Insider Media Limited

Local leadership, striking the right public private sector balance and having a long term vision are the keys to regional economic growth in the present climate, says Sir Michael Lyons. Speaking exclusively to Insider, the former Birmingham City Council chief executive said UK regions must be “confident” about their future to ensure they have a strong voice at Westminster, and must keep “on and on” to ensure their voice is heard.

As chairman of the English Cities Fund (ECF), a joint venture between Muse Developments, Legal & General and the Homes & Communities Agency, Sir Michael – who is also chairman of the BBC Trust - remains a leading voice on urban regeneration in the UK.

Speaking at the launch of the first phase of ECF’s mixed use Merchant Gate scheme in Wakefield, he said the slow economic recovery would pose more challenges for UK regions than in London.

Lyons, who wrote a landmark study into the relocation of civil service jobs out of London for the last government, would not be drawn on the merits of local enterprise partnerships which are replacing regional development agencies, but said delivering regeneration schemes in the present climate was about being prepared to take the big decisions.

“We took the decision to press ahead with Merchants Gate during the dark hour of two years ago, but our feeling was that if reshaping Wakefield was something we believed in then that was a long term issue. It was risky and when we look back at this in a few years time it will either be an inspired decision or something else.”