Powerhouse vision for M4 cities is revealed
A VISION for an economic powerhouse for the west of Britain, stretching from Swansea to Swindon, has been revealed.
A report commissioned by the Great Western Cities partnership of Bristol City Council, Cardiff council and Newport City Council, has outlined a series of recommendation for greater cross border collaboration to rival the Northern Powerhouse and the emerging Midlands Engine.
The report, compiled by Metro Dynamics, provides an evidence base for a crossborder partnership, with recommendations to improve infrastructure, investment, internationalisation and inclusive growth across an areas of: seven cities; 4.4 million people; 10 universities; 156,000 businesses and a £107bn economy.
The potential powerhouse – which is yet to adopt a formal name – would stretch along the M4 corridor from Swindon and across the Welsh border to, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea, and in the north from Gloucester and Cheltenham to Bath and Bristol.
To support the venture the Great Western City partners have already been joined by Bath and North East Somerset Council, Gloucestershire County Council, Swansea Council and Swindon Borough Council.
It sets out five key areas of collaboration:
■ An industrial strategy linking sector strengths
■ Integrating road and rail improvements to enable faster connectivity;
■ An internationalisation strategy which promotes the region’s industrial strengths ■ Establishing a productivity and innovation observatory which makes better use of our data
■ Piloting and measuring tailored approaches to connecting the most deprived communities with the region’s highest growth sectors
The concept is not new and follows on from the proposed Great Western Cities initiative, whose advocated included former mayor of Bristol George Ferguson and former leader of Cardiff council Phil Bale, back in 2015.
Any closer ties would need to be underpinned by at least four trains an hours, currently two, between south Wales and Bristol’s Temple Meads Station.
It would also have to respect the devolved nature of government in Wales and the growing mayoral powers across the border.
However, there are already signs of growing collaboration, particular in the higher education sector with combined bids to secure research council and Innovate UK funding.
Leader of Newport council Debra Wilcox said: “The opportunities that a powerhouse could capitalise and enrich are vast.
The region already has an economy worth £107bn, which is 10% higher than the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine, yet our growth is slower than average.
“If we only grow to meet the UK average, we will become a £1.21bn economy – just think of the potential if this powerhouse was created.”
Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said: “Our ultimate vision is to create a serious, long-term, cross-border partnership. We already export £18.4bn of goods and £11bn of services every year – we want to further promote our excellent trade and investment opportunities by developing an internationalisation strategy.
“In a post-Brexit world export based growth will be of huge importance to economic development and this collaboration has the potential to ensure this region competes with high growth regions around the world.
“Achieving this will mean unblocking the bottlenecks across the M4 and M5; connecting people and communities in our most deprived areas with skills and employment opportunities.”
In business the area already has particular strengths in advanced engineering, creative and digital media, finance and professional services.
The report also highlights how growth areas around clean energy and health and life sciences would benefit it further.
Huw Thomas, leader of Cardiff council said: “This is just the start of the conversation and our next step will be to set up a leadership vehicle to shape this initiative and drive it forward.
“This report talks about complementing rather than competing with existing strategies and partnerships. We would be developing a partnership between public and private sectors across this seven cities region, with representatives from local enterprise partnerships, businesses and universities and with the backing of national government.”
Rob Stewart, leader of Swansea Council, said: “It is still early days but it is important that we work closely with our colleagues in councils along the M4 and great western rail line to improve connectivity, both digitally and physically.
“Being part of this powerhouse would complement the City Deal and help to transform the economy and profile of south west Wales.”
Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns has been promoting greater cross-border collaboration between south Wales and the west of England.