Midlands regeneration projects to get extra powers to speed up works
Plans to grant major developments in the West Midlands beefed-up planning powers have taken a step forward, in an effort to deliver over £10bn of regeneration schemes across the region.
A decision to create a new Mayoral Development Corporation(MDC) was signed-off by the West Midlands Combined Authority board on Friday(17 October), a move Parker says will give “speed, scale and certainty” to major schemes in the region by cutting through local government red tape.
The new body could take the wheel for at least five projects – including the £3bn Birmingham Sports Quarter, the £4bn Birmingham Knowledge Quarter, the new HS2 station at Curzon Street, the £2bn Smithfield development, and a major creative industries hub in Digbeth.
A strategic business case will now be prepared for the new MDC, ahead of a consultation on the potential boundaries and powers of the organisation.
Development corporations were first created in 1946 to speed up house building as part of post-war construction efforts, with a number of new towns such as Telford and Milton Keynes granted their own bodies in order to push through their ambitious building programmes.
The scope of corporations varies, but often involve taking planning decisions away from the existing local planning authority, powers to make compulsory land purchase, and powers to grant discretionary relief from business rates.
Powers for regional mayors to create corporations known as MDCs were granted in 2011, with the first scheme charged with leading the regeneration of the Olympic site in Stratford, London.
The move to create a West Midlands MDC comes as the mayor Richard Parker launched a prospectus to showcase the West Midlands’ major projects, as a regional investment summit kicked off in the region this week.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves and business secretary Peter Kyle will join the mayor in Birmingham tomorrow to co-host the summit.
“Our region is brimming with talent. We have brilliant people, globally renowned businesses and world-class universities. Yet there is so much more potential waiting to be released,” said Richard Parker, mayor of the West Midlands.
“This Prospectus shows the sheer scale of what’s happening across our region, offering investors the opportunity to be at the forefront of driving a new era of growth, good jobs and affordable homes – the things that really matter to people.
“We have a proud history of innovation and industry but now is the time to go further and faster than ever before. Now is the time to invest in the West Midlands.”
