News - Midlands
Working Lunch
For John James these are worrying times for Britain's second largest city. Note straight away that the words "second largest" rather than just "second" are his, not mine. They give me an early pointer as to what lies ahead over our lunch at Birmingham's Hotel Du Vin.
The day we meet the temperature is rising in more ways than one. Outside the thermometer is almost in the 90s and it is a relief to take our seats for lunch in the cooling courtyard of the hotel. Inside, James is seething over a whole array of decisions that simply aren't going the Midlands way.
First up, as is already clear, the stokes are firing in the 58-year-old's belly over the debate as to whether Birmingham or Manchester can truly lay claim to be titled Britain's second city.
First we had Birmingham's doomed National Stadium bid coupled with Manchester's successful Commonwealth Games. Now we have Birmingham's failure to land the European Capital of Culture in 2008 (OK, it went to Liverpool but that's still the North West) twinned with increasingly crippling transport problems. To many this all adds to a fine tradition of endless debate about which city comes first and is frankly an unnecessary distraction and irrelevance.
However James, one of the Midlands' leading lawyers of his generation at Edge Ellison (now Hammonds) and more recently a businessman in his own right, is firmly in the camp that says it does matter. Barely has James chosen his glass of wine and salmon from the menu than he starts making a convincing case that the second city debate is as relevant today as it has ever been.
For him the combination of planning disasters, transport traumas and general missed opportunities when it comes to staging large-scale projects and events, really adds up to something rather worrying at the heart of Birmingham's, and the wider Midlands', offer to the outside world.
"In recent times we have failed to persuade the Government to support our National Stadium bid, we have lost the Capital of Culture bid, we have failed to get the project which became the Millennium Dome, we have failed to get the rail track upgrades that the region desperately requires, we have failed to sort out an effective Metro system, we have failed to make up our minds about the continued expansion of Birmingham International Airport, we have failed to make any real progress over the shambolic New Street Station. Everywhere you look we are not winning anything. Do you want me to go on?"
Maybe we should just stop him there for a minute, he's almost sounding like a politician. In fact this isn't so far from the truth, as I learn later. For James this simply cannot all be a coincidence. He believes that the malaise actually comes down to rather simple things that Manchester does well and Birmingham doesn't.
One key area James has identified is the marketing of the city and its overall lobbying approach. "What we need is the head of the city's marketing really standing up and banging the drum for the city and being high profile. Instead in recent years Marketing Birmingham has taken the deliberate stand of not wanting a high-profile figure in charge. That has to have been the wrong decision."
Perhaps more worryingly James believes Marketing Birmingham no longer has the business vote on board either.
"The organisation has not been set up to incorporate the concerns of business. For instance it does not see itself as actually selling Birmingham as a business city. And who else is there to do that job? Birmingham Forward has not got the resources to market Birmingham while the chamber does not do it in any structured way. As for Locate in Birmingham they are more concerned with actually getting businesses to locate here. There is a big gap."
James himself believes he can help fill it. Following the recent departure of Marketing Birmingham boss John Heeley (to take up the same post in Nottingham) James says he will be throwing his hat into the ring and applying for the job.
Furthermore, following his decision to leave Birmingham College of Law after overseeing its successful opening, James is a free agent. "I have deliberately cleared the decks. Realistically it could take them until the New Year to fill the post. I am ready now."
And when it comes to effective lobbying James believes the city is selling itself considerably short, particularly among the key movers and shakers in London and the civil service. "Is it really any coincidence that Sir Bob Scott, a man with an amazing track record of selling projects successfully to Government, and perhaps more importantly to the civil servants, was in charge of Liverpool's Capital of Culture bid?
"Birmingham is simply not being effective enough in putting forward convincing arguments. We are not punching our weight or realising our full potential as an international city."
I joke with James that at his age he should perhaps be beginning to take it easy. Instead he seems to be going in the opposite direction.
"Oh yes, I could probably take myself off to France and drink wine all day, but that really isn't me. I just care too passionately about this city and the wider region. In everything I have done I have added value, I want to add value to Birmingham."
So if the Marketing Birmingham job doesn't work out, what else is on the horizon? The answer is plenty. James also believes that Birmingham lacks effective political representation at both the national and European level and as such has already taken tentative steps towards standing as an Member of the European Parliament (MEP) at the 2004 European elections.
"Can any businessman or even someone in the wider community name the region's MEPs? I doubt it. They simply don't bang the drum loud enough for this region," he adds.
"Given the vagaries of the proportional representation system I probably have a good chance of being elected too, even though I would stand as an independent."
A key plank of James' platform would be to establish a permanent marketing presence in London for Birmingham. "In the same way that we have a Birmingham office in Brussels, we need representation in London throughout the year, maintaining daily contact with the national media, politicians and civil servants."
James accepts that for his vision to become reality extra funds will be required from somewhere. But he believes that businesses themselves could start coughing up if they knew that their investment would be repaid in terms of extra investment coming into the region. "We have got to rock the boat,'' adds James.
Another bugbear - and another new possible career opportunity - is Millennium Point, the landmark science museum in Digbeth. The £3114m Millennium Commission project has been beset by problems since it opened two years ago chiefly caused by poor visitor numbers - in turn heavily caused by its poor location within the present building site around Masshouse.
The scheme has also been hit by some high-profile departures among senior management (the chief executive post has been empty for several months) and the stepping down of chairman Sir Peter Rigby who drove the project in the first instance and who many hoped would stay on longer.
"Millennium Point is a huge challenge," says James. "It has not had a chief executive for six months and is unlikely to have another one for some time yet. Yet here is a scheme which simply cannot afford to fail."
In Kevin Keeganesque fashion James adds: "People in London would love it if Millennium Point failed. We made such great play of it opening on time and on budget. If the attraction were to now go into receivership or something it would be catastrophic for the perception of Birmingham."
No surprises then that James has also applied for this vacant chief executive job too. "Oh yes, I've put my name in for that one too. Basically if I don't get a high-profile job like Marketing Birmingham or Millennium Point that will take up all my time, I will stand for an MEP and perhaps take on a few directorships instead." Since he stepped down from the College of Law, James admits that he has already had a fair few offers pass his desk from the business community. James himself has considerable business interests. Until its recent management buyout he was a non-executive director of Sutton Coldfield-based discount books retailer Remainders, while he is still a director of another local company Steel Plate and Sections. James also has a significant minority shareholding in Midlands florist and giftware business Ethos and is also part of a consortium headed by ex-Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie and Midlands media guru Bob Warman bidding to run a 24-hour speech radio station in the West Midlands.
For James his desire for a high profile post comes down to an immense frustration to get things done.
"To be honest it's a frustration which I believe I share with most of the region's business community. The community feels that the wider West Midlands has somehow entered a period of inactivity. In the 1970s you had Sir Richard Knowles leading and winning the fight for the NEC which at the time was truly revolutionary. In the 1980s you had Albert Bore and another surge of excitement as he brought in European money to the city and we saw schemes like Brindleyplace taking off. But what now, what is the next big thing? We need to be brave and revolutionary. For instance let's not back off from building the tallest office block in the UK because of objections from John Prescott. Let's go for the Birmingham equivalent of the London Eye. Let's design and create iconic buildings by opening up the challenge to young talented Birmingham architects."
And we need top performers to drive it too, he believes. Indeed James, a close personal friend of CBI director general Digby Jones, precisely believes the region needs more "digbys" to push its case. A Digby to sort out transport, a Digby to be a marketing figurehead for the city, a Digby to get a national stadiumx85.
Now there really is a thought.
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The day we meet the temperature is rising in more ways than one. Outside the thermometer is almost in the 90s and it is a relief to take our seats for lunch in the cooling courtyard of the hotel. Inside, James is seething over a whole array of decisions that simply aren't going the Midlands way.
First up, as is already clear, the stokes are firing in the 58-year-old's belly over the debate as to whether Birmingham or Manchester can truly lay claim to be titled Britain's second city.
First we had Birmingham's doomed National Stadium bid coupled with Manchester's successful Commonwealth Games. Now we have Birmingham's failure to land the European Capital of Culture in 2008 (OK, it went to Liverpool but that's still the North West) twinned with increasingly crippling transport problems. To many this all adds to a fine tradition of endless debate about which city comes first and is frankly an unnecessary distraction and irrelevance.
However James, one of the Midlands' leading lawyers of his generation at Edge Ellison (now Hammonds) and more recently a businessman in his own right, is firmly in the camp that says it does matter. Barely has James chosen his glass of wine and salmon from the menu than he starts making a convincing case that the second city debate is as relevant today as it has ever been.
For him the combination of planning disasters, transport traumas and general missed opportunities when it comes to staging large-scale projects and events, really adds up to something rather worrying at the heart of Birmingham's, and the wider Midlands', offer to the outside world.
"In recent times we have failed to persuade the Government to support our National Stadium bid, we have lost the Capital of Culture bid, we have failed to get the project which became the Millennium Dome, we have failed to get the rail track upgrades that the region desperately requires, we have failed to sort out an effective Metro system, we have failed to make up our minds about the continued expansion of Birmingham International Airport, we have failed to make any real progress over the shambolic New Street Station. Everywhere you look we are not winning anything. Do you want me to go on?"
Maybe we should just stop him there for a minute, he's almost sounding like a politician. In fact this isn't so far from the truth, as I learn later. For James this simply cannot all be a coincidence. He believes that the malaise actually comes down to rather simple things that Manchester does well and Birmingham doesn't.
One key area James has identified is the marketing of the city and its overall lobbying approach. "What we need is the head of the city's marketing really standing up and banging the drum for the city and being high profile. Instead in recent years Marketing Birmingham has taken the deliberate stand of not wanting a high-profile figure in charge. That has to have been the wrong decision."
Perhaps more worryingly James believes Marketing Birmingham no longer has the business vote on board either.
"The organisation has not been set up to incorporate the concerns of business. For instance it does not see itself as actually selling Birmingham as a business city. And who else is there to do that job? Birmingham Forward has not got the resources to market Birmingham while the chamber does not do it in any structured way. As for Locate in Birmingham they are more concerned with actually getting businesses to locate here. There is a big gap."
James himself believes he can help fill it. Following the recent departure of Marketing Birmingham boss John Heeley (to take up the same post in Nottingham) James says he will be throwing his hat into the ring and applying for the job.
Furthermore, following his decision to leave Birmingham College of Law after overseeing its successful opening, James is a free agent. "I have deliberately cleared the decks. Realistically it could take them until the New Year to fill the post. I am ready now."
And when it comes to effective lobbying James believes the city is selling itself considerably short, particularly among the key movers and shakers in London and the civil service. "Is it really any coincidence that Sir Bob Scott, a man with an amazing track record of selling projects successfully to Government, and perhaps more importantly to the civil servants, was in charge of Liverpool's Capital of Culture bid?
"Birmingham is simply not being effective enough in putting forward convincing arguments. We are not punching our weight or realising our full potential as an international city."
I joke with James that at his age he should perhaps be beginning to take it easy. Instead he seems to be going in the opposite direction.
"Oh yes, I could probably take myself off to France and drink wine all day, but that really isn't me. I just care too passionately about this city and the wider region. In everything I have done I have added value, I want to add value to Birmingham."
So if the Marketing Birmingham job doesn't work out, what else is on the horizon? The answer is plenty. James also believes that Birmingham lacks effective political representation at both the national and European level and as such has already taken tentative steps towards standing as an Member of the European Parliament (MEP) at the 2004 European elections.
"Can any businessman or even someone in the wider community name the region's MEPs? I doubt it. They simply don't bang the drum loud enough for this region," he adds.
"Given the vagaries of the proportional representation system I probably have a good chance of being elected too, even though I would stand as an independent."
A key plank of James' platform would be to establish a permanent marketing presence in London for Birmingham. "In the same way that we have a Birmingham office in Brussels, we need representation in London throughout the year, maintaining daily contact with the national media, politicians and civil servants."
James accepts that for his vision to become reality extra funds will be required from somewhere. But he believes that businesses themselves could start coughing up if they knew that their investment would be repaid in terms of extra investment coming into the region. "We have got to rock the boat,'' adds James.
Another bugbear - and another new possible career opportunity - is Millennium Point, the landmark science museum in Digbeth. The £3114m Millennium Commission project has been beset by problems since it opened two years ago chiefly caused by poor visitor numbers - in turn heavily caused by its poor location within the present building site around Masshouse.
The scheme has also been hit by some high-profile departures among senior management (the chief executive post has been empty for several months) and the stepping down of chairman Sir Peter Rigby who drove the project in the first instance and who many hoped would stay on longer.
"Millennium Point is a huge challenge," says James. "It has not had a chief executive for six months and is unlikely to have another one for some time yet. Yet here is a scheme which simply cannot afford to fail."
In Kevin Keeganesque fashion James adds: "People in London would love it if Millennium Point failed. We made such great play of it opening on time and on budget. If the attraction were to now go into receivership or something it would be catastrophic for the perception of Birmingham."
No surprises then that James has also applied for this vacant chief executive job too. "Oh yes, I've put my name in for that one too. Basically if I don't get a high-profile job like Marketing Birmingham or Millennium Point that will take up all my time, I will stand for an MEP and perhaps take on a few directorships instead." Since he stepped down from the College of Law, James admits that he has already had a fair few offers pass his desk from the business community. James himself has considerable business interests. Until its recent management buyout he was a non-executive director of Sutton Coldfield-based discount books retailer Remainders, while he is still a director of another local company Steel Plate and Sections. James also has a significant minority shareholding in Midlands florist and giftware business Ethos and is also part of a consortium headed by ex-Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie and Midlands media guru Bob Warman bidding to run a 24-hour speech radio station in the West Midlands.
For James his desire for a high profile post comes down to an immense frustration to get things done.
"To be honest it's a frustration which I believe I share with most of the region's business community. The community feels that the wider West Midlands has somehow entered a period of inactivity. In the 1970s you had Sir Richard Knowles leading and winning the fight for the NEC which at the time was truly revolutionary. In the 1980s you had Albert Bore and another surge of excitement as he brought in European money to the city and we saw schemes like Brindleyplace taking off. But what now, what is the next big thing? We need to be brave and revolutionary. For instance let's not back off from building the tallest office block in the UK because of objections from John Prescott. Let's go for the Birmingham equivalent of the London Eye. Let's design and create iconic buildings by opening up the challenge to young talented Birmingham architects."
And we need top performers to drive it too, he believes. Indeed James, a close personal friend of CBI director general Digby Jones, precisely believes the region needs more "digbys" to push its case. A Digby to sort out transport, a Digby to be a marketing figurehead for the city, a Digby to get a national stadiumx85.
Now there really is a thought.
For the fuller picture,
subscribe to Insider
every month.
Close