Editorial
First, the bad news. Birmingham lost out on gaining city region status to Manchester and Leeds.
This isn’t the first time we’ve lost out to Manchester but Leeds? Come on.
Some of the benefits of the status are technical, allowing barriers between adjoining councils to be broken down. But it’s widely interpreted as something that builds on the reputation of a dominant city, to make it easier to sell that city and surrounding areas to the wider world. So why on earth was the application for a Birmingham, Coventry and Black Country city region instead of a Greater Birmingham?
One can only assume the reason was to appease the sensibilities of its neighbours. OK, so now they’re appeased and we haven’t got city region status. The usual stuff about Manchester being a Labour authority was trotted out, and perhaps there’s some truth in it, but Leeds isn’t Labour controlled and we don’t help ourselves anyway by not getting our act together.
Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country is a confusing offering to the wider world. Birmingham on its own could have worked, and any benefits accrued from the status would have been for the greater good of the whole region.
Clive Dutton, Birmingham’s City Council’s director of planning and regeneration, is surely right when he says (as he does on page 26) “we should wait for no-one or we will wait a long time. Birmingham people deserve better than that”. Self sufficiency is laudable, but it should never be allowed to develop into a bunker mentality.
And doesn’t an assumption that we need to work harder than anyone else to achieve central government wins mean mismanaging a bid in such an obvious way is inexcusable?
Better news comes from LDV where the government has agreed to prop up purchaser Weststar. Yes it’s only £5m, and it’s only a month-long bridging loan, but hopefully it has set a precedent that the government will not let quality manufacturers fold.
Credit must go to Liam Byrne, the local MP and former Minister for the West Midlands, who has fought doggedly for LDV and chipped away at what seemed like a resolve to let LDV fold. It shows lobbying can succeed when it is focused. Shame nobody told the city region bid team.
Andy Coyne, editor
