regeneration practices across the region to ensure a truly balanced regional economy – delivering economic prosperity to every person across the West Midlands region.

Business in willing to be a strong partner in regeneration but duplication of efforts and confusion regarding lines of accountability and a lack of open communication can impair the much needed work that needs to take place on the ground.

This paper proposes key principles which, if applied, can help deliver new hope and new opportunities for all communities.

Regeneration – Current Structures

The Regional Development Agency for the West Midlands – Advantage West Midlands – has established six regeneration zones. These zones are:

- North Staffordshire Regeneration Zone

- North Black Country and South Staffordshire Regeneration Zone

- South Black Country and West Birmingham Regeneration Zone

- East Birmingham and North Solihull Regeneration Zone

- Coventry and Nuneaton Regeneration Zone

- Rural Regeneration Zone

The Regeneration Zones encompass areas of concentrated deprivation and high unemployment.

The concept is that targeting activities can take place within each Zone over an extended period of time to ensure there is sustainable economic regeneration.

Advantage West Midlands has also established the Market Towns Initiative. Action plans are developed for a three to four year period to economically rejuvenate the region’s market towns.

Alongside the work of the Regional Development Agency, seven Local Strategic Partnerships in the region gains assistance from the Government’s Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. The areas that receive assistance are:

- Birmingham

- Coventry

- Sandwell

- Wolverhampton

- Walsall

- Dudley

- Stoke on Trent

The Government’s New Deal for Communities programme are also long term regeneration initiatives aimed at the following areas in the region:

- Wolverhampton

- Sandwell

- Coventry

- Aston area of Birmingham

- Kings Norton area of Birmingham

- Walsall

Finally, the Government’s Neighbourhood Management Initiative aims to improve public service delivery by the use of a neighbourhood manager ensuring improved service delivery area. The areas served by this scheme are:

- Solihull

- Wyre Forest

- East Staffordshire

- Newcastle under Lyme

The Government’s Single Regeneration Budget process is also helping a number of deprived areas across the West Midlands region.

Role of Business – Critical for Prosperity

While these schemes are to be welcomed, sustainable economic regeneration can not be achieved without the full contribution of the private sector.

Business in the West Midlands region needs a balanced regional economy. Sustainable business growth can not be achieved if some areas prosper while others are in decline. This impacts on potential new markets being generated, on overall levels of business growth and on the West Midlands region being seen as an attractive area for inward investment.

The work of some organisations such as Business in the Community – which is a member organisation of the Business Voice WM – also demonstrates the strong spirit of Corporate Social Responsibility in the region dedicated to all people prospering from the current positive UK macro-economic environment.

In recent times concerns have arisen from the business community that more needs to be done to ensure that the business contribution will have full weight in the desired outcomes in regeneration that the public and private sectors share.

The West Midlands Regional Assembly inquiry into regeneration in 2004 – chaired by the Business Voice WM Deputy Chairman, Dr Sarindar Singh Sahota – recommended key principles that should be part and parcel of all regeneration programmes to ensure effective business engagement, value for public money invested in the programmes and the deprived areas eventually becoming prosperous areas.

These principles are discussed further in the next section.

Principles for Action

The West Midlands Regional Assembly’s recommendations for improved regeneration principles, made in 2004, were backed by the Business Voice WM.

The relevant recommendations are:

- The aim of regeneration programmes should be clarified to ascertain whether the role of the programmes are holistic or focus specifically on economic regeneration;

- There needs to be a joined up approach between all regeneration programmes to tackle the perception of duplication;

- A clear and transparency methodology for all regeneration programmes needs to be established to ensure confidence in advance of greater business engagement

- Communications between business and other stakeholders must be open, clear and transparent

- All regeneration programmes need a medium term strategy over a three year period to ensure a stable framework for business engagement

- Common indicators should be established for the independent analysis of the effective of regeneration programmes – enabling confidence in the business community to be improved in the transparency of these processes.

We believe – with the support of Members of Parliament and other key decision makers – that these principles once uniformly accepted could potentially lead to a sea change in the positive impact business engagement in regeneration for local communities.

Not only would this be good for business - it is vital for the people of the West Midlands region.

If you wish to know more about the Business Voice WM’s position on regeneration – or other business issues – or you wish to work with the Business Voice WM, please contact:

James Watkins – Executive Director

West Midlands Business Council

Albert House

Quay Place

92/93 Edward Street

Birmingham

B1 2RA

T: 0121 245 0140

F: 0121 245 0141

E: info@businessvoicewm.org.uk

W: www.wmbusinesscoucil.org.uk