Civic leaders make bid for £1bn deal to revitalise Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire
BUSINESS and council leaders are compiling a manifesto for economic growth as they prepare to battle 19 other regions for a Government deal worth £1 billion.
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent are setting aside the region's Tory/Labour political divide to compete for a 'city deal' designed to create 50,000 jobs in 10 years.
-
BID: Hanley will be one of the places to benefit from the 'city deal'. Below, city council leader Mohammed Pervez and Staffordshire County Council leader Philip Atkins.
Officials are meeting Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in London today to take the first steps in staking their claim.
A deal would see control over Government funding devolved from Whitehall and handed to the region, as well as unlocking millions in additional investment and incentives.
Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk
View detailsOur heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013
Civic and industry leaders on the region's local enterprise partnership have pledged to double the size of the economy and create 50,000 extra jobs – if they gain the unprecedented powers over transport, education and infrastructure-building budgets.
Major schemes would include widening the M6 to cut delays and building a High Speed 2 station to ensure the region profits from a new Midlands rail link to London.
The region's pitch to Government will be based on four key pillars designed to ensure the region's bid stands out from the crowd. They are:
- Radical plans to become independent of the national grid; generating power from hot water running through mine-shafts and the county's natural resources like peat and shale;
- Exploiting the region's central position between Manchester, Birmingham and the East Midlands with connections to five motorways; train routes to London, and road links to 90 per cent of the UK population;
- Creating new opportunities for the region's skilled workforce and capitalising on its traditional manufacturing strengths in industries like ceramics;
-
Promoting the county as a desirable place for a growing workforce to live with access to everything from countryside and heritage sites to theme parks.
They will also highlight the county council's swift action to deliver the i54 enterprise zone near Wolverhampton; picked by Jaguar Land Rover for a £355 million engine plant.
Philip Atkins, leader of Conservative-run Staffordshire County Council, said: "The West Midlands region was one of the worst-performing in the country and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent was the worst-performing sub-region within it. Everybody else was growing between 1995 and 2008 but as a region we were going backwards.
"We estimated it would take 30 years to get back on track – 10 to halt the decline, 10 to bring us up to speed and 10 to start catching up. But as the entire economy has declined, we have not declined as much and the gap has narrowed considerably.
"We are now one of the top three areas in the country for attracting inward investment and we now believe we can do this in 10 years if we can just get on with it. What's good for Staffordshire is good for Stoke-on-Trent, and vice versa."
Mohammed Pervez, Labour leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: "We're not asking to be a special case, instead we're promoting everything we have to offer and showing them there is huge potential in this area and that if they invest they will get the returns they are looking for.
"It's a competitive process and what we need to do is put forward a bid that will be unique and will stand out and I believe one of those elements will be energy innovation. Both areas are sitting on energy-rich resources.
"From what we can see, city deals is the only game in town. We very much hope we are successful. If we're not, our mandate for change initiatives will continue and we'll work hard to try and get that growth and create those jobs – but it won't be through Government support.
"The Government's regional austerity measures were predicated on growth in the economy and that growth has not happened in the way they expected. They are continuing with austerity anyway, and it's extremely important we get growth locally because these cuts are impacting on our residents in a big way."
In July, eight of the biggest cities – Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield – agreed their city deals. The number available in round two has not been confirmed.
Formal expressions of interest will be submitted in November.
They will be reduced to 12 preferred bidders in January, before the final deals are announced in late 2013.
Ron Dougan, chairman of the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire local enterprise partnership, said: "Businesses have been working with local authorities to champion our area as a great place to do business and promote initiatives that will deliver substantial growth and new jobs. The deal presents us with the opportunity to really step up these efforts."
Tristram Hunt, MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, said: "The energy concept is really innovative and if we can partner with central Government on green investment it would be very positive.
"I think we're still quite rightly furious about the enterprise zone. We have had some good news on regional growth fund investment and that is welcome, but a strategy for investment in the city and county would be very welcome."
Comments
by GilbertL
Friday, November 02 2012, 8:51AM
“Well said Justsuppose.”
by Justsuppose
Friday, November 02 2012, 2:03AM
“FredBear - with great respect, we're not merely negative whingers. In actual fact, many of us have put forward very constructive ideas to our elected members at various times over the past 2 years. Generally speaking, they don't listen to us. Or worse, the good ideas they actually can't ignore are hijacked by the council, claimed as their own and thrown back at us for their having shown "innovation" while we're labelled "negative".
We cannot compete with massive cities like Manchester and Birmingham, because we're a small city, and they have 40 years start on us regarding empire building. I don't want to remain stagnant, nor do I wish to step backwards, I just believe that the LEP is not the way forward for this city. Most of the members of that body are from the south of the region, so guess where their priorities will lie. As this council has discovered, when you have a huge majority, you can do just about what you want, regardless of public opinion or common sense. Let's see what they say when the boot's on the other foot and they're on the receiving end of its kick.
I say "they", but of course, those who will feel the pain will be us, because "they" will still have their cosy incomes and expenses, even if the rest of us get nothing.
MasterPotter, I find your remarks a little patronising, to say the least. If the commercial realities of the construction industry are so dire, why hasn't St. Modwen been investing in the city during times of plenty? The former Victoria Ground, bought for a song and left derelict for over 15 years because it's been used as collateral against other projects elsewhere in the UK, instead of being built on for housing, industry or something else useful. That's just one site, there are several others, owned by a variety of developers, lying derelict and adding nothing to the city's reputation. Please don't blame the electorate for the inaction of both the developers and the council - who could have insisted work was started, or at least made serious and sustained complaint to those developers.
Putting all the council regeneration (sic) eggs in one basket - retail, which is failing all over the UK and Europe, Comet is the latest casualty - has been a foolish and short-sighted goal. Of course, had they listened to the electorate with their seemingly endless and massively expensive "consultations", instead of the unelected officers who have but one plan and never cared about the city to begin with, then the ideas I mentioned previously might just have seen some forward movement, taking the electorate with it.
Mr. Pervez keeps telling us about the "local jobs" being created. Where? The bus station is being built, late, overspent and too small, by workers from outside Stoke-on-Trent. I have nothing against anyone earning a crust, but we have seen precious little in the way of new, long term, full time, well paid and sustainable jobs for the people of Stoke-on-Trent, despite his "mandate for change" promises.
It seems to me, and a great many others that the vast majority of income we've seen raised or invested has left the city without benefiting anyone in it except those few closest to the top. Far from being negative, we're positively angry; and with much justification.”
by MasterPotter
Wednesday, October 31 2012, 9:22AM
“Got to agree with FredBear here. This forum hear's so much from those with non-constructive criticism about the council, without much understanding of the commercial realities faced by them or any other developer looking to invest in Stoke-on-Trent. Everytime a potentially positive news item is published, a bombardment of negative comments are posted in response:
"i'll eat my hat...", "...stop the fairy tales..." etc. etc. etc.
Stoke-on-Trent's greatest asset is its people. Unfortunately it can also be its greatest weakness.”
by GilbertL
Wednesday, October 31 2012, 9:07AM
“FredBear
I've always said that if the change happens and it's a success, then I'll be satisfied. Until that day I will continue to have my opinion that sweeping changes with no thought for the future or the past will be the death of Stoke-on-Trent and it's 6 towns that make up it's city status. I base my opinions on past experience of change management programs that have happened throughout Stoke-on-Trent and I'm yet to recall anything beyond the National Garden Festival leading to anything close to a long standing successful legacy. Good luck to everybody involved in changing Stoke-on-Trent for the better.”
by FredBear
Tuesday, October 30 2012, 7:03PM
“Labor-Len,
The only thing that keeps them fairy tales are the bitter ramblings of you and your backward thinking, negative followers.
Keep moaning though, it's the only thing your good at”
by labour-len
Tuesday, October 30 2012, 5:22PM
“Fred Bear
"What's that massive construction site in front of the Vic Hall, Scotch mist?"
What a prat you are, it is not massive its one tin pot shed AKA a bus stop, be it too small and like evrything else with the council athey going to finish the farce. When are they going too complete the "ring road" ? How many years ?
Get real and stop the fairy tales .”
by FredBear
Tuesday, October 30 2012, 5:03PM
“Gilbert
What's that massive construction site in front of the Vic Hall, Scotch mist?
The reason the Etruria development hasn't got the go ahead, and the reason Capital Shopping centres haven't had planning permission is because they are both proposals which threaten the £350m realis development. Particularly the Capital one.
The reason the £40m council move is happening is to help secure the other development.
The reason they've gone to try their hand at getting £1 billion quid is because it's freeking £1 billion quid. If they stuck a golden tree dedicated to the pigeons in the centre of town it would still be better than not bothering going for it.
These all make perfect sense to anyone with any idea of commercial awareness.
I will take issue with anyone who has an unhealthy obsession with the past and a pathetic agenda to stop anyone from getting anything done in this city. It's time for the whingers and moaners to be ignored and the doers to start making things happen, and for the first time in my life it seems that may be happening.
Move aside, your times up.”
by GilbertL
Tuesday, October 30 2012, 4:03PM
“But FredBear, right now, the money isn't real. It will only become real when the retailers and businesses pay their chunks of property deals, leases and whatever else is needed cash-wise to tie them into new units in Hanley. Realis et al haven't got £350million sitting in a bank account waiting to start construction work. They have to get businesses tied in by asking for money up front. So yes, we can congratulate the council for at least trying to regenerate Stoke-on-Trent but a lot of people remember the cock-ups of the past, the wastage and the inability to deliver. I'll eat my hat if City Sentral is a success and goes beyond a Public Relations exercise.”
by FredBear
Tuesday, October 30 2012, 3:10PM
“Notanumber
The thing is about politics and media, is that they have this relationship of being open to subjective opinion. Frankly, all councils from Land's End to John O Groats will screw up and be deemed corrupt idiots on a regular basis.
My view is that it's my responsibility. My responsibility to create a decent environment. My responsibility to find work. My responsibility to push things forward in my own life.
You live in a world of armchair blaming. There's 270,000 people in this city, 3000 of them work in a council spending what money they have on providing what services they can. The rest is up to the other 267,000 people.
So what if Britannia got away with an amazing deal at Stoke. They are the biggest employer in the Staffordshire Moorlands and have helped deliver us a premiership football team. So what if Port Vale can't afford to pay back a loan in an economy where whole countries are doing the same thing on a National scale. So what if someone has finally seen that 6 towns have been unsustainable for decades and are going to die anyway so has bit the bullet and decided to streamroller through a plan to make a go of a decent city centre.
Frankly, we don't have the best council, it may even be the worst, but sitting on your backside moaning about things like calling a bus station 'Sentral' instead of 'Central' when someone's bothered to spend a ruck load of money in our city, or whining about the fact we're chancing our hand and grabbing £1b up for grabs when it's on offer is the very mentality that has held us back for so long.
You're the problem dude, come to me with some solutions and positive statements about how we can make things better and I might be bothered listening to you.”
by Notanumber
Tuesday, October 30 2012, 1:26PM
“FredBear
Perhaps the mismanagement of funds and loans has a lot to do with how people who take the time to come on here and comment feel. The squandered money from the Britannia Stadium fiasco, the non repaid Port Vale loan, the regular and unwarranted moves back and forth of the council offices between Hanley and Stoke. My adled and negative brain can't currently remember much about many of the others but I'm sure others reading this will assist in jogging mine and your memory in regard to the cynical sniping that you are claiming to be unjustified. The only justification for blaming the people of S-o-T is for voting them in!”