Greater Birmingham and Solihull

Transcription

Greater Birmingham & Solihull
Strategic economic plan
Map 1: The geography of the GBSLEP!
02 GBSLEP
CONTENTS
Foreword!
4!
Executive Summary!
6!
SECTION 1 -ECONOMIC AND STRATEGIC CONTEXT!
9!
1.1 ECONOMIC OVERVIEW!
10!
1.2 SWOT ANALYSIS!
13!
1.3 STRATEGIC VISION, SUPPORTING PLANS AND DELIVERY!
18!
1.4 PARTNERSHIP, ENGAGEMENT AND ENDORSEMENT!
20!
SECTION 2 - PROGRAMMES!
22!
2.1 IMPLEMENTATION!
23!
2.2 PRIORISATION AND PROGRAMMING OF SEP CAPITAL PROJECTS!
25!
PROGRAMME 1 -GROWING BUSINESS!
27!
PROGRAMME INTRODUTION!
28!
STIMULATING BUSINESS AND ENTERPRISE!
31!
SKILLS!
33!
INWARD INVESTMENT!
34!
STRATEGIC MARKETING!
35!
PROGRAMME 2 - ENHANCING THE REGIONAL ECONOMIC HUB!
36!
PROGRAMME INTRODUCTION!
37!
PROJECTS!
45!
PROGRAMME 3 - UK CENTRAL, ENTERPRISE BELT AND WIDER BIRMINGHAM!
48!
49!
PROJECTS!
55!
PROGRAMME 4 - ENHANCING OUR GROWTH SECTORS!
57!
60!
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING!
63!
LIFE SCIENCES!
64!
DIGITAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES!
65!
BUSINESS, PROFESSIONAL AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!
66!
LOW CARBON AND ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES!
67!
CROSS CUTTING SUPPORT!
68!
SUMMARY GROWTH DEAL!
70!
LOCAL GROWTH FUND ASK!
71!
SCALABILITY!
74!
SUMMARY OF REVENUE ASKS!
75!
SECTION 3 – GOVERNANCE AND DELIVERY!
80!
3.1 GOVERNANCE!
81!
3.2 APPROVALS PROCESS!
84!
3.3 DELIVERY!
85!
CONCLUSION!
89!
98 GBSLEP – List of appendices
SECTION 4 PROGRAMME TABLES AND MAPS!
90!
FOREWORD!
The Greater Birmingham and Solihull (‘Greater Birmingham’) economy has, until recent years, been a
sleeping giant. !
But it is changing: exports are up 30% since 2011 (compared to a UK increase of 2%). We are the top UK
LEP area for new jobs arising from foreign direct investment in 2013. We have the fastest private sector job
growth 2010-2012. And we have the highest rate of business start-ups outside London in 2013. !
The political wish is to rebalance the UK economy. We have demonstrated our ability to play a key role in
delivering this. !
Our Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) is the next stage on this important journey and demonstrates that, in
addition to our already ambitious plans, we will deliver: !
!  50,000 private sector jobs (on top of the 100,000 we have already committed to); !
!  14,315 new houses;!
!  1.7m sqm of commercial space;!
!  £2.3bn GVA over ten years; and!
!  £1,100m private sector leverage.!
Our approach in preparing this SEP has been to treat this as the next stage in our deal with Government.
The starting point was identifying the ‘game changers’ that are utterly aligned to national policy and which
are unique to our area. !
Coupled with this we have also identified high impact but realistic actions that will accelerate economic
performance in 2015. !
The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) Board agreed a prioritisation
framework that generated projects delivering maximum impact for the LEP area as a whole, not any
particular part thereof. !
04 GBSLEP Ι Foreword
The economic improvement in Greater Birmingham speaks for itself and the GBSLEP Board has reinforced
its commitment to really make good on our promises. We will deliver. !
This new found confidence is in large part from the greater alignment of key stakeholders around a shared
strategy. !
The Greater Birmingham Project, with the wise hand of Lord Heseltine’s leadership, was a key catalyst in
establishing a collaborative mind-set with private and public sector bodies working closely together and
identifying our unique game changers. The devolution dividend is bearing fruit but there is still a long way to
go. !
Finally, we are most grateful for the widespread engagement in the formation of this SEP. The breadth of the
endorsement reflects that Greater Birmingham is united around a shared economic strategy and ready to
deliver. !
We look forward to your support.!
Steve Hollis!
GBSLEP Deputy Chair!
Andy Street!
GBSLEP Chair!
05 GBSLEP Ι Foreword
Executive summary!
There is a strong consensus about the action that we need to take. We have a clear vision to re-establish
Greater Birmingham’s role as the major driver of the UK economy outside London. We have made it our
mission to create jobs and grow the economy and in doing so raise the quality of life for all of the LEP’s
population. !
We are looking to the future and, in this strategy, set out a bold plan that addresses the challenges and
opportunities unique to our area. This will be achieved through working in partnership with the private, public
and third sectors to address barriers to growth. The SEP sets out how we will achieve this over the next five
years. !
Challenges and opportunities !
Greater Birmingham is well positioned to deliver growth; the area contains a young and diverse population
of 2m people and is one of the most connected locations in the UK by road, rail and air. Further, there is a
world class higher education and further education offer with 79,000 student population in the area’s
universities and over 200,000 further education learners.!
However, there are a number of challenges that need to be addressed. These include a fragmented
business support, a shortfall of housing and employment land, a transport network that is near capacity, with
weak connectivity in places. !
The arrival of HS2 provides unparalleled opportunities to transform the area, with catalytic effects for the
wider region and UK. In addition, the area’s sector strengths provide a real opportunity to deliver growth and
strengthen and diversify the economy through increasing exports and building an international reputation as
a world leader in these fields.!
Competing on the world stage - the Game Changers !
Five game-changers are fundamental to our plan to drive growth: !
Greater Birmingham Growth Hub – a single front door through which businesses, including social
enterprises, can access a world class business support ecosystem to help them to meet their ambitions
and to deliver business growth and new jobs. !
!  Exploiting HS2 – this presents three game-changing opportunities: !
06 GBSLEP Ι Executive Summary
2.  Birmingham Curzon - delivery of a truly international station, accessible via an extended Metro, and
enjoying improved public realm and world-class connectivity!
3.  UK Central and the Interchange – creating a world class international gateway with outstanding
local, regional and national connectivity, and unlocking the growth potential of a unique concentration
of strategic economic assets!
4. HS2 Connectivity Package - will deliver a £2bn package of infrastructure investments across the
West Midlands, doubling the economic impact of HS2!
5. ‘Birmingham trained me to compete’ - mobilising resources to capitalise on opportunities around our
key growth sectors.!
Each of these game changers is interconnected, providing the potential for transformational impact on our
local economy. Realising these game-changers forms a key part of our SEP. !
Investing in growth "
We have developed four programmes of delivery. These contain 52 projects across the LEP area that have
been prioritised based on their strategic fit, economic return on investment (including jobs created) and risk
and deliverability. The four programmes are: !
!  Growing Business - supporting the provision of activity to enable the formation, growth, attraction and
retention of businesses across Greater Birmingham.!
!  Enhancing the Regional Economic Hub - strengthening Birmingham City Centre as the regional hub
for economic activity.!
!  UK Central, the Enterprise Belt and the wider Birmingham area - unlocking long-term growth
potential on a national scale and targeting early investment to create housing and jobs.!
!  Enhancing our Growth Sectors - supporting delivery of key sites, infrastructure, skills and innovation.!
In total our High Priority projects will deliver an additional 50,000 jobs, 14,315 new houses, 1.7m m2 of
commercial space; £2.3bn GVA over ten years; and £1,100m private sector leverage. !
Ready to deliver"
We have a strong track record of delivery and have aligned ourselves to effectively deploy all of our
resources in pursuit of our growth ambitions. To further support this we will establish the GBS Growth Team
to ensure the implementation of the SEP. To support our growth agenda we require £86m from Local
Growth Fund for 2015/16 (and a total ask of £508m for the lifetime of the SEP) alongside specific freedoms. !
Through our track record, integrated programme approach and robust governance we have established the
mechanisms to achieve our vision. We now need the freedom to realise this growth through a ‘no-strings’
pot to continue our momentum and Greater Birmingham’s journey to prosperity. !
07 GBSLEP Ι Executive Summary
introduction!
Our SEP is set out in four sections: !
!  Section 1 – provides an overview of the socio-economic context and analysis of the barriers and drivers
to growth specific to Greater Birmingham, this in turn forms part of the evidence-base that has informed
our vision and strategic direction for the area.!
!  Section 2 – outlines our plan to deliver jobs and growth across Greater Birmingham and is split into four
programmes of activity, each of which details the work already underway, a pipeline of projects that will
be delivered over the lifetime of the plan and a series of freedoms and flexibilities to transform the
economy.!
!  Section 3 – sets out our governance structure and provides assurance that arrangements are in place
for effective decision-making, resource allocation and delivery, thereby ensuring accountability and a
streamlined process to deliver growth.!
!  Section 4 - provides further detailed information on the priority projects including the geographical
location. !
Together this represents a coherent plan to change Britain and re-establish Greater Birmingham’s role as a
major driver of the UK economy outside London.!
08 GBSLEP Ι Introduction
SECTION 1
ECONOMIC AND
STRATEGIC
CONTEXT
SECTION 1.1
ECONOMIC OVERVIEW!
Greater Birmingham and Solihull is a major economy of national significance with an annual Gross Value
Added (GVA) of £36.5bn, 848,000 jobs and 63,000 businesses.1 !
The area is home to one of the largest professional and financial centres outside of London, burgeoning
creative and cultural industries and the location of choice for world leading companies such as Cadbury,
Deutsche Bank, Jaguar Land Rover and JCB (Figure 1 sets out Greater Birmingham’s key economic
headlines).!
The Midlands, and the West Midlands in particular2, is England’s manufacturing heart, home to a critical
cluster of the UK’s most important and biggest manufacturing businesses and leading centres of advanced
engineering research.3 !
Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) has a particularly competitive offer
in the following high growth, high value add sectors: advanced engineering – automotive and aerospace;
business, financial and professional services; digital and creative industries; life sciences; and low carbon
and environmental technologies and services.!
The GBSLEP comprises the local authority areas of Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, East
Staffordshire, Lichfield, Redditch, Solihull, Tamworth, and Wyre Forest. The geography is set out in Map 1
that outlines the key assets and economic development opportunities across the area.!
Greater Birmingham is located at the centre of the UK’s motorway and rail network and its geographical
position means that it is within four hours travel time of 90% of the UK’s population and business. !
The area has the most developed cultural infrastructure outside the capital, making it one of the most
significant leisure and tourism destinations in the country. !
1
The GBSLEP has the seventh highest GVA of all LEPs excluding London and the south-east. GVA per worker is
£43,066, the second highest of the West Midland LEPs and close to the national average excluding London (Source:
ONS/BCC)!
2
The LEPs of the Black Country, Coventry & Warwickshire, Greater Birmingham & Solihull, the Marches, Stoke-onTrent & Staffordshire and Worcestershire!
3 The
full pan-LEP economic statement is available in Appendix C.!
10 GBSLEP Ι Section 1: Economic and Strategic Context
Birmingham Airport provides international connectivity, including links to growth markets and for conference,
business and leisure tourism. !
We recognise that connectivity is enhanced by looking across our borders and have worked with
neighbouring LEPs to enhance the effectiveness of our transport plans.1!
The area attracts the third highest number of foreign direct investment (FDI) successes and the highest
number of new jobs arising from FDI of all LEPs2 and has widely recognised prospects for growth. The
GBSLEP area is rated in the top five for economic potential, the top performing UK region. !
Birmingham is ranked in the top 20 European Cities of the Future (2014/15), the top three for FDI strategies
of large cities (the only English city to feature in this category) and was voted global ‘FDI Destination of the
Future’ (2013). !
In addition to this excellence in attracting investment, exports from the region are also growing at a faster
pace than for the UK as a whole.3!
These strengths provide us with unparalleled opportunities to transform the local economy and drive the
resurgence of UK Plc. !
This SEP draws on an evidence-based understanding of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats to ensure that we maximise our potential to unlock prosperity and deliver jobs and growth. !
The full SWOT and supporting sources are available in Appendix A: Evidence Base. !
1
The GBSLEP has contributed to the West Midlands Cross-LEP Transport Statement that highlights areas for
investment in our transport network which release sustainable long term economic growth for the benefit of the UK
and West Midlands. The full statement is available in Appendix D. !
2
UKTI 2012/13. Note these figures exclude London.!
3
fDI magazine (February 2014). The European Cities and Regions of the Future 2014/15 rankings are based on
categories including the economic potential, infrastructure and business friendliness of a city or region. Birmingham
was shortlisted in the five categories listed above. !
11 GBSLEP Ι Economic and Strategic Context
Figure 1: Economic headlines for Greater Birmingham!
12 GBSLEP Ι Section 1 - Economic and Strategic Context
SECTION 1.2
Swot analysis!
Strengths!
!  Strategic location - our excellent physical connectivity at the centre of the UK’s motorway and rail
network and Birmingham Airport providing 143 direct connections including links to growth markets.!
!  Growth sectors - competitive offer in advanced engineering – automotive and aerospace; business,
financial and professional services; digital and creative industries; life sciences; low carbon and
environmental technologies and services; food and drink1 and strong alignment with UK Industrial
Strategy.!
!  High levels of FDI - strong track record in attracting investment (with an increase of more than 50% in
2012/13) and global capital, with significant investments in Birmingham Airport and Birmingham City
Centre.!
!  Growth in exports - exports in the West Midlands reached a record high of £7.5bn during the final
quarter of 2013, scoring the largest percentage increase of all English regions. Exports have grown by
30% in the region since 2011 (compared to a UK average of 2%).!
!  Private sector led recovery - since 2010 we have created 42,000 private sector jobs, this includes
19,000 new jobs in 2012. The LEP has recorded the largest absolute and largest percentage growth in
private sector jobs in comparison to any other LEP (excluding London)2. Solihull and Tamworth have
particularly high levels of growth in private sector jobs.!
!  Entrepreneurial - Birmingham is a start-up ‘hotspot’ that is home to more new businesses than any
location outside of the capital.3 The Digbeth Social Enterprise Quarter is the largest concentration of
social enterprises in the country, employing more than 750 people and having a combined turnover of
£20m.!
1
All of these sectors have been identified as key to attracting inward investment, with the exception of low carbon
which is recognised as a high growth, high value added sector (PA Consulting (2012) ‘Key Sectors for Inward
Investment’). !
2 ONS
Business Register & Employment Survey 2012. !
3 StartUp
Britain (2014)!
!  Knowledge and innovation assets - 22.5% of workplace based employment in ‘knowledge intensive’
industries (above the core city LEP and national averages), a world class university offer with national
and international specialist strengths and several high-tech business parks. There are links with key
assets in neighbouring areas (for example, Warwick Manufacturing Group)."
!  Physical and cultural assets - the area boasts excellent conferencing and entertainment venues
including the NEC, ICC, NIA and a strong visitor economy generating £6bn of expenditure, including
producing companies such as a Birmingham Royal Ballet, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
and Birmingham REP and the world-class facilities of Symphony Hall and Birmingham Hippodrome - the
UK’s single busiest theatre. "
Weaknesses!
!  Poor historic private sector jobs growth - whilst there has been significant private sector jobs growth
in parts of the LEP, in overall terms there was a large reduction. In the decade leading up to the
recession private sector employment fell (-5.2%) this was in contrast to a national increase of 4.6%. In
absolute terms, this fall of 33,400 private sector jobs in the GBSLEP area was largely located in
Birmingham (-31,100), much of this was attributable to job losses in the manufacturing sector (-50,000
jobs) while private sector service jobs increased."
!  Weak skills profile - there is a low proportion of the working population with degree level (28.1% against
core city LEP average of 29.8%) or higher level qualifications and a higher than average proportion with
no qualifications (13.7% compared to a core city LEP average of 11.3%). The percentage of the
population with NVQ3+ is 48.2% compared to the national average of 54.9%."
!  Low GVA per head - GVA per head (£18,628) is below the national average (£19,125 excluding London)
although this does not apply to all parts of the LEP."
!  Low proportion of high growth firms - there are a relatively small proportion of companies that are
high growth (5.6%) compared to the national average (6.9%)."
!  Innovation - in the Regional Innovation Scoreboard the West Midlands is the joint lowest performing
region. "
!  High unemployment and benefit dependency – the highest unemployment of all Core City LEP areas,
in January 2014 the claimant count was 6.1% compared to 3.9% nationally."
!  Young and diverse population – Over a third of the population is aged 24 and under, well above the
UK average of 30.6% and the highest percentage of any LEP in the country. Over a quarter of population
is from a BME background compared to 12% nationally. Birmingham has a particularly high BME
population and is heart to a phenomenon termed superdiversity1 with an unprecedented variety of
cultures, identities, faiths, and languages that have transformed the social landscape, home to 187
nationalities and recognised as the best core city in terms of languages spoken.!
!  Forecast employment growth – across a range of sectors (including business and professional
services and residential services) and occupations (such as higher skilled managerial, professional and
technical occupations)."
Threats!
!  Public sector reliance - there are high levels of public sector employment, around one in five (20.3%) of
people employed in the area work in the public sector compared to 18.6% nationally. "
!  Reliance on key firms/sectors - several firms dominate employment and skills both directly through
jobs and indirectly through the supply chain."
!  Inadequate housing growth - the scale of long-term growth could be up to 50% higher than the levels
of provision in existing development plans (with a potential gap of over 40,000 homes by 2033).2"
!  Weak digital connectivity outside urban core - if this is not addressed there is a risk of a digital divide
impacting both on competitiveness and social inclusion. In addition, there is under investment in digital
infrastructure. "
!  Fragmented business support offer - the current system is complex resulting in low levels of advice
being sought and impacting on business growth and start up survival."
!  Limited access to finance - the recession has restricted access to finance, particularly finance for
higher-risk finance to support innovation and the need for financial support for new and existing
businesses has grown. "
!  Skills shortages - growth in key sectors is dependent on businesses being able to tap into a supply of
highly skilled workers and individuals being enabled to start up in self-employment. !
1
Bishop of Birmingham Making Birmingham an Inclusive City: White Paper (March 2013) "
2 GBSLEP
(2013) Strategic Plan for Recovery and Growth"
16 GBSLEP Ι Section 1 – Economic and Strategic Context
!  Low economic activity rates – below average economic activity rate (74.3% compared to core city LEP
average of 75.6%) and very low female activity rates."
!  Weak connectivity across the LEP – some arterial road and rail connections are over capacity and
suffer from congestion and this is forecast to worsen and there is a lack of connectivity to major
economic opportunity areas, particularly outside the core. "
Opportunities!
!  HS2 – our excellent physical connectivity will be further enhanced by two HS2 stations (Curzon and
Interchange), these will open up new markets, providing catalytic effect for transformational regeneration,
skills uplift and job creation."
!  UK Central – located in Solihull, UKC consists of four economic opportunity zones (Zone 1 includes
Airport/NEC/Interchange) with the potential to generate 100,000 jobs."
!  Birmingham Airport – the runway extension (to be completed in 2014) will open up new long haul
markets and provide capacity for 27m passengers."
!  Enterprise and Economic Zones – six significant spatial opportunities in Birmingham aligned closely
with our sector strengths that together have the potential to attract £1.5bn investment.1"
!  Enterprise Belt2 – a network of sites and development opportunities 20-40km from Birmingham that
span southern Staffordshire, Solihull and north Worcestershire, located in this belt are places that have
significant growth potential.3"
!  Academic excellence – the area is home to world class research and knowledge economy, and vibrant
higher and further education institutions, including notable strengths in Clinical Sciences, Life Sciences,
Maths & Physics (in particular optical fibres), Materials Science and Environmental Sciences4 that will
underpin innovation, smart specialisation and our investment offer."
1
City Centre Enterprise Zone; Advanced Manufacturing Hub, Aston; Life Sciences Campus, Selly Oak/Edgbaston;
Longbridge ITEC Park; Tyseley Environmental Enterprise District; and The Food Hub, Witton. "
2
See Appendix B – Enterprise Belt Strategic Framework"
3 Bryson
4 GVA
and Taylor (2006) ‘The Functioning Economic Geography of the West Midlands’"
(2014) ‘Driving Future Growth: Core Cities and the Knowledge Economy’ "
!  Land and property constraints - we need a good supply of employment land which is available and
commercially developable. Under current projections Birmingham’s supply will run out in 2023 resulting in
the need to recycle land and maximise opportunities elsewhere in GBSLEP.1"
!  Congestion – a significant issue in the area and offers a clear threat to the LEP being able to provide
the high quality connections by road, rail, bus, walking, cycling and digitally, that are all vital to the our
future economic prosperity and social inclusiveness."
In summary, there are a number of challenges and areas of growth potential that when addressed will
unlock the local economy and deliver jobs. These include: "
!  Business Support – while the area is recognised as having a high level of start-ups, there is a
fragmented support offer and limited access to finance that hinders business survival rates and growth. "
!  Connectivity – the area’s strategic location provides excellent connectivity, however, the network is at
capacity in some places and congestion stifles growth opportunities. Further, connectivity outside of the
core is weak. The arrival of HS2 provides additional opportunities to invest in both physical and digital
infrastructure, however a coherent package is needed to ensure that the benefits for the area are
maximised for people living, working and visiting the area."
!  Land and property – the area faces a shortfall of housing and employment land, however there are a
host of sites that with the right intervention provide significant development opportunities, these include
those in the UK Central, Enterprise Belt, and the Economic Zones. A series of opportunities for housing
and business will be unlocked through the City Deal Assets Accelerator."
!  Sectors – the area’s sector strengths provide a real opportunity to deliver growth and strengthen and
diversify the economy through increasing exports and building an international reputation as a world
leader in these fields. "
!  Skills - there is a need for high quality skills support to address the area’s low skill base, skills shortages
faced by employers, and to increase the number of people with NVQ3+ skills to ensure GBSLEP’s
population is able to access jobs and meet business skills demand."
Underpinning this, it is imperative that the growth potential of GBSLEP is communicated and marketed to
national and international investors to ensure we continue to attract the high levels of FDI that we have in
recent years. Together, this will ensure that we grow the number of jobs, and become a net contributor to
the Exchequer."
1 Birmingham
Employment Land Review 2012; Employment Land Study for Economic Zones and Sectors."
SECTION 1.3
STRATEGIC VISION, supporting plans and delivery!
Our strategic vision!
Our vision is to re-establish Greater Birmingham’s role as the major
driver of the UK economy outside London. Building on our work with
Lord Heseltine in the Greater Birmingham Project, we issued
our Strategy For Growth in May 2013.!
This was the product of extensive consultation and, building on our
three strategic pillars of business, people and place, established
the following clear targets:!
!  A net increase of at least 100,000 private sector jobs between 2011 and 2020!
!  A net increase of at least £8.25bn GVA between 2011 and 2020!
!  A decrease in unemployment across the LEP to fall in line with at least the national average by
2020!
!  An increase in GVA per-head across the LEP to meet the national average by 2020, and exceed
the national average by 2025!
!  An increase in the percentage of the working-age population with NVQ3+ to be above the Core
City LEP average by 2020, and out-perform the national average by 2025!
This SEP takes our Strategy for Growth to a new level. In addition to the ambitious targets above, we will
deliver an additional: !
!  50,000 private sector jobs (on top of the 100,000 we have already committed to) !
!  14,315 new houses!
!  1.7m m2 of commercial space !
!  £2.3bn GVA over ten years!
!  £1,100m private sector leverage!
Supporting Plans!
To deliver the vision, GBSLEP has developed the Skills for Growth Plan and the Spatial Plan for Recovery
and Growth which identify the key actions for the people and place pillars. !
!  Skills for Growth Plan - (launched in June 2013) developed to support the effective use of skills in the
area and to create an upward spiral of skill development and economic growth. This is based on effective
partnerships between education, employers and other key stakeholders including Local Authorities and
key government departments, agencies and programmes. !
!  Spatial Plan for Recovery and Growth (SPRG) - (published in September 2013) the emerging spatial
framework developed collaboratively with local authority and planning partners identifies and addresses
strategic and high level spatial implications of the economic strategy.1 A key part of the SPRG is to
establish a more consistent understanding of the supply of housing and employment sites across the
area, leading to a more strategic approach to supply. !
However, there is more to do to ensure that our growth opportunities are maximised.!
Delivering the Vision!
Our vision will be delivered through a combination of:!
!  Local resources - including aligning and/or pooling our spend on growth (for example, through the GBS
Business Rates Pool), sweating our resources (through GBS Finance) and exploiting other funding
mechanisms (for example, borrowing upfront against future business rates as set out in the Enterprise
Zone (EZ) Investment Plan)!
!  Maximising private sector leverage!
!  The European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF)!
!  The resources negotiated through the Growth Deal!
Our vision will only be realised by harnessing all resources and working together with local, regional and
national partners to ensure the transformational potential is optimised. As such, this SEP sets out all of the
action that will be taken to unlock growth. !
1
GBSLEP is one of the only LEPs to take on this challenge and has been highly commended in the Strategic
Planning Category at the Place Making Awards.!
SECTION 1.4
Partnership, engagement and endorsement!
We have facilitated strong and inclusive partnership working within the LEP, across LEPs and with key
stakeholders in the business community, education and voluntary sectors and national agencies.!
Joint working with partners across Greater Birmingham has produced strong outputs, including the creation
of GBS Business Rates Pool, the successful mapping of Core Plans in the SPRG and the prioritisation of
Local Major Transport Schemes. Our intention is to build on this further as we develop our growth and
reform agenda and we would like to work with Government as we develop our thinking on this. !
Cross-LEP working is a point of particular strength for GBSLEP and big strides have been taken over recent
years in working with our neighbours to produce strong outcomes for the region.!
The Chairs of the West Midlands LEPs (the Black Country, Coventry & Warwickshire, Stoke-on-Trent &
Staffordshire, The Marches and Worcestershire) meet on a regular basis to discuss matters of regional
importance, outcomes from which include the development of a ‘fund of funds’ across the six LEPs, joint
Regional Growth Fund bids (e.g. the £20m Green Bridge Supply Chain Initiative) and lobbying Government
on shared advanced manufacturing issues. !
Cross-LEP sub-groups also meet to focus on specific issues such as transport and access to finance.
Outputs of this collaboration are set out in in Appendix E and also include the cross-LEP statement on
transport at Appendix D. !
Engagement!
From our inception, we have sought to engage as widely and in as much detail as possible. !
In particular, we contacted 60,000 businesses as part of the consultation process on the Strategy for Growth
White Paper gaining 400 unique responses from over 2,000 companies. A further 400 contributions were
made from stakeholders as part of the Greater Birmingham Project. In addition, around 115 organisations
pro-actively engaged in the consultation for the SPRG through either written responses, online responses or
through participation in the consultation events.!
In developing this SEP, we have engaged with partners, Government departments, national agencies and
wider stakeholders via Board Sub Groups and associated groups, a series of engagement events held
across Greater Birmingham and public consultation. !
Views expressed have helped to shape every aspect of the Plan.!
Furthermore, as a result of broad engagement, our plans have received wide-ranging buy-in and support
from businesses, business organisations, agencies and local MPs and MEPs.!
We are proud to present a list of endorsements in Appendix F: Endorsements. !
SECTION 2
programmes
SECTION 2.1
implementation!
Our SEP will implement the Strategy for Growth drawing on the strategic pillars of ‘Business’, ‘People’ and
‘Place’, through a series of programmes which either have a thematic or spatial focus, namely:!
!  Programme 1: Growing Business – supporting the provision of activity to enable the formation, growth,
attraction and retention of businesses across Greater Birmingham!
!  Programme 2: Enhancing the Regional Economic Hub – strengthening Birmingham City Centre as
the regional hub for economic activity!
!  Programme 3: UK Central, the Enterprise Belt and the wider Birmingham area – unlocking longterm growth potential on a national scale and targeting early investment to create housing and jobs!
!  Programme 4: Enhancing our growth sectors – supporting delivery of key sites, infrastructure, skills
and innovation!
The programmes contain a pipeline of numbered capital and revenue projects deliverable over the lifetime
of the SEP. !
A number of projects are already in progress funded via local or external resources (e.g. City Deal and
Enterprise Zone), and there are a series of projects that could be delivered by Local Growth Fund (LGF) or
the ESIF. !
However, more could be achieved if specific freedoms are granted. !
Within these programmes are five interconnected game-changers that have transformational potential
beyond the immediate LEP area if certain freedoms and flexibilities are granted. These are:!
!  Greater Birmingham Growth Hub (Programme 1)!
!  Exploiting HS2:!
!  Birmingham Curzon (Programme 2)!
!  UK Central and the Interchange (Programme 3)!
!  HS2 Connectivity Package (Programme 2 and Programme 3) !
!  ‘Birmingham Trained Me To Compete’ (Programme 4)!
23 GBSLEP Ι Section 2 – Programmes
Figure 2 – The structure of the Strategic Economic Plan!
24 GBSLEP Ι Section 2 – The Strategic Economic Plan
SECTION 2.2
Prioritisation and programming of sep capital
projects!
The GBSLEP Board agreed a prioritisation framework that generated projects delivering maximum impact
for the LEP area as a whole, not any particular part thereof. The programmes were defined to enable all
projects which will contribute to the same broad objectives to be grouped and then prioritised. !
Each of the programmes is interrelated with cross programme dependencies which deliver benefits across
the spectrum. It is therefore important that all projects within each programme have been prioritised using a
standard methodology. !
The assessment and prioritisation process and methodology is set out in Figure 3 with full details in
Appendix G: Prioritisation. !
Over 200 projects to support the aims of the Strategy for Growth were submitted by partners for assessment
and prioritisation. From this process 52 priority projects were identified, with 35 seeking LGF funding
support from April 2015. Individual business cases have been prepared for these schemes to proportionally
reflect the LGF ask, with transport projects specifically following Department for Transport appraisal
guidance set out for major schemes and recent Local Pinch Points/Local Sustainable Transport Fund
bidding rounds.!
Post Allocation Programming!
It is recognised that between now and the allocation of funding there may be changes for a small number of
projects. Therefore it is proposed that the prioritisation and sequencing exercise is re-run when our Growth
Deal is announced. This will enable any changes to be reflected and the prioritised schemes can be
matched to the actual allocation.!
Overlap Areas!
Projects which lie in LEP overlap areas have been prioritised through both LEPs’ prioritisation processes.
For the prioritised projects the programme tables at the end of this document show how it is anticipated that
the funding will be provided. !
In some cases each LEP will contribute resource whilst in others a single LEP will do so. However, to
ensure the prioritisation was robust the total LGF ask (from both LEPs where appropriate) was used to
calculate the economic return.!
25 GBSLEP Ι Section 2 – Programmes
Figure 3 – The structure of the Strategic Economic Plan!
26 GBSLEP Ι Section 2 –SEP Programmes
Programme 1
GROWING
BUSINESS
Programme 1 – growing business
Programme introduction!
Overview of the programme!
This programme will drive business growth and put in place the interventions necessary to enable businesses
to start, grow and succeed and thereby create jobs across Greater Birmingham. It is focused on revenue
funded activity and is intended to complement the focus on physical development contained in other
programmes. !
There are four strands to the Programme which this section looks at in turn: !
1.  Stimulating Business & Enterprise (business support, access to finance, planning and better regulation) !
2.  Skills !
3.  Inward Investment !
4.  Strategic marketing !
Objectives!
The objective of this programme is to support business growth and increase the number of jobs across
Greater Birmingham, through stimulating business and enterprise, skills, inward investment and developing
an approach to strategic marketing. The framework for this programme is set out in Figure 4.!
Impact !
!  The establishment of the Growth Hub will result in 10,000 businesses each year accessing information and
tools and 20% more take-up of national schemes !
!  Creation of 12,500 new private sector jobs through FDI by 2020 !
!  ESIF will deliver a series of specific outputs in this Programme:!
!  8,520 Enterprises (SME) assisted!
!  850 new Enterprises (SME) supported (start-up)!
!  4,565 jobs created !
!  68,900 participants assisted/trained, of which 50,800 are unemployed !
28 GBSLEP Ι Section 2 – Programme 1: Growing Business
Figure 4: The framework, rationale, funding, outcomes and outputs for Programme 1.!
29 GBSLEP Ι Programme 1: Growing Business
Game-Changer 1: Growth Hub Opportunity (sEE aPPENDIX J)
Opportunity!
The Growth Hub will provide a single front door through which businesses can access a world class
business support ecosystem to help them to meet their ambitions and to deliver business growth and new
jobs. It will include four new delivery programmes:!
!  A cross-LEP Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering (AME) Growth Hub in early 2014, with Black
Country and Coventry & Warwickshire LEPs and possibly with Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire LEP, to
provide dedicated support for this growing supply chain to help to develop and improve the
competitiveness and growth of businesses !
!  An Advanced Manufacturing Recruitment & Training Agency which will deliver end to end business
solutions to meet local supply chain skill needs by connecting a number of discrete but associated
activities!
!  A new support programme for mid-sized businesses (over 250 staff) that is targeted at the specific needs
of this type of business, many of which have high growth potential !
!  A new engagement programme with larger businesses to establish and develop strategic relationships
with them to help address various issues (such as vulnerability in supply chains and skill shortages)
which would help to safeguard existing jobs and possibly help them to create new job opportunities !
Offer!
!  15,000 businesses p.a. accessing information and tools (of which 5,000 in the AME sector) !
!  20% more take up of national schemes (e.g. Growth Accelerator)!
!  500 advanced manufacturing businesses to double their growth over four years. !
!  200 AME companies becoming new exporters !
!  250 AME companies introducing new products and processes !
!  600 additional apprenticeships, 600 additional traineeships over three years!
Ask !
!  Revenue funding to support the Growth Hub and its programmes, to be used alongside ESIF and public/
private sector match.!
!  Growth Hub - £0.4m for one year only !
!  Cross- LEP AME; Mid-Sized and Large Businesses - £3m total for 2014-20!
!  AME Recruitment and Training Centre - £2.8m in total for three years !
Stimulating business and enterprise!
Rationale!
This element of the programme includes a range of strategic and complimentary activities to grow business
across Greater Birmingham and will contribute to the drive for job creation. It will support the whole life cycle
of business development and growth and the main funding mechanism for this programme is ESIF. !
Much of the underlying analysis on which this is based was delivered by the Greater Birmingham Project,
focussing on sector performance in terms of internationalisation, innovation and investment across both local
firms and inward investors.!
Business support!
To support more businesses to start, grow and succeed in the LEP area this strand will build accessible
systems of support appropriate for all our companies (from early-stage, to SME, and through to global
powerhouses). At present there is a fragmented business support offer and while there are a high number of
start-ups in the area, there are lower five year survival rates than the UK as whole. !
There is significant potential to further increase levels of FDI and embed these firms into the local and
regional economy, including the supply chains in neighbouring LEPs. We have developed projects that will
tackle the low female activity rates through bespoke business support and we are working with social
enterprises to develop the business support offer. !
Access to Finance!
At present there is insufficient access to finance (in particular up to £100,000). We will build our portfolio of
funding to deliver a range of finance mechanisms capable of supporting the needs of businesses during their
lifecycle. This will include the development of a JEREMIE type fund of funds with other LEPs in the area. !
Planning and Better Regulation !
This strand will also provide consistency in planning issues, building on the Planning Charter to develop a
joined-up approach for planning across the area and make the system less complex and more accessible
(aligned to the National Planning Policy Framework). !
Businesses regularly identify excessive, disproportionate or badly-enforced regulation as a concern. Through
this strand we will ensure that regulation is business friendly, building on our offer to cut through any
regulatory barriers faced by inward investors. !
Current progress!
Future!
Business Support!
•  A Central Business Portal accessible via
www.gbslep.com sign posts businesses to the support
and access to finance"
•  Business Development Programme - £4.6m has been
committed to provide comprehensive business support
to existing SMEs "
•  Delivering growth through MSBs national pathfinder"
•  Women’s Enterprise Centre - bespoke support to boost
business skills and confidence for local women to go into
business and employment has been developed by BCC,
colleges and female entrepreneurs. The first phase has
opened at South Birmingham and City College in
Digbeth"
!  Creation of the GBS Growth Hub (see Game-changer 1)
providing a single front door through which businesses,
including social enterprises, can access a world class
business support eco-system to deliver business growth
and new jobs."
•  Partner activity includes: Aston Business School
supporting small businesses through Goldman Sachs
10,000 Small Businesses programme; Innovation
Birmingham supporting tech-start-ups through the
‘Entrepreneurs for the Future’"
!  Fostering linkages between firms in related sectors, and
stimulating supply chain development"
!  Working jointly with BPS Birmingham to further develop
the Portal to provide a better information gateway to
access to finance (to be launched in May 2014)"
!  Pilot MSB engagement and support programme"
!  Women’s Enterprise Centre - second phase due to start
in Sparkbrook funded by BCC, ERDF and Growing
Places. Explore roll out in other LEP areas with low
levels of female economic activity. "
Access to Finance!
!  Growing Places Fund - £21m has been committed to
boost economic growth and kick start stalled projects,
supporting 193 businesses and creating 4,795 jobs"
!  Six West Midlands LEPs have agreed to establish a
fund-of-funds operated under an EU JEREMIE utilising
50m Euros+ of their ESIF budgets"
!  Funding is available for businesses unable to obtain
funding from traditional sources of finance, for example:
through Finance Birmingham and the GBSLEP Loan /
Equity Funding Programme; Birmingham City Council
(BCC) Loan / Equity Funding Programme; and ART loan
fund"
!  West Midlands Mezzanine Funding Programme is to be
launched shortly using local resources and match
funding from Regional Growth Fund and West Midlands
Pension Fund"
Planning!
!  Planning Charter sets out how we will support growth
through the planning system "
!  Developing a common approach toward pre-application
advice, and applying a LEP wide validation checklist "
!  Planning Summit held in April 2013 to inform the Spatial
Plan for Recovery and Growth (SPRG) which has since
been published and consulted on. "
!  The final version of the SPRG will be informed by the
consultation responses alongside the outcomes of the:
Strategic Housing Needs Study (commissioned with the
Black Country); Review of large employment land
development opportunities; and Strategic Environmental
Assessment/Sustainability Assessment "
Better Regulation!
!  One of two national pathfinders working with the Better
Regulation Delivery Officer (BRDO) we have developed
practical ways to improve the trading environment
through regulatory support. "
!  Develop a ‘single point of contact’ offer for Inward
Investment via a regulatory liaison officer to provide
diagnostic of regulatory needs and clear advice,
guidance and signposting "
!  Launched regulator and business partnership charter
under ‘Better Business for All’. "
!  Created a single point of contact for local regulation via
a web portal ‘Talk to Reg’ "
!  Aspiration to roll out the ‘single point of contact’ where it
can enhance existing offers"
!  Align regulatory offer to the Growth Hub proposals!"
SKILLS!
Rationale!
Our skills offer is vital to ensure that Greater Birmingham continues to prosper and that young people and
adults within the LEP area are given the skills to succeed in employment. !
Business needs an appropriately skilled workforce to draw on and currently the area has a weak skills
profile: low proportion of the working population with degree level or higher level qualifications (28.1%
against core city LEP average of 29.8%) and a higher than average proportion with no qualifications (13.7%
compared to a core city LEP average of 11.3%). !
This work stream aims to increase aspiration and create opportunities to reduce inequality and promote
inclusion. Through the development of our Skills for Growth Compact, agreed as part of the City Deal, we
will inspire our employers, colleges and schools to build a best-in-class skills service to link pupils and
learners with real-world work opportunities. !
There is close alignment with Programme 4 which sets out sector specific activity. !
Table 2: Current progress and future activity – Skills!
Current progress!
Future!
Skills!
!  Developed and launched Skills for Growth Plan setting
out delivery of our skills targets !
!  Skills for Growth Compact (following City Deal)
developed committing employers, colleges and schools
to building a best-in-class skills service to link pupils
and learners to real-world work opportunities. Delivered
through local Employment and Skills Board supported
projects such as ‘Step Up’ campaign in Solihull and
activity around the Birmingham Baccalaureate !
!  2,373 AGE grants paid and in the pipeline!
!  The Skills for Growth Hub a ‘virtual’ entity (linked with
the Growth Hub), linking employers to sources of
recruitment, training and skills provision and providing a
gateway to opportunities for individuals seeking access
to learning, jobs and skills!
!  Delivery of a demand-led and sector-specific approach
to ensure the skills eco-system works more effectively
and that the range of skills providers to demonstrate the
capability and capacity to respond flexibly and quickly
to the skills demand !
!  Skills environment where Higher Education curricula is
in touch with the local technology eco-system to jointly
design projects and activities that prepare students to
enter the fast changing technology workplace;
responsive to the higher level skills gaps identified by
businesses, Higher Level Apprenticeships creation and
focused technical training which facilitates a ‘ladder of
skills progression’ for all!
Inward investment!
Rationale!
To continue to attain the best possible results from FDI and maximise our position as FDI destination of the
Future 2013 – global 1st place (FDI Awards), we will link our Inward Investment Strategy (see Appendix K)
to sector opportunities. !
There is significant potential to increase FDI as GBSLEP projects only represent 3% of the UK’s total with
40% of FDI channelled to London and other devolved administrations. !
The focus will be on maximising the benefits of inward investment and innovation, in terms of training,
productivity and exporting, stimulating higher value employment.!
Current progress!
Future!
Inward Investment!
!  With UKTI, formed the West Midlands Investment
Forum (WMIF) comprising the six inward investment
leads from West Midlands LEPs and match funded pilot
to deliver more effective approach to strategic
relationship management with foreign owned
automotive companies. !
!  Identified seven key industries for Greater Birmingham
as basis for six economic zones in Birmingham to
combine the city’s economic development, planning
and inward investment strategies.!
!  Business Birmingham oversees an ERDF-funded
“Investing in the City” project to position Birmingham,
the Black Country and Solihull as leading inward
investment locations and major engines of UK growth.!
!  Birmingham has established a Mobile Investment Fund
to provide financial incentives for foreign investors
coming to the city and creating jobs. !
(Revenue asks will be developed for 16/17)!
!  LGF requests for some of the Economic Zones will
catalyse investment by private sector developers (see
Programme 4)!
!  Create a FDI element to the Growth Hub, ideally on
Government estate and located on a key development
site, for LEP FDI teams, Government partners and
inward investors to co-locate!
!  Expand the Mobile Investment Fund !
!  Develop and promote a comprehensive contract’s
database listing commercial opportunities for overseas
investors !
!  Develop a Life Sciences visa pilot (see inset box)!
!  Develop our HE offer to target inward investment
opportunities !
!  Create an SPV to support the growth of an ‘M1
Enterprise Corridor’ for Tech companies initially
focusing on GBSLEP!
!  Expand co-funded UKTI and Business Birmingham
automotive sector pilot to other key sectors !
!  Funding to support the development of a joint trade and
investment ‘action plan’ !
Programme 1 – supporting business
Strategic MARKETING !
Rationale!
There is not, currently, an agreed ‘Greater Birmingham’ brand. Evidence from other leading European cities
indicates that the area could expect a growth in GDP and jobs created by employing a strategic approach to
city-region marketing - Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin and Stockholm have all seen growth of between 5%
and 10%. !
Only by developing and promoting such a brand will the full benefits of investment in the area be realised
(See Appendix L). !
Current progress!
Future!
Strategic Marketing!
!  Agreement by GBSLEP Board to commission work to
establish a branding strategy for Greater Birmingham.
The aim is to establish and reinforce our reputation as
the regional capital and principal economy outside
London for attracting investment, successful
businesses and skilled workers.!
!  MIPIM 2014 – joined together with 25 partners from
across Greater Birmingham to promote flagship
schemes and infrastructure projects including UK
Central, Curzon Street and Birmingham’s Economic
Zones. !
!  Establish the Greater Birmingham growth model which
will focus effort across sectors, markets, channels,
resources which defines the catalytic point(s) to create
a step change,!
!  Develop a proposition model to convey Greater
Birmingham’s character and vision which can be a
shared resource across the region.!
!  There is a need for resources to fund the
implementation of Brand Greater Birmingham in the
long-term. A business case will be developed which
may seek additional support from Government in future
LGF rounds in order that we achieve a step-change in
performance. !
Supporting projects from other programmes!
This programme activity underpins all of the other programmes ensuring that the local population has the
skills needed to enable business to start, grow and locate in the area. As such, there are specific linkages with
Programme 4, ensuring that the skills provision in the area matches growth sector development opportunities. !
There are links with both Programmes 2 and 3 as businesses expanding or locating in the area will need
access to high quality employment land and excellent connectivity and quality of life offer will be key to
attracting this investment. !
Programme 2
Enhancing the
regional
economic hub
Programme 2 – enhancing the regional economic hub
Context!
Birmingham city centre is the region’s economic hub. It was rated as the most attractive city outside of
London for quality of life1 and is recognised as one of the top 50 global free zones of the future.2 !
Situated at the heart of the strategic road and rail networks, and with frequent public transport services to
Birmingham Airport, the city centre enjoys strong national and international connectivity, and stands to
benefit significantly from the arrival of HS2.!
Birmingham is also the region’s cultural capital, and the strength of its cultural offer helps to attract 33m
visitors to the city every year. !
Preparing the city centre to realise the full benefits and catalytic effects arising from the investment in HS2
and its arrival at Curzon Street form the key strategic components of this programme. !
The programme has two complementary strands:!
!  2a: core business assets and connectivity, with a focus on delivering sites in the core and maximising
connectivity between the existing and new infrastructure; and!
!  2b: wider connectivity to the hub, which will improve connectivity between the hub and the wider LEP
area and beyond!
Rationale!
There is a growing shortage of Grade A office space in the city centre, which is expected to tip into
undersupply during 2016. Take up of space over the past five years has averaged at 632,000 square feet
per annum – but demand is forecast to exceed 800,000 square feet per annum over the next five to ten
years.3 Diminished speculative development, combined with poor quality public realm and sites with
remediation and/or access issues has resulted in severely under-utilised sites within and close to the city
centre.!
1
Mercer 2012, Quality of Living Rankings!
2
In the 2012/13 FDI Global Free Zones survey, Birmingham City Centre was listed in the top 50 global free zones,
ranking number 46 in the world. Birmingham was one of only two UK areas listed – along with Sheffield Enterprise
Zone. !
3 GVA
2014, Birmingham future office demand !
37 GBSLEP Ι Programme 2 – Enhancing the Regional Economic Hub
Our growth proposals are also forecast to place increasing demands on our transport system, which already
sees high levels of traffic congestion and overcrowding on public transport networks. Such challenges,
giving Birmingham as an example, are evidenced in the Mobility Action Plan (BMAP) green paper recently
consulted on by Birmingham City Council. !
Without intervention and a shift to more sustainable modes, the transport network is likely to act as a
significant barrier to growth, particularly in the context of an expanding population, ambitious plans for new
jobs and the need to connect HS2, Birmingham Airport and UK Central with the wider area. !
Map 2 shows journey times to HS2 stations by public transport and further illustrates the requirement to
better connect HS2 and the wider LEP and journey to work area.!
While the city centre is well-served by second-generation digital connectivity and the provision of free,
unlimited wi-fi across its major footfall due to roll out soon, access to the ultra-fast broadband that modern
businesses (including our digital and creative industries) require is constrained by a lack of open-access
infrastructure.!
Objectives!
The objectives of this programme are to:!
!  Further strengthen the city centre Enterprise Zone and provide attractive sites for businesses, particularly
those that benefit from enhanced connectivity enabled by HS2; !
!  Deliver excellent connectivity between HS2 (Birmingham Curzon and Interchange Stations) and the
existing transport network, wider LEP geography and travel to work area, Birmingham Airport and the city
core; !
!  Increase the use of sustainable modes; and!
!  Significantly improve the availability of ultra-fast broadband in the city centre!
38 GBSLEP Ι Programme 2: Enhancing the Regional Economic Hub
Map 2: Journey times to HS2 terminals by public transport in the GBSLEP!
Game-Changer 2: BIRMINGHAM CURZON (sEE aPPENDIX J)
Opportunity!
The new city centre HS2 station will place the city at the heart of the national high speed rail network. It will
have a transformational impact, unlocking significant regeneration and development potential across the
city, bringing new economic activity, investment and jobs. When combined with the opportunities that can be
delivered at the Interchange Station, the outcomes for Greater Birmingham are even more significant.!
Building on the strategic vision of the Big City Plan, the City Council has launched the Birmingham Curzon
HS2 Masterplan which identifies the potential of HS2 and its regenerative impact on the area around the
station. Covering 141 ha of the city centre extending across Eastside, Digbeth and the eastern fringe of the
city centre core, with the HS2 terminus station at the centre, the Masterplan seeks to maximise the
regeneration opportunities of the area which will include: 14,000 (net) private sector jobs; 600,000 sq.m of
additional employment floorspace; 2,000 new homes; and an uplift to the economy of £1.3bn p.a. !
Our offer!
We will contribute to the delivery of a truly world class station, accessible via an extended Metro, and
enjoying improved public realm and world-class connectivity. We will ensure that the plans are aligned with
the Interchange Station so that the benefits are maximised.!
We will complete the Infrastructure and Baseline Study for Birmingham Curzon by August 2014; the
Development and Funding Study by October 2014; and the Full Business Case by December 2014. We will
establish a delivery vehicle to facilitate wider regeneration by the end of 2014.!
HS2 will provide a catalyst for other major regeneration plans with the largest site being the Southern
Gateway which sits adjacent to Birmingham Curzon area. We are in the process of unlocking the area
through the relocation of the wholesale markets and exploring how to fund infrastructure and enabling
works. The area represents a huge economic and residential opportunity to extend the City Core
southwards.!
Our ask!
Officials are nominated from BIS, DfT, DCLG, HS2 Ltd and Treasury and other Government Departments as
appropriate to ensure a clear link for advice and assistance to maximise the development and delivery of
our Growth Plans; including input into the various stages of development of our Business Case. !
Agree a joint approach with Government to develop a financial and governance model to deliver the two key
objectives for Birmingham Curzon – the world class station and the wider regeneration. !
This should include exploring how to capture the significant uplifts in both land value and business rates that
HS2 will generate, such as considering the extension of the city centre Enterprise Zone’s geography and
timeframe.!
Impacts!
As a result of delivering this programme:!
!  3,089 houses and 6,962 jobs created from projects seeking LGF!
!  The Enterprise Zone will deliver 1.3m sqm of new floorspace, 40,000 new jobs, and contribute over £2bn
to the economy in GVA per annum at the end of the lifetime of the EZ!
!  The Curzon Street Masterplan (see Game-Changer 2) will result in 14,000 (net) new jobs; 600,000 sqm of
new business space; 2,000 new homes and £1.3bn economic uplift!
!  HS2 Connectivity Package (see Game-Changer 3) will generate 26,000 jobs and a £2.2bn uplift by the
time the Y-network is operational, supported by a devolved rail franchise and a truly integrated ticketing
system!
!  Birmingham Airport will handle significantly more passengers per annum with direct long-haul flights to key
markets and improved direct local transport connections, including late night and early morning services,
and improved connectivity to the East Midlands;!
!  A high quality ‘destination’ to include a new cultural facility, housing a national collection of visual art, will
complement existing world class cultural provision and augment the new daytime leisure tourism offer!
!  Ubiquitous access to 30mbps wireless broadband across the city centre, with
improved access to
ultrafast broadband infrastructure and district energy networks!
Current progress!
The city centre has seen significant sums invested in recent years, including a committed £450m
redevelopment of Paradise Circus, the £600m transformation of Birmingham New Street Station and a
£127m extension to the Midland Metro system. !
Birmingham City Council adopted the Big City Plan in 2011 and this provides the strategic framework for
the growth of the city centre which is providing developers with the confidence they need to invest. !
It extends the city core by 25% and will ultimately deliver 50,000 new jobs and 20,000 new homes. The Big
City Plan sets out a blueprint for how the city centre, already an important economic asset, should be
transformed to reach its potential as a driver of the regional economy and a major contributor to UK Plc.!
Table 1: Delivery of Enterprise Zone sites (March 2014)!
Development!
Two Snowhill!
Birmingham City University (Phase 1)!
Floorspace
Type of
Jobs!
Created/
Accommodation!
Refurbished!
30,500 sqm! Grade A offices, plus 1,750!
retail!
18,300 sqm! Education facilities! 200!
Status!
Completed, awaiting
occupation!
Completed and occupied!
Former Post and Mail Building (Phase 1)!
20,000 sqm!
Car park!
0!
Under construction!
University College of Birmingham (Phase
1)!
BCU Phase 2, Eastside Locks!
7,000 sqm!
Education facilities!
25!
Under construction!
24,300 sqm!
Education facilities!
265!
Under construction!
Ladbrook House, Typhoo Wharf!
Assay Office, St George’s Urban Village!
2,100 sqm!
5,700 sqm!
15!
150!
JQ Hotel, St George’s Urban Village!
109-111 Pope Street, St George’s Urban
Village!
Garrison Data Centre 1, Great Barr Street!
4,100 sqm!
640 sqm!
Hotel!
Office and light
industrial!
Hotel!
Offices!
7,500 sqm!
Data Centre!
30!
480 sqm!
Offices!
65!
7,770 sqm!
Hotel!
35!
Under construction!
Due to start on site Spring
2014!
Under construction!
Due to start on site Summer
2014!
2014!
Due to start on site Summer
2014!
2014!
128,390 sqm!
Total Jobs!
2,580!
Extensions to existing businesses,
Warwick Bar!
Hotel, Newhall Square!
Total Floorspace!
40!
5!
A major element of the Big City Plan is the EZ, the only city centre EZ in the country. The EZ comprises 26
sites across the city centre in seven clusters identified as offering significant growth opportunities. The EZ
Investment Plan has set out an initial programme of activity worth £128m (funded by Birmingham City
Council via borrowing against future uplift in business rates) and is already providing £63m to support the
flagship Paradise Circus development. There are firm proposals for many of the EZ sites, which will ensure
the hub offers an increasing range of quality locations. See Table 1 for a summary of site delivery by 2015.!
A further £43m of EZ investment will support economic connectivity including a further extension to the
Midland Metro network through to Centenary Square and a £9.4m package of improvements to the Ring
Road, jointly funded by the DfT and Centro. In addition, sustainable connectivity is being enhanced as part
of Birmingham’s £26m Cycle City Revolution project, which will see 115km of new cycle routes and
complementary infrastructure implemented by 2015. !
The City Council has published its Smart City Roadmap, and has awarded a contract to provide a mobile
broadband experience of unparalleled speed, simplicity and coverage, allowing operators to roll-out the
latest wireless technologies across the city by using street lighting columns. Birmingham, supported by the
Urban Broadband Fund and ERDF, has also developed a voucher scheme that will begin shortly, and will
overcome barriers for SMEs in connecting to high speed broadband services. !
Game-Changer 3: hs2 connectivity package (see appendix J)
Ensuring faster, more efficient and more affordable travel throughout Greater Birmingham is key to truly
maximising the benefits of HS2 and integral to the delivery of our ambitious plans for Birmingham city centre and
UK Central. !
Working with Centro, GBS, Black Country and Coventry and Warwickshire LEPs have developed the HS2
Connectivity Package – a series of bus rapid transit, Metro and heavy rail investments that will effectively ‘plug in’
local connections with our new high speed rail stations. These investments will facilitate a step-change in door-todoor connectivity and, in tandem with a devolved rail franchise, unlock the released capacity on the West Coast
Mainline, providing access to a larger pool of employees for businesses, improving productivity and reducing costs
while enhancing connections to a wider range of markets.!
Our offer!
If delivered in full across the West Midlands, the Package has been modelled to more than double the economic
impact of HS2 – delivering a total of 50,000 net additional jobs (26,000 of which would be in Greater Birmingham);
an increase of £4bn of economic output per annum and a GVA increase of £680 per worker. !
While the aggregated benefits are significant, each scheme in the Package will be fully webTAG compliant and will
demonstrate a strong benefit:cost ratio. We will seek to provide a significant local contribution for the delivery of
these schemes (£8m has already been committed in development costs), and will look to utilise the delivery
model(s) to be agreed for Birmingham Curzon and the Interchange.!
Our ask!
!  Development of the HS2/Network Rail Integrated Plan is coordinated with our emerging Midlands Connect
programme, in collaboration with LEPs, LAs, Centro and the Highways Agency !
!  Strategic alignment to HS2 is fully incorporated into Network Rail’s Long Term Planning process and forms a key
investment criterion for Control Periods 6 and 7!
!  Direct linkages are established with government so as to maximise the delivery of our growth plans, and
accelerate the implementation of HS2 and our Connectivity Package!
!  Government works with the LEP and delivery partners to consider the simplification and acceleration of statutory
processes (for example Transport and Works Act Orders) to enable the expeditious implementation of major
infrastructure in the UK!
!  Government works with the LEP to identify and create a bespoke revenue fund to support the development of
our Connectivity Package to maximise the benefits of HS2 - an annual ask of £3.8m, to be matched locally, is
sought from April 2016 for a minimum four year period.!
The £190m Library of Birmingham opened last year and continues to expand the city’s cultural offer, while
the £12m investment in Eastside City Park significantly enhances the public realm by adding 2.73ha of
green space to the city centre.!
The city’s cultural programmes cover micro-festivals to major international events including the International
Dance Festival and International Jazz & Blues Festival. Such events attract 33m visitors to the city every
year. Birmingham invests in world class cultural assets and facilities. Many of the benefitting organisations
are members of the Creative City Partnership (see Programme 4), which supports Greater Birmingham’s
cultural, creative and digital industries. These industries are ripe for further growth, as indicated by their
contribution to the EZ.!
The Future!
HS2 will be a truly transformational project that will act as a catalyst for growth and regeneration, but it does
not provide the sole rationale for our proposed investments in Birmingham Curzon and the Connectivity
Package. These are game changing investments in their own right, capable of significantly enhancing the
city centre offer by improving public transport, the public realm and bringing development sites to the market
by increasing their viability. !
In this context two further regeneration projects of high significance are being developed at Snow Hill
Station and Southern Gateway. The £400m Snow Hill project will see the full redevelopment of Snow Hill
station including a new grand entrance, new station concourse and the removal of the existing multi-storey
car park to create a 1m sq ft ‘Manhattan’ style office development. Southern Gateway occupies a strategic
location adjoining the Bullring and in close proximity to New Street Station, Moor Street Station and Curzon
Street.!
Growth in the city centre will be further supported by investment in digital connectivity, as set out in the
Smart City Roadmap. This will see a truly integrated ticketing system, affordable and reliable digital
connectivity, and coordinated investment in fibre optic cabling and smart grids as part of the statutory
planning process. In addition, the opportunity will be taken to provide and align open access digital
infrastructure ducting during the construction of HS2, whilst also combining district energy networks.!
To support the investment in transport infrastructure, proposals are being taken forward by the six West
Midlands LEPs for a devolved rail franchise, which will provide a locally controlled mechanism to best utilise
rail capacity released by HS2 on the existing network to best support regional growth. There is also potential
to strengthen the visitor economy by increasing the opportunity for overnight visits, particularly a new high
quality ‘destination’ to host a new cultural facility housing a national collection of visual art. A city centre
redevelopment site is currently being considered for this purpose in tandem with a bid to the Arts Council
England to house its national collection of contemporary art. !
Programme 2 – enhancing the regional economic hub
PROJECTS!
The prioritised projects are set out in Map 3. Further projects have been identified which may contribute to
the objectives of this programme but require further development to justify before their inclusion. Appendix I:
Project Summaries also provides a summary of the funding, outputs, deliverability and risks for each project,
including those which are not currently prioritised but may in due course join the pipeline.!
Prioritised projects: 2a - core business assets and connectivity!
This element of Programme 2 includes nine high priority projects with a LGF request of £25.84m for
2015/16, as shown in Section 4 at the end of this document. Some of the projects from within the HS2
Connectivity Package have already been prioritised by the GBS Local Transport Board (LTB) to be delivered
using £23.9m of pre-committed LGF resources. These comprise: One Station; Making the Connections;
Hagley Road SPRINT; and a further Midland Metro extension from New Street Station to Centenary Square.!
Further key priorities for expeditious delivery include extended Midland Metro links to Eastside and
Edgbaston, access and urban realm works to enable the Snow Hill Station redevelopment and capacity
enhancements to Birmingham’s Ring Road. In addition, major maintenance works to the A38(M) Tame
Valley Viaduct are essential to ensure that access to the city centre and EZ from the Strategic Road
Network (SRN) is maintained and growth supported.!
Prioritised projects: 2b - wider connectivity to the hub!
This part of part Programme 2 also includes nine high priority projects. Many of the projects are seeking
LGF from 2016/17 onwards, with an initial LGF ask in 2015/16 of £5.12m. See Section 4 for the details.!
Projects under development and currently prioritised for delivery after 2015/16 include rail enhancements to
the Snow Hill and Chase lines, in tandem with SPRINT routes along the A34 Walsall Road, Bartley Green
and A45 Coventry Road corridors. Priorities also include highway capacity improvements to the A457
Dudley Road to support development at Icknield Port Loop and the relocation of City Hospital, and a
package of public transport and highway improvements to both support the redevelopment of Longbridge
and seamless access to the city core. !
The Snow Hill Line Enhancements project enjoys cross-LEP support and is a priority for both the GBS and
Black Country LEPs. The Metro Extension in Solihull will support connectivity to the key assets around UK
Central.!
Map 3: Prioritised projects in Programme 2!
Sustainable access to the regional economic hub has to be at the heart of any SEP. The Greater
Birmingham Project identified this key need, in terms of not only sustainability, but quality of life, and the
ability to attract and retain internationally mobile workers. Two Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF)
type projects are prioritised for delivery in 2015/16. These projects comprise the continuation of
Birmingham’s Cycle City Revolution project and a package of public transport journey time reliability
improvements that complement and enhance ‘smarter choices’ bid proposals currently being submitted by
transport authorities within the LEP geography to the DfT’s LSTF revenue fund. "
Supporting projects!
The initiatives in this Programme are supported by the projects and interventions in the other programmes
set out in the SEP. There are particularly close links with Programme 3 which includes the Interchange
Station, for which the HS2 Connectivity Package is critical. We will also take forward Birmingham Airport’s
wider surface access requirements under Programme 3 and address the area’s housing challenges, both of
which are important for the Regional Economic Hub. Finally, our plans to support the key Growth Sectors
detailed in Programme 4 will also impact on Birmingham city centre."
Programme 3
UK CENTRAL,
ENTERPRISE BELT &
WIDER BIRMINGHAM
Programme 3 – uk central and the enterprise belt
Context!
This programme will deliver significant jobs and growth by unlocking the area outside of the Regional
Economic Hub, with a particular focus on enabling the delivery of UK Central (UKC), one of GBSLEP’s
economic game changers (Game-Changer 4) and major growth poles complementing Birmingham Curzon’s
wider offer. !
We also have significant opportunities and growth potential that can be realised immediately across the
Enterprise Belt (see Appendix C – Enterprise Belt Framework) and wider Birmingham.!
UKC contains four economic opportunity zones, with Zone 1 being the most significant as it includes the
Airport/NEC/HS2 Interchange station. It is a unique concentration of strategic economic assets and
infrastructure at the heart of the UK’s transport network is already a key driver of the regional economy,
attracting investment and job creation. !
The area includes Solihull, which has been identified as one of the ‘Ten Best Towns in Which to do
Business’, in the ‘Top Three Places for Enterprise’ (Santander 2013) and named in the U-Switch Quality of
Life Index (2013) as the Best Place to Live in the UK, with outstanding quality of life and one of the greenest
environments in the country. The central location, skilled workforce and national and international
connectivity attract the investment that is already delivering economic growth rates over 150% higher than
the national average. !
The Enterprise Belt, between 20 and 40km from the edge of Birmingham, spans southern Staffordshire and
north Worcestershire (see Map 4). Southern Staffordshire contains significant development opportunities
with potential to create 23,000 jobs in the next few years and in north Worcestershire key development sites
include the former British Sugar site in Kidderminster and Redditch Eastern Gateway which have the
potential to create 2,100 jobs. !
This programme also includes interventions needed in the wider Birmingham area (i.e. those outside of the
Regional Economic Hub) that have significant growth potential. !
49 GBSLEP Ι Programme 3 – UK Central, the Enterprise Belt and the wider Birmingham area
The programme will deliver targeted interventions across three strands: !
!  3a: Strategic Infrastructure and Local Connectivity - improving connectivity and access to local
assets!
!  3b: Key Sites - facilitating the development of sites for business and housing!
!  3c: Local Regeneration - improving the places and town centres which have the potential to support
growth!
Rationale!
There is a very high growth in demand for commercial space in the M42 corridor, mirroring the current trend
in the Thames valley. Crucially this is driven by technology businesses, as well as the BPS sector. This
growth is being driven by a quality environment for business and living, a high level of knowledge intensive
businesses and entrepreneurs, access to the UK’s strategic transport network and proximity to the major
economic market, institutional capacity, cultural offer, key infrastructure assets, and creative hub of the
Birmingham conurbation. !
There is more that can be done to exploit these strengths, if some challenges are addressed. !
There is weak connectivity across the area and to major opportunity areas. For example, in Southern
Staffordshire there are capacity constraints on the A5 and the A38 that will act as barriers to further growth
and investment, and in north Worcestershire, Kidderminster’s growth potential has been hindered through
poor connectivity to the wider Birmingham conurbation and the strategic motorway network. !
Under-investment in public transport provision has led to overcrowding on our rail network, while congestion
continues to increase across the LEP geography. This needs to be reversed if we are to secure the wider
benefits of public investment in HS2, hence the development of the HS2 Connectivity Package (GameChanger 3). !
There is also a need to enhance the supply of digital connectivity and ultrafast broadband. Working with
BDUK and telecommunications suppliers to achieve this is essential.!
GBSLEP faces a significant housing shortfall. The scale of long-term growth could be up to 50% higher than
the levels of provision in existing development plans (with a potential gap of over 40,000 homes) (see
Appendix M – Housing Paper). This shortfall will be exacerbated by the growth plan we have developed for
the area and a continuing growth in population. !
There are also constraints around the supply of employment land which is commercially developable. On
the basis of current projections, Birmingham’s supply will run out in 2023, making it even more important
that we recycle land and maximise opportunities elsewhere in Greater Birmingham.!
50 GBSLEP Ι Programme 3: UK Central, the Enterprise Belt and the wider Birmingham area
There are a number of market failures that need to be addressed to meet growing demand for employment
and housing land. These include unlocking public sector assets and unblocking of land through the use of
resources and targeted interventions to bring forward stalled sites. The provision of a quality housing offer
and attractive major investment sites is a key strength of the area and further investment is necessary to
maintain this position. !
The area comprises a mix of market towns and urban centres, which have faced challenges in terms of
stimulating investment, and in providing the combination of retail, leisure and cultural services. Addressing
this is a key part of the wider offer, to attract and retain high value employment. These centres offer
additional potential to enhance the region’s economic vitality, attracting and embedding new investment and
creating new employment.!
Objectives!
The objectives of this programme are to:!
!  Enable the delivery of HS2 Interchange (and wider UK Central), through our Offer to and Ask of
Government, and the HS2 Connectivity Package !
!  Deliver targeted investment in strategic infrastructure to unlock long term job creation and growth
potential and capture the full economic benefits of HS2 for GBS and the wider West Midlands!
!  Enhance connectivity and access across a network of strategic sites and opportunities!
!  Bring forward new sites for commercial and residential development, and!
!  Enhance key local centres across the LEP.!
Impact!
As a result of delivering the programme:!
!  HS2 Connectivity Package will generate 26,000 jobs and a £2.2bn uplift by the time the Y-network is
operational, and will be supported by a devolved rail franchise and personal travel accounts that facilitate
a single method of payment across all modes of public transport (across Programmes 2 and 3)!
!  Birmingham Airport will handle significantly more passengers per annum with direct long-haul flights to
key markets and significantly improved direct local transport connections, including late night and early
morning services and improved services to its east – benefitting exporters and the visitor economy!
!  25,702 new jobs and 11,226 new homes created from priority projects seeking LGF!
Current activity!
There are a number of projects underway to realise the transformational potential of UKC, the Enterprise
Belt and wider Birmingham area. Connectivity is crucial for maximising the benefits to the local economy of
the investment currently being undertaken by the world class companies of the region. !
In terms of strategic infrastructure, the £33m Birmingham Airport runway extension at the heart of UK
Central, due to open in spring 2014, will facilitate direct flights to long-haul destinations on the west coast of
America and the Far East. !
GBSLEP will continue to work with Birmingham Airport to define its Surface Access Strategy that will bring
forward proposals for transport infrastructure investments to ensure greater accessibility, both to the Airport
and onward to key destinations. The strategic marketing and inward investment elements of Programme 1
will play a key role in supporting investments in infrastructure.!
There has been investment in enhancing local connectivity via the £33m of funding secured through
Highways Agency and Local Pinch Points programmes aimed at removing bottlenecks and barriers to
economic growth that exist on the transport network. The delivery package comprises schemes at M42 J6,
J9, J10 and M5 J4; and M6 J6 on the Strategic Road Network (SRN), while local schemes include access
enhancements to the Aston Advanced Manufacturing Hub; increased park and ride provision to be delivered
by Centro; Gungate in Tamworth; and Hoobrook Link Road in Worcestershire. !
There has been significant investment in key sites in UK Central, for example, Tata has invested a further
£1.5bn investment into Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull advanced manufacturing facility, creating 3,500 new
jobs there since 2011. Other examples include a £150m investment by Genting into Resorts World at the
NEC (the first Resorts World development in Europe); and a £60m investment by Aero Engine Controls
(Rolls Royce) in a new advanced technology facility on Birmingham Business Park.!
The Enterprise Belt is attracting new investment in advanced manufacturing, including: employment growth
in JLR suppliers in Redditch and Morgan Advanced Materials creating a new Global Materials Centre of
Excellence in Wyre Forest. Established logistics and distribution sites such as Fradley Park in Lichfield are
continuing to attract investment and expansion, including Tesco, and will be complemented by new
investment sites across the Belt area such as Kingswood Lakeside in Cannock, the South Kidderminster
Enterprise Park and the Redditch Eastern Gateway.!
In order to meet the growing housing need, GBSLEP is taking action to increase the supply of new housing
coming forward over the next 20 years including the preparation of the SPRG that will establish the broad
scale and distribution of long term growth. To establish housing needs across the area a joint Strategic
Housing Needs Study has been commissioned with the Black Country LEP and will be completed by the
end of May 2014. This is alongside public sector investment. For example the Public Asset Accelerator
(created as part of the City Deal) is unlocking the potential of under-used public land by kick starting housing
development. It has the potential to deliver 2,800 homes in Birmingham by 2022 (see Appendix M). !
There has also been investment in improving places and unlocking the potential of stalled sites via the
Growing Places Fund,which is projected to support 193 businesses, deliver 1,137 housing units and create
and sustain 4,795 jobs leveraging in £89m of external funding. Projects include: Red Carpet Cinema in East
Staffordshire (63 jobs); Icknield Port Loop delivering 1,000 housing units and 800 jobs; and Hoobrook Road
Phase 1 (£1.25m) to unlock the first phase of redevelopment of the former British Sugar site in
Kidderminster delivering up to 250 housing units and four hectares of employment land. !
The future!
The priority projects for this programme are focussed on coordinated packages of complementary short and
longer term initiatives that will deliver:!
!  Local connectivity improvements!
!  New sites and the creation of new jobs and homes in 2015/16 and 2016/17!
!  Plans and funding mechanisms for new strategic infrastructure investment to enable the delivery of UK
Central and maximise the impact and benefits of HS2!
Section Four outlines the projects under Programme 3 and project details for each of the projects are
included in Appendix I: Project Summaries.!
Game-Changer 4: uk central (see appendix J)
Opportunity!
UK Central (UKC) is the region’s principal international gateway, offering an outstanding opportunity to deliver growth
and job creation on a national scale. A unique concentration of strategic assets – including the NEC, Airport, JLR’s
largest manufacturing plant – and location (90% of the UK market accessible in four hours) give it a major economic role,
supporting 100,000+ jobs and generating £5bn+ GDP in the region. The Interchange, co-located with an international
airport and exhibition, conference and leisure complex, will create a distinct and compelling global investment proposition
and have a transformational impact in unlocking investment, regeneration and development.!
The UKC Masterplan shows that, with the additional impetus of HS2, 100,000 new jobs and £14bn additional GDP could
be generated in Greater Birmingham alone. The scale of the opportunity is recognised in Solihull’s Local Plan, which
provides the context for growth around the strategic assets: growth not dependent on HS2, but on the existing potential
and strong track record of the area. The Masterplan sets a longer term vision, showing how exploiting HS2 can deliver
significantly greater economic benefits, with four distinct economic opportunity zones offering up to 230ha investment
and development potential from now to 2040. Zone 1 (Interchange, Airport, NEC, JLR and investment sites) is the most
significant, and our priority. Realising this potential needs three big things to happen: integrating HS2 and the
Interchange into our wider plans, connectivity and networks (including through the HS2 Connectivity Package); a longterm solution for J6 M42, to accommodate growth on this scale; and realism that financial/funding mechanisms need to
step outside the current framework and envelope.!
Our Offer!
!  We will provide clear local leadership for the delivery of UKC, continuing to fund development work, and producing
an exemplar Growth Strategy for the Interchange / UKC Zone 1. We will produce a draft Development Prospectus by
June 2014; complete Baseline and Infrastructure Studies by September 2014; Development and Funding models by
October 2014; establish a locally led Delivery Vehicle and produce a detailed Business Case by December 2014.!
!  We will develop and deliver a UKC Investment Strategy, aligned with that for GBSLEP to maximise the unique
opportunities HS2 offers Greater Birmingham and the wider region.!
!  We will create a world class international gateway and destination, with an iconic station seamlessly connected
locally, regionally and nationally, and bring forward new sites for employment, residential and mixed use
development. We will ensure that the plans are aligned with Curzon St Station so that the benefits are maximised. !
Our Ask!
!  The inclusion of M42 J6 improvements in the first HA Roads Investment Strategy.!
!  Officials are nominated from BIS, DfT, DCLG, HS2 Ltd and Treasury and other Government Departments as
appropriate to ensure a clear link for advice and assistance to maximise the development and delivery of our Growth
Plans; including input into the various stages of development of our Business Case. !
!  Direct representation from the UKC delivery partnership on the central HS2 delivery body.!
!  Agreement of a bespoke growth deal on a gain share / payment by results basis; with a statement of intent in Autumn
Statement 2014 and Heads of Terms in Budget 2015.!
Programme 3 – UK CENTRAL AND THE ENTERPRISE BELT
PROJECTS!
Prioritised projects: 3a – Strategic Infrastructure and Local Connectivity !
This element of Programme 3 includes nine high priority projects and is seeking £11.92m of LGF for
2015/16. If all of the projects are taken forward, it is projected that they would deliver over 6,200 jobs and
nearly 2,500 houses. See Section 4 for projects.!
Priority is being given to the initial phases of the UKC Connectivity Package (including LRT/BRT proposals
and integration with HS2); and to local connectivity packages in North Worcestershire, Southern
Staffordshire and the core urban area that will secure the greatest short term impact, open up new sites for
housing and commercial development, improve access to employment, improve connectivity to the Regional
Economic Hub and demonstrate the LEP’s ability to deliver growth!
Work is already underway to develop a long term solution for J6 M42, which is essential to unlocking
growth, with the Highways Agency already with Solihull Council. As set out in Game-Changer 4, we are
asking for these junction improvements to be included in the first Highways Agency Roads Investment
Strategy. Significant international investor interest is already being stimulated by UK Central’s economic
opportunity zones.!
Prioritised projects: 3b – Key Sites (Business and Housing)!
This part of Programme 3 includes ten high priority projects and is seeking £23.14m of LGF for 2015/16. If
all of the projects are taken forward, it is projected that they would deliver nearly 19,500 jobs and over 8,750
houses. See Section 4 for details.!
A series of commercial and housing opportunities have been prioritised on the basis of their ability to deliver
short – term economic impact and enable additional housing development. Future opportunities will be
bought forward on a phased basis to maintain a robust development pipeline and accommodate new
business investment and house building, supplemented with digital infrastructure to support home-based
working.!
In addition to bringing forward specific sites for housing and employment development, we are also
commissioning research as part of an evidence-based approach to addressing the strategic housing
challenge. There are also several bespoke interventions that we have identified that will enable us to begin
addressing the housing shortfall. !
These include:!
!  A £9m small sites unblocking programme will prioritise Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment
(SHLAA) sites where development for a variety of reasons is stalled but with intervention delivery could be
accelerated. A pipeline of sites has been identified which could, with the right intervention, deliver 2,000
homes. (See Appendix M). The programme will include pro-bono support from across the professional
services sector and gap funding where all other options have been exhausted. The pro-bono support will
range from events to help site owners to link up with developers through to small scale feasibility and
viability reviews. !
!  An increase in the HRA borrowing cap by £116m will enable a number of local authorities to deliver 974
units of public sector stock on currently available sites.!
The GBSLEP will support any future bids from the HCA’s Local Infrastructure Fund which will deliver larger
housing sites (from April 2015). We will continue to pilot innovative approaches to addressing the housing
challenge across the LEP area. For example, we will bring together a cross-sector task force (including
representatives from the HCA and planning and private sector) to pilot an approach to bring forward sites for
housing development.!
Prioritised projects: 3c - Local Regeneration!
A number of projects will be brought forward in order to amplify the economic benefit of regeneration
investment in strategic local centres within the LEP area, for example, Friarsgate in Lichfield and Gungate in
Tamworth. These, however, require analysis before they can be prioritised, and will be considered in future
updates of the SEP. !
Supporting projects!
There are clear synergies with the activity within this programme and other programmes in the SEP. There
are links with Programme 1, in ensuring that businesses are attracted to the area by the provision of
employment sites that meet their needs. !
In addition, there is cross-over with Programme 2, for example, several connectivity projects (i.e. Metro
(Northern Route) to Interchange; A45 Rapid Transit; Metro Extension (Solihull Town Centre to HS2
Interchange); J6 M42; and LSTF type projects. !
Further, the realisation of Interchange is closely linked to the delivery of Birmingham Curzon (Programme
2). There are also clear links with the key sector sites in Birmingham outlined in Programme 4 (for example,
Life Sciences Campus). !
Programme 4
ENHANCING OUR
GROWTH SECTORS
Programme 4 – enhancing our growth sectors
This programme will support the growth of our key ‘High Growth, High Value Add’ sectors as identified in
the Strategy for Growth, namely: Advanced Manufacturing; Life Sciences; Digital and Creative; Business,
Professional and Financial Services; and Low Carbon & Environmental Technologies & Services. !
These sectors are areas of natural strength and present the biggest opportunity for creating and sustaining
growth and they also align well to those set out in the national Industrial Strategy. !
This programme will support the delivery of the key sites and infrastructure which will ensure maximisation
of opportunities associated with our growth sectors. The physical development will be complemented by
investment in business support, innovation and skills from ESIF. !
The Strategy for Growth also sets out our ‘High Volume, High Job Creation’ and ‘High FDI Potential’ sectors.
Work is underway to develop programmes of activity for these sectors. For example, a Visitor Economy
Strategy is being developed and will outline priorities for taking forward this important sector. !
Objectives!
The objective of this programme is to grow our key sectors by ensuring there are appropriate sites with
good connectivity, state-of-the-art skills programmes and interventions to drive innovation and to increase
exports and FDI. !
Impact!
!  Creation of net private sector job growth in priority sectors of 70,000 by 2020!
!  Prioritised projects seeking Local Growth Fund will deliver 8,400 jobs and leverage £170m of private
investment for the Life Sciences Campus and £155m for the Advanced Manufacturing Hub.!
!  3,500 trainees and apprenticeships !
!  Deliver skills and innovation outputs as set out in the ESIF Strategy, namely:!
!  4,958 workless individuals supported to secure the basic and employability skills to help enable then to
secure employment within the LEP’s Growth Sectors!
!  3,960 employees participating in workforce development training provision!
!  950 enterprises co-operating with research!
!  745 enterprises supported to introduce new market product and 1,695 enterprises supported to
introduce new firm product !
60 GBSLEP Ι Programme 4: Enhancing our Growth Sectors
Figure 5: The framework, rationale, funding, outcomes and outputs for Programme 4.!
Focus of programme!
Figure 5 above shows how Programme 4 links together across each of the five sectors along with the two
cross-cutting themes of skills and innovation. In the remainder of this section we look at the rationale, current
progress and future activity for our high growth, high value added growth sectors.!
Game-Changer 5: birmingham trained me to compete (see appendix j)
Opportunity!
The creation of a Joint Venture Partnership (JVP) to accelerate investment in the skills required to drive the local
economy, particularly by the private sector and in support of priority growth sectors and major game changers such as
UKC. Initially the partnership will be between GBSLEP, BIS, the nine Further Education (FE) Colleges based in the LEP
area and local employers, and will be expanded to include more employers, private sector training providers and other
key stakeholders within the skills system. !
The JVP will act as a vehicle to drive cultural change within local businesses, creating a demand for training and driving
private sector investment in skills. It will act as a catalyst to accelerate the implementation of Government policy
regarding employer ownership of skills and support the necessary cultural and market change across all key
stakeholders, particularly as more funding is routed to employers and there is an expectation of increased employer
investment in skills.!
Our Offer!
!  From the LEP: Leadership from the LEP ESB and the LEP’s Growth Sector Champions; engagement of key business
leaders and their supply chains and investment of ESIF to support needs identified through the JVP!
!  From the GBSLEP FE Consortium: Alignment of funding to deliver the Joint Investment Plan; identification of specific
sectors and qualifications where funding rules are a barrier to delivery; development of revised measurement systems
to ensure that they better reflect and stimulate responses to local economic priorities!
!  From Local Employers: to support the creation of Local Industrial Partnerships; to identify specific skills needs for their
sector; to work collaboratively with other businesses to support the design of pre-employment training and workforce
development; to co-invest in the delivery of workforce development; to co-design an employer led system of impact !
Our Ask!
!  BIS to be a full member of the JVP, offering expertise in the development of the Joint Investment Plan, advising on the
parameters within which it operates and acting as an advocate for the JVP where Government policy is identified as a
barrier!
!  Greater flexibility over a proportion of the overall skills budget, initially that received and deployed by the nine FE
Colleges based within the GBSLEP area to deliver on specified skills requirements, free from national restrictions or
rigid eligibility criteria !
!  Close regional dialogue between Ofsted and theLEP to ensure that the measurement systems developed by the LEP
better reflect and stimulate responses to local economic and skills priorities by FE Colleges and Training Providers!
Outputs!
!  2,000 employers investing in skills through the Joint Venture Partnership!
!  £18.2m additional employer investment in skills on a co-investment basis!
!  25,000 people upskilled!
advanced manufacturing and engineering Rationale!
The AME Sector employs around 115,000 people in 1,500 businesses across the West Midlands1 and
accounts for 60% of the UK’s automotive R&D and 30% of automotive turnover with particularly high
concentrations in Solihull, Bromsgrove and Cannock2. The automotive sector grew by 13% between 2011
and 2012. !
The recent boost in exports has been largely driven by success of the automotive sector and there are
significant opportunities to grow this further. The SMMT Industry Forum is also based in the area. While a
number of large companies have announced significant investments, it is not always viable for SMEs to
make such investments and so the ability to remain competitive is constrained without support. !
The strength of the business offer is supported by that of HE, particularly in the fields of advanced materials,
automotive and aerospace technologies and manufacturing and an increasing specialism in low carbon
research and emerging technologies.!
Current progress!
Future!
Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME)!
!  The Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative
was originally a £25m RGF bid developed by GBSLEP
with the Black Country, Liverpool and Coventry &
Warwickshire LEPs (of which £22m has been
committed for spend in the West Midlands). Following
consideration by Government, the initiative was
extended across England and all manufacturing
sectors. !
!  The National and West Midlands Tooling Fund is a
recently launched £24m programme part funded by
RGF to help support the manufacture of tooling !
!  UKTI Strategic Relationship Management Joint initiative
with Business Birmingham to support OEMs and Tier 1
suppliers !
!  World-renowned expertise available locally through: the
Warwick Manufacturing Group; the Manufacturing
Technology Centre; and MIRA !
!  Development of skills expertise through Aston
University Engineering Academy, EEF Technical
Apprenticeship Training Centre and MTC Skills
Academy!
1 Appendix
2 Mulhall
!  Development of a cross-LEP Growth Hub with Black
Country and Coventry and Warwickshire LEPs (see
Game-Changer 1 and Appendix J)!
!  Development of a bespoke skills offer to support skills
and recruitment needs (see Game-Changer 5). A
number of the FE capital projects will support the
sector. !
!  We will be submitting an ambitious proposal to host the
HS2 College, building on industry, HE and FE strengths
and the proximity to two HS2 stations. This proposal
will be supported by two FE Capital bids for investment
in skills development for HS2 in relation to Rail
Engineering and Construction !
!  A priority project for LGF is funding to support bringing
forward the Advanced Manufacturing Hub which aims
to deliver a 20ha site next to J6 of the M6 with the
ability to create 100,000m2 of new floor space,
generate and safeguard up to 3,000 direct jobs. !
!  The MTC Manufacturing Shared Hub support to realise
cost and efficiency savings and improve productivity !
C - West Midlands LEPs, ‘Enabling Global Manufacturing Competitiveness, Capacity and Innovation’!
& Bryson (2013), ‘The Economic Geography of the GBSLEP’!
life sciences!
Rationale!
Greater Birmingham has state-of-the-art research and clinical facilities which house academics and
clinicians with world-class expertise in Life Sciences.!
We have a proven track record in clinical academic programmes, clinical trials and translational research
and benefit from one of the largest patient catchments regions in Europe (more than five million); high ethnic
and socio-economic diversity; highly stable and with a large proportion of young people. !
There are 200 firms in the area employing 2,000 people including ‘home grown’ successes like Binding Site.
These characteristics have supported Birmingham’s classification as an internationally competitive venue
for Life Sciences.!
Current progress!
Future!
Life Sciences!
!  Development of the Institute for Translational Medicine,
supported by Government through the City Deal –
providing a bespoke multidisciplinary translational
environment for development and delivery of clinical
trials and device evaluation and creating 2,000 jobs by
in the long-term and up to 600 within five years;
creating 30 jobs to date !
!  Development of a Life Sciences Campus close to the
Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the University of
Birmingham, providing space for companies to grow !
!  Two LGF priority projects will support the unlocking of
the Campus and accessibility to it via the University
Interchange Project (Programme 3a). !
!  £6.8m Biomedical Innovation Hub at Birmingham
Research Park (close to ITM) to provide entrepreneurs
and innovative start-ups with access to affordable
laboratory facilities and equipment. It is expected to
create 600 jobs!
!  Formation of Birmingham Health Partners (BHP), a
pioneering alliance between academics and clinicians
to maximise clinical academic output and interaction
with SMEs and global pharmaceutical companies!
!  We want to maximise the opportunities for FDI that the
ITM and wider developments represent. Some issues
have arisen that are inhibiting our ability to do this and
so form a request for a Freedom and Flexibility from
Government (see inset box)!
!  Development of Life Sciences centre/academy based in
South West Birmingham as a feeder to University of
Birmingham and Institute of Translational Medicine, and
support to University Hospital planned through a FE
Skills Capital bid for future years!
!  BHP in collaboration with Marketing Birmingham hosted
a Site Selectors visit in September 2013 to explore
inward investment opportunities!
!  Proposals to promote Birmingham as the location for
the TSB’s forthcoming Diagnostics for Stratification
Catapult are being developed.!
1 The
World’s Most Competitive Cities: Site Selection and IBM, 2013!
DIGITAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES!
Rationale!
The sector encompasses 6,000 organisations employing 38,000 people. A further estimated 13,500 people
work within the sector on part-time/freelance basis. The HE sector has key strengths in Digital Technologies
including social media and 3-D imaging and there is a digital media cluster in Digbeth, Birmingham.!
Skill gaps are particularly apparent in two key areas: specific technical skills and expertise and more generic
skills required to drive organisations forward. The sector would also benefit from an improved business
support offer. The cultural and creative parts of the sector depend on a mixed economy model of public,
private and earned income and sustainability and growth require new financial instruments, appropriate to
scale and purpose.!
Current progress!
Future!
Digital and Creative Industries!
!  The GBSLEP Board has established the Creative City
Partnership to support the growth of the sector and
developed a Prospectus setting out its priorities!
!  Commitment by the BBC to Birmingham becoming the
centre for its digital innovation programme, bringing
over £23.5m to the economy over the next three years
and to using the city as the centre for training and
induction!
!  One of our prioritised LGF projects is the Digital
Digbeth Studios - a world class TV Film and digital
media production studio facility– creating 936 jobs!
!  The Studio will benefit from the BBC’s decision to
establish a three-year programme with Creative City
to enable the ‘Digital Guerrillas’ to foster the next
generation of cutting edge digital content makers and
new talent!
!  Digital and Creative firms locating in the Enterprise
Zone (joining the many that are already based in this
part of the city) can take advantage of the reduction in
business rates and benefits of being located beside
similar businesses !
!  Plans are underway to extend provision for SMEs on
Birmingham Science Park Aston through new Digital
Plaza!
!  Increasing awareness of wider markets through
Innovation Birmingham, Science city, Digital
Birmingham (Demand Stimulation programme) and the
pan European programme Creative Spin for the health
sector.!
!  The Academy of Academies Programme seeks to join
up the educational/training and research provision to
facilitate more inclusive and effective up-skilling,
improved knowledge transfer and better educational
and employment interaction !
!  Development of skills for this sector is supported by a
FE Capital bid for a Creative Digital Media Centre!
!  Creation of a Creative City Investment Fund –
comprising support from public sector, private sponsors
and individuals!
!  Programme of innovative open data surgeries to
support a new economy around information
marketplaces!
!  Future City Platform – to stimulate wider economic
activity that will support businesses to make use of and
commercialise data !
business, professional and financial services!
Rationale!
Birmingham has the largest regional business, financial and professional services hub in the UK bringing
£23bn (25% of GVA) into the region. The city has 15,000 BPS companies, with over 300 company
headquarters.!
All key sub-sectors, including finance, legal and insurance, have significant presence in terms of firms and
higher skill levels. There are also strengths across the LEP in Bromsgrove, Lichfield, Tamworth and Solihull. !
Investments include those made by Deutsche Bank which is set to grow its workforce in the area by 1,000
making Birmingham its centre of excellence. !
A combination of rising levels of retirement and decreasing numbers of young and skilled individuals could
have a very detrimental impact on this sector in the medium term.!
Current progress!
Future!
Business, Professional and Financial Services!
!  The EZ will support this sector resulting in significant
job outcomes and additional Grade A Office Space.
Developments underway include Two Snowhill and
others, like Paradise Circus, will start shortly!
!  BPS Birmingham Future undertook a major commission
in 2012 looking at the challenges facing the BPS and
how its positive impact in terms of reputation,
employment and economic prosperity could be
sustained!
!  The Commission recommended a body be established
to provide an environment to nurture and develop
talented young professionals. Birmingham Metropolitan
College subsequently set up the Greater Birmingham
Professional Services Academy. Students are able to
study business diplomas, professional accounting
qualifications and a range of A Levels and have their
own mentor from the sector !
1Mulhall
!  BPS Birmingham is creating a ‘Women in Leadership’
Task Force to address a range of issues in respect of
accommodating the needs of today's young
professionals and retaining talent through to senior
leadership. This will look at, but not be limited to,
childcare and flexible working!
!  Further activity to maximise the potential of the BPS
sector is being developed with a focus on a radically
new approach to ‘growing our own’!
& Bryson (2013)!
2
The Future Commission, set up by Birmingham Future, chaired by George Cox and written by Warwick Business
School, 2013!
low carbon and environmental technologies!
Rationale!
There are 1,580 companies, with sales of £3.83bn and employment of 28,899 people in the low carbon
sector with strengths in consultancy, renewables and utilities. !
Our universities have key strengths in low Carbon Technologies (including low carbon vehicles) and Energy
(including development of bioenergy; hydrogen; and in developing energy storage) and the European
Bioenergy Research Institute has been established at Aston University. Birmingham has also been
recognised by the EU as a Peer City for climate change adaptation, Chairs the Eurocities Environment
Forum and leads the Climate KIC project.!
GBS LEP imports almost all of its energy at a cost of £3.38bn per annum; this is all money lost from the
local economy.1 There are also some serious weaknesses in the existing energy efficiency rating of homes.
On a scale of A-G (A as the most energy efficient) 61% of West Midlands households score E or below.!
Current progress!
Future!
Low Carbon and Environmental Technologies and Services!
!  A Carbon Roadmap has been developed for
Birmingham by the city’s Green Commission. !
!  GBSLEP Draft Spatial Plan for Recovery and Growth
recognises the challenges for the area in relation to
land availability and environmental quality. !
!  Region hosts the UK’s largest Ultra Low Carbon
Demonstrator programme !
!  The Green Bridge Supply Chain programme is a
competitive fund supported by £20m RGF that provides
grant support for SMEs in the West Midlands. Grants
totalling £11.5m have been allocated, generating
£49.5m in private sector match and 1300 new jobs !
!  Housing retrofit activity is being done at scale through
Birmingham Energy Savers, SMBC’s large-scale
programme to insulate Community Housing and the
Green Deal element of the City Deal !
!  Community Energy Enterprise is being undertaken e.g.
hydro-energy scheme in East Staffordshire !
!  FDI successes include Enzen Global and UK Power
Reserve!
!  The Carbon Roadmap approach is adapted to support
delivery of the ambitions in the Strategy for Growth !
!  The ESIF Strategy sets out how GBSLEP will to exploit
the opportunities through three areas of intervention: !
1. Supporting the shift to the low carbon economy by:
specific revenue actions to assist businesses to
become more competitive through energy efficient
measures; and supporting demonstrators and
deployment of recently proven technologies and
techniques !
2. ‘Whole Place’ Low Carbon solutions through retrofit
of domestic and non-domestic properties and
sustainable, low carbon, transport e.g. in UK Central
(Green Infrastructure Plans have been developed into
the Masterplan) and Birmingham’s Tyseley
Environmental Enterprise District!
3. Green and Blue Infrastructure and Waste and
Resource Management!
!  Establishment of the public/private partnership Energy
Technologies Institute at Solihull!
1Mini
Stern Review!
cross-cutting support!
Alongside sector specific activity, inventions will be put in place for all the growth sectors to help to deliver
the skills demanded by companies and to drive innovation. !
The current level of expenditure on innovation in the region is low in terms of % of GVA – standing at 0.96%
compared to most other UK regions and well below the EU target of 3% – and in the Regional Innovation
Scoreboard the West Midlands is the joint lowest performing region.!
Current progress!
Future!
Skills!
!  Appointed five sector skills champions to shape and
pilot a new employer-led system and engage and
inspire employers, providers and learners!
!  These champions have played a key role in deciding
how to invest the £1m City Deal Capital Investment
Fund for FE colleges. This included investment in
specialist equipment to support the provision of training
for our key growth sectors – this included:!
!  Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering - £285,510!
!  Low Carbon - £214,490 !
!  The creation of a Joint Venture Partnership initially
between GBSLEP, BIS, the nine FE Colleges based in
the LEP area and local employers, to accelerate
investment in the skills required to drive the local
economy, particularly by the private sector and in
support of priority growth sectors and major game
changers such as UKC. This will deliver significant
outcomes and support the concept of ‘Birmingham
Trained Me to Compete’ but requires an ‘ask’ of
Government that includes Greater flexibility over a
proportion of the overall skills budget deployed by the
nine FE Colleges (see Game-Changer 5)!
Innovation!
!  Alongside the five universities, there are a number of
high-tech business parks and initiatives that are helping
to foster innovative practices and industry !
!  The Research Alliance established by Science City is
currently delivering a £55m ERDF programme of
research through the University of Birmingham and the
University of Warwick. !
!  The Idea Birmingham and Birmingham Made Me
networks led by Birmingham City University are
focused on brands, design and innovation.!
!  A £1m ERDF project, Innovation Engine, identifies large
organisational challenges and catalyses SME/university
consortium solutions, encouraging new knowledge
transfer and opening new markets !
!  The £8.7m Business Innovation Programme supports
companies to develop products and processes !
!  The ESIF will be used to fund activity to increase the
level of innovation through three areas of intervention:!
!  Building collaborative research between
enterprises, research institutions and public
institutions !
!  Supporting businesses to commercialise
Research and Development !
!  Physical infrastructure for innovation including
incubation space for enterprises linked to
research institutions !
!  iCentrumTM, located at the heart of the Innovation
Birmingham Campus and in the Enterprise Zone, will
set the standard for fourth generation science parks. !
!  The proposed GBSLEP University Enterprise Zone
(see Appendix N) will support the provision of incubator
space for companies in the key sectors involving all the
universities in the city and the city council. !
life sciences investor pilot
Opportunity!
GBSLEP’s Life Sciences offer is attracting unparalleled levels of interest from both UK and Foreign owned
companies. Some issues have however arisen in terms of securing some of these Foreign Direct
Investments.!
Interested companies are very often SMEs and the staff best suited to launching the UK operations are often
either the company founder or key technical staff. !
Issues with regards to visas and immigration policy have led to a number re-evaluating the scale and type of
investment they will make. !
For instance, rather than establishing a manufacturing or development centre, which they would lead and
have a major role in establishing and managing, they opt to open sales offices, recruiting UK nationals. !
Our Offer!
Enabling executives or key staff from overseas investors to move to the UK to create FDI would:!
!  Create new investment, that would be more committed and larger in nature!
!  Create more jobs both in the initial investment and afterwards!
!  Include greater levels of capital investment.!
!  Would create larger receipts via corporation tax and PAYE/NI!
Our Ask!
!  Pilot the adaptation of the Exceptional Talent Visa for Life Sciences, with no more than ten requested per
annum!
Prioritised projects: 4a – skills capital!
The LEP is working in partnership with the Consortium of Further Education (FE) Colleges to develop
industry standard facilities to support the delivery of employer led provision. The FE Consortium is working
to ensure that it can deliver the skills required to achieve the LEP’s ambitions and take a coordinated
approach to maximise the impact of capital investment by the LEP. See Appendix H for the methodology
used. "
The FE Consortium put forward their proposals (which will play a key role in supporting the delivery of the
proposed Joint Venture Partnership) amounting to £13.30m for 2015/16 based on a clear alignment with the
LEP’s Skills for Growth Action Plan. See section 4 for the details. We wish to have £12.05 as the standard
2:1 ratio of capital to support the development of world class industry standard facilities and £1.25 as 50:50
ratio to provide industry and employer led technologies and equipment. We have demonstrable experience
of using 50:50 Capital Investment Funds for FE Colleges to purchase equipment aligned to the needs of our
specified growth sectors, that was secured through our City Deal. We will apply the same robust process,
supported by the expertise of our Growth Sector Champions and Sector Skills Councils."
We require £18m to determine facilities and equipment capital investment for 2016/17, which will be
determined by the ESB in collaboration with the FE College Consortium, An amount in the region of £50m is
requested from the LGF to enable our shaping of long term multi-year capital investment programmes,
beyond 2016/17 for the 3 remaining years of our 5 year LGF request. The total 5 year LGF request for FE
Skills Capital equates to £81.30m. The LEP is working with the SFA to ensure that a robust appraisal
process is in place to assess the skills capital bids prior to allocating funding to projects. A panel including
SFA finance and property experts and the LEP will assess value for money, affordability, and the fit with the
LEP’s strategic priorities."
Prioritised projects: 4b – infrastructure and sites!
Three projects have been categorised as being ‘high priority’ in this element of Programme 4 the: Advanced
Manufacturing Hub; Life Sciences Campus; and the Digital Digbeth Studio. £7m of LGF is requested for
2015/16 and this will help to unlock 3,830 jobs over the lifetime of the projects. See Section 4 for the details "
Supporting projects from other programmes!
The spread of the growth sector cluster locations will result in them benefiting from projects in the other
programmes. For example, the Life Sciences Campus will benefit from improved accessibility provided by
the University Station Interchange Project (75), Hagley Road SPRINT(7), Selly Oak New Road Phase
1b(104).There are also natural synergies with Programme 1 which includes interventions to improve skills
levels (funded via ESIF), inward investment (critical to maximise the potential of the Life Sciences Campus)
and support for businesses who may want to locate in the Economic Zones. "
Summary
growth deal
Summary growth deal
Local growth fund ask!
For the initial funding period, 2015/16, the ‘ask’ of LGF is £86.3m which will fund 35 projects, of which 83%
will be completed by the end of 2018. It is estimated that these projects will create an additional 31,200
direct jobs, 12,000 new dwellings and 1.4m m2 of commercial/industrial space. The private sector leverage
that this will achieve is £1,100m. !
Table 2, outlines the key outcomes that will be achieved should GBSLEP receive its total funding request
from the LGF. The columns show the total LGF ‘ask’ and the impacts for: !
!  All – the total number of projects requiring LGF resources that have been assessed and prioritised!
!  High Priority - all of the 5 projects that have been classified as High Priority and request LGF funding
during the programme lifecycle!
!  2015/16 ask - the 35 ‘High Priority’ projects that are seeking LGF funding in 2015/16!
Table 3 details the spend profile for the 35 priority projects that begin in 2015/16 for which we are requesting
LGF over their programme lifecycle. This indicates that a number of the projects have profiles which peak
later in the SEP period. It is important to note that commitment to the priority projects which start in 2015/16
creates a significantly higher commitment (£115m) in 2018/19 (more details are available at Appendix I). !
Table 2: GBSLEP Project requests and outcomes!
All
High Priority
15/16 ask
108
52
35
£441.0
£86.3
£86.3
£1,288.2
£508.0
£165.5
Cumulative ten-year GVA generated (m)!
£3,400
£2,300
£1,700
Gross direct jobs created!
Houses!
52,784
41,059
31,211
15,600
14,315
12,015
1,990,456
1,738,034
1,402,094
£1,494
£1,100
£1,100
1
2
2
Number of projects!
2015/16 LGF request (m)!
Total five-year LGF request (m)!
Floorspace (m2)!
Leverage (m)!
Leverage ratio!
Table 3: LGF Spend profile!
Period!
Annual LGF Ask!
2015/16!
2016/17!
2017/18!
2018/19!
2019/20!
Total!
£86.3m!
£82.4m!
£112.5m!
£140.2m!
£86.6m!
£508m!
71 GBSLEP Ι Summary Growth Deal
Table 4: LGF Spend profile of 35 high priority projects asking for LGF funding in 2015/16!
Period!
Annual LGF Ask!
2015/16!
2016/17!
2017/18!
2018/19!
2019/20!
Total!
£86.3m!
£33.0m!
£10.7m!
£24.1m!
£11.3m!
£165.5m!
Table 5: Programme profile spend!
Programme !
2!
Name!
2015/16! 2016/17!2017/18! 2018/19! 2019/20!
Core business assets and
£25.8m £28.4m £59m £71.7m
connectivity!
Wider Connectivity to the Hub! £5.1m £11.4m £27.6m £50.4m
3!
4!
Strategic infrastructure and
Local Connectivity!
Key Sites (Business and
Housing)!
Local Regeneration!
£11.9m
£6.7m
£0
£23.1m £10.1m £1.5m
Total!
£23.5m
£208.4m
£45.8m
£140.3m
£0
£0
£18.6m
£1.7m
£0.3m
£36.6m
£0
£0
£0
£0
£0
£0
Infrastructure and sites!
£7m
£7.9m
£7.9m
£0
£0m
£22.7m
Skills capital!
£13.3m
£18m
£16.5m £16.5m
£17m
£81.3m
Table 4 above details the total LGF spend profile for the high priority projects (worth £440m) per programme
across the duration of the SEP. This indicates that the annual spend for these projects reflects a mix of
projects which will complete within one year and others with longer term spending following the initial
investment.!
Table 5 above details the total spend profile for the high priority projects per programme across the duration
of the SEP.!
Table 6 below details the current profile of completions for the 52 high priority projects if LGF is successfully
negotiated and they can start within proposed timescales.!
Table 6: Profile of completions of 52 LGF funded projects!
Programme !
Name!
2!
Core business assets and
connectivity!
3
2
1
0
2019
onwards!
3
Wider Connectivity to the Hub!
0
1
1
2
4
Strategic infrastructure and Local
Connectivity!
5
2
0
1
1
Key Sites (Business and Housing)!
2
5
2
0
2
Local Regeneration!
Infrastructure and sites!
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
Skills capital!
10
1
Tbc
Tbc
Tbc
3!
4!
2015/16! 2016/17! 2017/18! 2018/19!
Table 7: Annual and cumulative impact of 52 high priority projects bidding for LGF!
Year!
Jobs!
Housing!
Commercial!
Created!
Cumulative!
Created!
Cumulative!
Created!
Cumulative!
2016!
7,341!
7,341!
2,306!
2,306!
89,363!
89,363!
2017!
23,049!
30,390!
7,709!
10,015!
528,156!
617,519!
2018!
6,771!
37,161!
0!
10,015!
292,000!
909,519!
2019!
1,240!
38,401!
2,300!
12,315!
196,000!
1,205,519!
2020!
778!
39,179!
0!
12,315!
0!
1,205,519!
2021!
0!
39,179!
0!
12,315!
0!
1,205,519!
2022!
1,880!
41,059!
2,000!
14,315!
632,515!
1,738,034!
Table"7"above"details"both"the"annual"and"cumula6ve"impact"that"would"be"achieved"with"the"LGF"from"
the"52"priority"projects."The"impacts"have"been"aJributed"to"the"comple6on"year"for"the"projects,"but"in"
some"cases"full"delivery"will"be"achieved"aKer"these"dates."
Figure 6: Jobs created and cumulative using the figures in Table 7.!
45,000"
40,000"
35,000"
30,000"
25,000"
20,000"
15,000"
10,000"
5,000"
0"
2016"
2017"
2018"
Jobs"
2019"
2020"
2021"
2022"
Jobs"cumula6ve"
Figure 7: Housing created and cumulative using the figures in Table 7.!
16,000"
14,000"
12,000"
10,000"
8,000"
6,000"
4,000"
2,000"
0"
2016"
2017"
2018"
2019"
2020"
Houses"
Houses"cumula6ve"
2021"
2022"
Summary growth deal
scalability!
Having developed a robust prioritisation process, that prioritises what is best for the LEP as a whole not any
one part thereof, GBSLEP has reduced the 200 projects initially put forward to a high priority list of 5
projects which deliver significant outcomes. !
This represents a deliverable and cohesive package with strong inter-dependencies across the four
programmes. !
When the outcome of Growth Deal is known, the key criteria relating to each project will be reviewed and a
further prioritisation exercise completed to ensure that the most up-to-date information is used. !
At this stage if the funding is significantly lower than the £86m sought, the criteria can be tightened (for
example prioritised projects must have at least one high criteria) to result in lower levels of spend but we
would need to ensure that the package remained an integrated one and the interdependencies were not
lost.!
Summary growth deal
Summary of revenue asks!
It is understood that there is currently no revenue funding within the LGF, but we would like to make an ‘ask’
of Government that some is made available to support the delivery of the SEP in three areas:!
1.  Programme Delivery: to support the management of the delivery of LGF funded schemes and the ongoing monitoring and evaluation.!
2.  Growth Hub: to enable the Hub to be established before ESIF comes on stream and to support the
delivery of key programmes within it!
3.  HS2 Connectivity Package: to support the development of schemes !
1. Programme Delivery"
A Programme Delivery Director will be appointed to oversee the implementation of the SEP. This individual
will report to the GBS Growth Team (see Governance section) which will bring together the LEP’s delivery
bodies in a way which ensures alignment, and therefore ensures greater effectiveness. The salary for this
post will by £100,000 to £120,000 plus on-costs and will be funded locally by the GBS Business Rates Pool. !
Additional resources will be required to support the role of the Programme Delivery Director. In the case of
funds like Growing Places, it has been possible to top-slice the fund to provide capacity to manage the
programme. In a similar vein, we are seeking revenue funding to support this element of the work. !
To enable the LEP to have the capacity and skills to deliver the SEP programme a revenue budget of 2% of
the total LGF ask or £1.726m over five years (£0.345 p.a) is required to fund the Programme Delivery Team
which is aligned to other similar Government funded programmes currently being delivered by the GBSLEP.
This revenue will provide:!
!  An effective and efficient programme management role including administrative support;!
!  Monitoring and evaluating LGF funded projects and the impact of any freedoms and flexibilities
successfully negotiated. Collating these with other evaluations (e.g. ESIF, Growing Places and RGF) to
create an overall evaluation of SEP activities (see Appendix O)!
Should the revenue ask not be available in full, then the GBS Growth Team would look to revise how this
programme can be delivered within the funding envelope that is available. This could include redeploying
resources from current activities and scaling back monitoring and evaluation proposals (as set out in the
Governance Appendix). The GBS Growth Team will also look to work with cross LEP partners to deliver a
single monitoring and evaluation process to eliminate duplication of both tasks and resources. !
Growth Hub!
Revenue funding is required to establish the Growth Hub and to support the implementation of various
programmes (see Programme 1 and Appendix J for more details). The funding requirements and the
proposed outputs are detailed below.!
Activity!
Period!
Growth Hub!
2014-15 only!
ESIF to cover
2015-20!
2014-20!
Cross LEP Advanced
Manufacturing Engineering!
Advanced Manufacturing
Three years!
Engineering Recruitment &
Training Agency!
Medium-sized businesses!
2014-20!
(50% funded from private
sector)!
Large indigenous business
2014-20!
engagement!
TOTAL!
Direct
Staffing!
0.1!
Marketing and
Indirect Staffing!
0.1!
Research!
Other Costs!
n/a!
CRM: 0.095!
Website: 0.11!
0.9!
0.55!
n/a!
Website: 0.25!
Total
Costs!
0.405!
(1 year
only)!
1.7!
2.83!
n/a!
n/a!
n/a!
2.83!
1.3!
0.448!
0.032!
n/a!
0.8!
0.42!
0.042!
0.03!
0.06!
0.552!
£6.3m!
HS2 Connectivity!
To enable this HS2 Connectivity scheme development to take place, against a background of limited local
government resources, we are also requesting a rolling programme of resource funding from 2016/7 to
2020/21. To date £2.96m of public and private funding has been spent on delivery of this package and a
further £5.2m is planned to be spent in coming years. Without this funding it will not be possible to
accelerate the development and delivery of the package so it is operational for the opening of HS2 (see
Programme 2 and Appendix J for more details). It is therefore asked that the revenue funding be provided
via the LGF programme to support the delivery of the HS2 connectivity package.!
HS2 Connectivity!
2015/16!
2016/17!
2017/18!
2018/19!
2019/20!
Total!
n/a!
3.8!
3.8!
3.8!
3.8!
£15.2m!
Total Revenue Ask!
The total revenue ask for the delivery of the SEP and the key programmes within it is £23.21m for
the SEP programme life cycle of which £2.503m is required in 2015/16.!
Total Revenue Ask!
2015/16!
2016/17!
2017/18!
2018/19!
2019/20!
Total!
2.503m!
5.699m!
5.699m!
4.755m!
4.755m!
23.21m!
Freedom and Flexibilities summary table (part one)!
Rationale – economic
opportunity or market
failure to be addressed!
Ask!
Offer!
Engagement
with
Government!
Programme 1: Growing our Business!
Greater Birmingham Growth Hub!
Need to address fragmented
and insufficient business
support offer!
Need to align and enhance
AME offer across the LEPs!
£6.3m revenue funding to support
the delivery of the Growth Hub,
encompassing cross-LEP AME Hub
and the AME Recruitment and
Training Agency as set out in the
rows below!
• 15,000 businesses pa accessing
information and tools!
• 20% more take-up of national
schemes !
• New CRM system and web portal!
• 600 additional apprenticeships and
600 traineeships over three years!
Proposals shared
with BIS and
Cabinet Office!
Enable delivery of the Growth
Hub!
Revenue ask of £0.405m required
in 2014/15!
Match funding to be provided where
applicable!
Raised with BIS
and Cabinet Office!
Enable the delivery of a crossLEP Advanced Manufacturing
Engineering Hub!
Revenue ask of £1.7m is required!
Match funding to be provided form
JISV where applicable!
Raised with BIS
and Cabinet Office !
Engineering Recruitment &
Training Agency!
50% match to the £2.83m with
match also being sought to support
other areas of the programme being
delivered through the Growth Hub!
Raised with BIS
and Cabinet Office!
Medium Sized Businesses!
Contributions to be provided from
private and financial sectors where
applicable!
Raised with BIS
and Cabinet Office!
Large indigenous businesses
engagement!
Revenue ask of £0.552m is
required !
20% private sector match funding to
be provided where applicable!
Raised with BIS
and Cabinet Office!
Programme 2: Enhancing the Regional Economic Hub!
Curzon Street!
To exploit economic
opportunity brought about by
the development of a HS2
station in Birmingham City
Centre!
Officials are nominated from
Government Departments to ensure
a clear link for advice and
assistance to maximise the
development and delivery of Growth
Plans!
Agree a joint approach with
Government to develop a financial
and governance model to include
exploring how to capture the
significant uplifts in both land value
and business rates that HS2 will
generate such as considering the
extension of the city centre EZs!
• Contribute to the delivery of a truly
world-class station, accessible via
an extended Metro and enjoying
improved public realm and worldclass connectivity!
• Create 14,000 (net) private sector
jobs; 600,000 sq m of additional
employment floorspace, 2000 new
homes and an uplift to the economy
of £1.3bn pa!
• Complete Full Business Case and
establish a delivery vehicle to
facilitate wider regeneration by the
end of 2014.!
Initial discussions
with Central Local
Growth Team.!
Freedom and Flexibilities summary table (part two)!
Rationale – economic
opportunity or market
failure to be addressed!
Ask!
Offer!
Engagement
with
Government!
Programme 3: UK Central, the Enterprise Belt and the wider Birmingham area!
Interchange and UKC!
Enable the delivery of the UK
Central Masterplan and exploit
the economic opportunity
brought about by the
development of a HS2 station
at its centre!
To include the M42 J6 improvement
in the first Highways Agency Roads
Investment Strategy!
Officials are nominated from
Government Departments to ensure
a clear link for advice and
assistance to maximise the
development and delivery of Growth
Plans!
Agreement of a bespoke growth
deal on a gain share/payment by
results basis; with a statement of
intent in Autumn Statement 2014
and Heads of Terms in Budget 2015!
• Create a world-class international
gateway and destination, with an
iconic station seamlessly connected
and bring forward new sites for
employment, residential and mixed
use development!
Initial discussions
with Central Local
Growth Team!
• Create 100,000 new jobs in the
area covered by the UKC
Masterplan (of which the
Interchange is a key part)!
• Establish a locally-led Delivery
Vehicle and produce a detailed
Business Case by December 2014 !
Programme 4: Enhancing our growth sectors!
‘Birmingham Trained Me To Compete’ – Joint Venture Partnership (JVP)!
To accelerate cultural change
in the relationship between
employers as investors in and
purchasers of skills provision
and publicly funded training
providers!
Existing freedoms and
flexibilities do not always allow
colleges and training providers
to meet business and
economic needs!
BIS to be a full member of the JVP!
• 2,000 employers investing in skills!
Greater flexibility over a proportion
of the overall skills budget deployed
by the nine FE colleges!
• £18.2m additional employer
investment in skills on a coinvestment basis!
Close dialogue with Ofsted to
ensure measurement systems
better reflect and stimulate local
priorities!
• 25,000 people up-skiled!
Principles have
been discussed
with BIS and the
Skills Funding
Agency and a full
business case
developed on
advice from
Government
agencies!
Reduction in employer
investment in training!
Flexibility around visas for Life Sciences!
Desire to maximise FDI
potential!
Issues with visas have led to
investors re-evaluating the
scale and type of investment
they will make!
To enable executives or key staff
from overseas investors to move to
the UK to create FDI and establish
higher value operations by creating
some flexibility around visas!
Pilot a scheme, utilising the
exceptional talent visa, along similar
lines to Tech City, but focused on
Life Sciences!
Discussions taking
place with BIS!
Delivery!
Whitehall Representation on the GBS Growth Team (see Governance and Delivery)!
Need to ensure joint focus on
‘place’ between local and
national partners!
Whitehall Sponsor to form part of
the GBS Growth Team!
Create a genuine alliance of local
and national leadership to deliver
the SEP!
Raised with BIS
Local and Cabinet
Office!
Programme Delivery!
Enable the LEP to have the
capacity and skills to deliver
the SEP programme!
Revenue ‘ask’ of £1.726m is
required!
Funding of a permanent Programme
Delivery Director’s post at a cost of
£100k to £120k plus on-costs pa!
Raised with BIS
and Cabinet Office!
Section 3
GOVERNANCE and
delivery
Section 3 – GOVERNANCE AND DELIVERY
3.1 GOVERNANCE!
The GBSLEP governance arrangements are set out in Appendix O. These have been strengthened to
ensure that they are sufficiently robust to oversee decision-making and the delivery of the SEP and provide
the necessary accountability, as summarised below. !
We have recognised the need to create one structure that can effectively align and deploy all of the
resources available to us in pursuit of our growth ambitions (see Figure 8). !
In order to provide the transparency and democratic accountability necessary to oversee large public funds,
GBSLEP has established a Supervisory Board: a joint committee of the nine Local Authority Leaders in
GBSLEP, with the Chair of the LEP in attendance as a non-voting member. !
The Supervisory Board has the ultimate authority over decisions on expenditure and has overall
responsibility and accountability for making decisions in relation to the LGF and other significant funding
streams that cover the full GBS geography. As the Supervisory Board performs executive functions, a Joint
Scrutiny Committee has been established to review and scrutinise decisions taken by the Supervisory
Board. !
The LEP Board has overall responsibility for setting the LEP’s strategic agenda i.e. developing and
approving the SEP. The LEP Board also makes decisions regarding expenditure which are taken to the
Supervisory Board for endorsement. !
The LEP Board has the authority to bring forward new pipelines of projects, remove projects from the
programmes where projects are not being delivered according to plan, and can bring forward other projects
to take their place.!
GBS Finance was established following the City Deal in 2012, and was created to provide a single focus for
the financial and fund management operation of GBSLEP. As a platform to consolidate all funds, it presents
a public-facing scale of investment opportunity to both public and private sector partners. !
While it is technically a Sub-Group of the LEP Board, it will also provide a governance and financial
oversight for LEP partners and stakeholders. GBS Finance provides an assurance role for projects seeking
funding, endorsing and quality assuring all LEP funding bids prior to the relevant accountable body approval
process and submission, ensuring their fit to the LEP’s Strategy for Growth.!
81 GBSLEP Ι Section 3 - Governance and Delivery
The LEP Board Sub-Groups are responsible for: bringing forward projects to be recommended for
programme entry approval by the LEP Board; overseeing the development of business cases to conditional
approval and full approval (where appropriate); and for monitoring the progress of projects during and after
delivery. Sub-Groups may also be granted delegated authority to approve funding decisions.!
Also at this tier are the Investment Panels for funds such as Growing Places, Green Bridge and the
Enterprise Zone. In this structure, they are responsible for approving funding decisions under delegated
authority from the LEP Board, and for making recommendations regarding funding decisions which fall
outside of their remit to the LEP Board.!
Birmingham City Council’s Cabinet has agreed in principle to be the Accountable Body for any resources
allocated through the Growth Deal process. Once the size of the funding allocation and the conditions
associated with it are known, formal agreement to this role will be sought. !
With regards to the ESIF, under the current arrangements, the ultimate decision-making body is the
Managing Authority rather than the LEP Board. As such, although it is not possible to show an entirely
integrated governance structure, local arrangements are in place to ensure strategic alignment. The ESIF
Programme Team will work with other programme teams and working groups to ensure the strategic fit of
projects coming through their pipeline and being fed into the LEP Area Group. The LEP Area Group is
responsible for ensuring the strategic fit of projects and works with the Managing Authority to ensure
compliance with EU rules and regulation. It will ensure that the LEP Board receives regular updates on
delivery of programmes and projects, to enable the Board to understand the overall impact on the
implementation of the SEP. In addition, the membership of the Area Group is drawn from the LEP Board. It
should be noted that there is no local authority role as an accountable body for ESIF; nor is there a role for
the Supervisory Board. GBSLEP is currently pursuing options for ITI or IB status and, if this status is
awarded, greater alignment of governance structures will follow.!
The Thematic Working Groups work with the Sub-Groups in responding to calls for projects and for
bringing new projects through for consideration for programme entry.!
GBSLEP is committed to working with Worcestershire and Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEPs to ensure
that complexity for businesses located in the overlap areas is minimised and value for money assured.
GBSLEP has agreed a protocol with Worcestershire LEP and has developed a draft one with Stoke-onTrent and Staffordshire LEP to enable effective and efficient development, decision-making and delivery of
schemes. These protocols support collaborative working arrangements including recommending developing
joint programmes, collective monitoring of performance, escalation of issues, etc. These protocols can be
found in Appendix O and will be developed into formal agreements by 31st May 2014. !
Figure 8: The proposed GBSLEP Governance structure!
83 GBSLEP Ι Section 3: Governance and Delivery
3.2 approvals process!
Different funding streams have different approvals requirements. In particular, it is acknowledged that the
approval requirements for projects to be funded via ESIF are markedly different from those seeking funding
from the LGF. In addition, projects to be funded via mechanisms such as AMSCI or Growing Places have
their own approvals processes.!
While a pipeline of projects has been determined and prioritised to receive LGF funding, as set out in this
SEP, the projects will not be granted approval until a Growth Deal has been formally agreed with
Government and a quantum of LGF determined. !
Once the amount of LGF to be allocated to Greater Birmingham is known, the prioritisation process will be
re-run to ensure that projects are assessed on the most up-to-date data and that those chosen will provide
the greatest outcomes. !
The LEP Board will then agree a programme of projects to support which the Supervisory Board will be
asked to endorse. This will in effect award projects ‘programme entry’ status. !
Projects will then draw up a full business case before being recommended to the LEP Board for full
approval by the GBS Growth Team (see page 89) and relevant Sub-Group (in a “dual key” arrangement),
with funding committed for delivery in 2015/16. !
This process will also be followed for projects that are approved for delivery beyond 2015/16, and shows
how new projects from the pipeline will come on-stream in future years.!
More detail – including an approvals process flowchart for projects to receive LGF funding – can be found in
Appendix O.!
84 GBSLEP Ι Governance and Delivery
3.3 delivery!
Track Record!
The ability to mobilise and deliver a large programme of transport infrastructure is recognised as a key prerequisite of this SEP. Delivery partners including the ITA, Network Rail, Highways Agency, Centro, Sustrans,
Canals and Rivers Trust and local authorities have strong track records of implementing complex projects
and programmes collaboratively across the LEP geography, on time and, importantly, to budget. !
Annual capital expenditure in excess of £100m has been achieved on a consistent basis across a range of
key projects listed in the programmes above, with Birmingham City Council alone delivering annual
programmes of £40-50m exclusive of Birmingham Gateway. With many existing grant awards and schemes
scheduled for conclusion by 2015, significant delivery capacity amongst GBSLEP partners will be available,
supported by framework arrangements as required, to implement a substantial annual LGF programme in
excess of £60m commencing in 2015/16. !
The timely delivery of transport infrastructure also requires strong governance and procurement processes
to be in place. Whilst the former is covered in Appendix O, the shared use of partners’ professional services
and construction framework contracts is a well-established practice within the geography. !
For example, Birmingham City Council, whilst in the process of establishing a new contractor’s framework,
has made significant use of procurement frameworks managed by the Highways Agency, Centro, Homes
and Communities Agency and Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council.!
Collaborative working arrangements between delivery partners are set to be strengthened further by March
2015, whilst the potential for both formal and informal shared services models continues to be explored as
preparations for mobilising our 2015/16 programme begin.!
GBSLEP has also built up a strong track record of delivery on the funding it has received. !
Growing Places Fund has committed £21.4m against capital and revenue projects that will create growth
and jobs across the GBS LEP area of which, £16.3m has been allocated to the public and private sector as
capital loans. At the end of 2013/14 £5.6m has already been spent against contracted schemes with an
estimated £11.9m by 2014/15. The GBSLEP Board, endorsed by the Supervisory Board, has agreed that a
significant part of the recycled Growing Places Fund will be used to create a Mezzanine Fund Programme
(MFP) that will create and safeguard up to 5,600 jobs across the West Midlands geography alongside
Regional Growth Fund and West Midlands Pension Fund contributions.!
The GBSLEP also has a good track record of delivery with Regional Growth Fund projects. The £32.7m
scheme to improve and re-align the A45 dual carriageway adjacent to Birmingham Airport, reduce
congestion and improve accessibility, while also accommodating the new runway extensions being
undertaken at Birmingham Airport was completed on time and on budget. The £20m Greenbridge Supply
Chain Initiative was launched in July 2013 and has allocated £11.5m. It has now received £7.5m of ERDF to
extend the scheme. !
Delivering the SEP!
GBSLEP recognises that its delivery capability needs to be further strengthened to ensure the SEP’s
ambitions are achieved. It has therefore established the GBS Growth Team to manage the delivery of the
SEP. !
The Growth Team is chaired by the GBSLEP Board Chair and comprises the Chief Executives / Chief
Executive Officers from Birmingham City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, at least one
District Council, the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group and Marketing Birmingham. They
will work collectively and collaboratively to drive forward and manage delivery of the SEP utilising the
combined resources of their organisations. !
In addition, senior representation from Government is sought (see page 88) recognising the key role
Whitehall plays in delivering the growth agenda. The Growth Team has a role in approving projects, in
conjunction with the Sub-Groups and taking advice from GBS Finance; in managing the programmes and it
is the first point of escalation where a project is not delivering according to plan, and a resolution cannot be
found.!
Responsibility for delivering the programmes will fall to the Programme Delivery Director, a new
appointment that will be funded from local resources. GBSLEP is also currently undertaking a Resource
Review - a cross-partnership review of the resources required to deliver the SEP that will ensure that
sufficient resources are in place and also seek to identify areas to improve opportunities for sharing
expertise and skills. !
The Review will make recommendations to the LEP Board in July, and these resources will be channelled
through the GBS Growth Team to deliver the programmes identified in the SEP. As a result of the Review, it
is anticipated that GBSLEP will assemble a Joint Delivery Team. !
To support the efficient management and administration of the programmes and its monitoring and
evaluation, GBSLEP is seeking a revenue allocation from the LGF (see Summary Growth Deal). !
Monitoring!
Projects will be monitored by their respective delivery body. GBSLEP will monitor projects as part of the
programmes articulated in the SEP. The principle of ‘management by exception’ will apply with Sub-Groups,
the Growth Team and GBSLEP Board provided with regular updates via a standing agenda item, to ensure
the programme is delivering according to plan.!
A monitoring process flowchart that sets out how a project will be managed where it is not delivering
according to plan. Ultimately, if a project deviates significantly from its plan and no resolution can be found,
a decision will be required from the GBSLEP Board as to whether the project remains part of the
programme.!
Projects to be funded via ESIF have their own monitoring requirements – the wider SEP monitoring process
will look to gather and utilise this data, rather than impose new requirements.!
More detail – including a monitoring process flowchart – is set out in Appendix O.!
Evaluation!
The aim of the evaluation process is to provide an over-arching, robust, transparent and independent
assessment of the impact of the activities and interventions of GBSLEP on the local economy, its residents
and businesses for the next five years. The evaluation will seek to establish the impact of the SEP, by
evaluating interventions funded via LGF, City Deal and the ESIF, outcomes of freedoms and flexibilities
secured, against the key strategic aims of the LEP as articulated in the Strategy for Growth. !
As above, projects funded through ESIF have their own evaluation requirements, but we will also collate
these findings into the overarching evaluation where possible and appropriate.!
A light touch evaluation will be undertaken at the end of Year 1 and 2, with a more detailed interim
evaluation at the end of Year 3, and a full evaluation at the end of year 5. This will be managed within the
existing governance structures for GBSLEP and the SEP, and will feed back into further decisions taken
about projects to come on-stream.!
The ambitious targets set by GBSLEP are predicated on effectively delivery – however, there is no revenue
funding available to evaluate the programme, and increasing constraints on local authority and other
budgets mean there are no in-house resources available to carry out this work. We are therefore asking for
revenue funding to support effective evaluation of the programmes in the future. !
More detail on this ask and the evaluation process is set out in Appendix O.!
Gbs growth team
Opportunity!
In ‘The Path to Local Growth’, the outcome of the Greater Birmingham Project, we set out our desire to
strengthen Lord Heseltine’s recommendation to create ‘Local Growth Teams’ by embedding Whitehall civil
servants in the team alongside local authority officers, key delivery partners and businesses. In this new
partnership, the focus on place would be paramount.!
We have since created the GBS Growth Team to oversee and ensure the delivery of strategic/major
programmes deriving directly from the Strategy for Growth and those in the Strategic Economic Plan. It will
bring together all relevant public, private and third sector leadership necessary to secure these aims and will
be chaired by the LEP Board Chair.!
Ask!
That our Whitehall Sponsor be a formal member of the GBS Growth Team.!
Offer!
To create a genuine alliance of national and local leadership which will have shared responsibility for
delivering the Strategic Economic Plan.!
Risk management!
GBSLEP recognises that risk is an integral part of innovation in order to deliver the key priorities set out in
the Strategy for Growth and the SEP programmes. Proactive management of risk will enable us to take full
advantage of opportunities that arise and make the best use of the resources available to us. Risks at
project level will be managed by the project manager. Risks at programme level will be managed by the
Programme Delivery Director, who will be responsible for overseeing the creation of GBSLEP's Risk
Management Strategy and SEP Risk Register.!
More detail – including an initial summary Risk Register – can be found in Appendix O.!
conclusion!
Our SEP sets out an integrated plan for growth that matches our ambition with delivery on the ground to
realise the truly transformational potential of Greater Birmingham. We will capitalise on the opportunities
presented by HS2 delivering two world class stations, public realm improvements and the connectivity and
infrastructure to attract business and transform the region.!
In total our Growth Deal will deliver an additional 50,000 jobs (on top of the 100,000 we have already
committed to), 14,315 new houses, 1.7m sqm of commercial space; £2.3bn GVA over ten years; and
£1,100m private sector leverage. !
Together this will create a rising tide of prosperity that will benefit everyone in Greater Birmingham through
providing local people with the jobs and skills that businesses need. !
We will unleash the area’s entrepreneurial capacity through appropriate business support that will enable
businesses to form, grow and locate in the area. !
Our strategy also delivers wider benefits for UK Plc, through becoming a net contributor to the Exchequer
and attracting inward investment into the area. !
To deliver our growth agenda we require £86m from LGF for 2015/16 alongside specific freedoms and a
total of £508m across the length of the programme. Through our track record, integrated programme
approach and robust governance we have established the mechanisms to deliver, we now need the
freedom to drive growth through a ‘no-strings’ pot to continue the momentum and Greater Birmingham’s
journey to prosperity.!
SECTION 4
Programme
TABLES AND
MAPS
Programme 2a: Core business assets and connectivity!
Priority Projects!
Other Other private
Total LGF
Total
LGF 2015/16
public contributions
request from
spend (£m)!
request (£m)!
(£m)!
(£m)!
GBSLEP (£m)!
#!
Project name!
4!
One Station!
7!
2!
1.50!
3.50!
3.50!
5!
Midland Metro Centenary Square
Extension and Complementary
Highway Measures!
42.40!
5.0!
29.40!
4.60!
8.00!
6!
Making the Connections!
8.00!
0.40!
0.80!
3.30!
6.80!
7!
Hagley Road SPRINT!
12.24!
0.74!
3.41!
8.09!
8.09!
171!
Ashted Circus!
6.60!
2.25!
3.09!
4.07!
13!
Snow Hill Station: Phase 1!
9.99!
1.00!
1.06!
4.66!
20!
Tame Valley Viaduct: Phase 3!
82.01!
3.98!
0!
72.01!
67.50!
7.70!
0!
59.80!
103.50!
62.10!
2.20!
41.40!
339.24!
85.17!
25.84!
208.32!
32!
33!
Midland Metro Extension –
Centenary Square to Edgbaston!
Midland Metro Extension –
Birmingham to Eastside!
Prioritised projects!
1.00!
36.11!
Programme 2b: Wider connectivity to the Hub!
Priority Projects!
Other Other private
Total LGF
Total
LGF 2015/16
request from
spend (£m)!
request (£m)!
(£m)!
(£m)!
GBSLEP (£m)!
#!
Project name!
23!
Longbridge Connectivity Scheme!
8.18!
0.76!
2.43!
2.51!
4.99!
37!
A34 Walsall Road SPRINT!
40.0!
0!
5.0!
0!
35.0!
38!
Bartley Green SPRINT!
30.0!
0!
5.0!
0!
25.0!
2.69!
0.27!
0.62!
2.42!
8.0!
2.0!
2.0!
6.0!
0!
9.50!
43!
97!
Journey Time Reliability
Improvements to Growth Areas!
Birmingham Cycle Revolution
Phase 2!
8!
Snow Hill Line Enhancements!
20.50!
BCLEP
and
CWLEP!
14!
A457 Dudley Road!
30.0!
2.0!
2.0!
0!
22.41!
24! Chase Line Electrification Package!
8.4!
2.7!
Tba!
0!
0!
35!
A45 Rapid Transit!
50.0!
0!
15.0!
0!
35.0!
189.37!
5.03!
29.43!
5.12!
140.32!
91 GBSLEP Ι Section 4: Programmes Tables and Maps
Programme 3a: Strategic infrastructure and connectivity!
Priority Projects!
LGF
Other Other private
2015/16
request
(£m)!
(£m)!
(£m)!
0.15!
0.20!
1.26!
Possible s106!
5.25!
5.25!
0.11!
2.59!
0.84!
3.0!
3.0!
0!
1.86!
5.0!
TBC!
1.50!
1.50!
1.5!
1.5!
0!
0!
Tbc!
Tbc!
0!
0!
0.35!
0!
0!
2.84!
11.92!
18.60!
#!
Project name!
Total
spend
(£m)!
11!
Battery Way Extension,
Tyseley!
1.57!
29!
Improving connectivity and
linking key economic assets in
Wyre Forest!
5.25!
WCC!
75!
University Station
Interchange!
3.09!
0.50!
81!
South Kidderminster Enterprise
Park – Hoobrook Link Road!
12.45!
83!
Iron Lane!
9.7!
84! Redditch Eastern Gateway!
3.0!
92! Churchbridge Interchange!
6.0!
178! UK Central M42 Junction 6! 300.0!
85!
A460 Eastern Way
Cannock Dualling!
2.35!
343.41!
1.95!
3.95!
Total LGF
request from Jobs! Homes!
GBSLEP (£m)!
700!
532!
170!
1,136!
3,874! 2,300!
6,242! 2,470!
Programme 3b: Key sites (business and housing)!
Priority Projects!
LGF
Total LGF
Total Other Other private
2015/16 request from
spend public contributions
#!
Project name!
Jobs! Homes!
request
GBSLEP
(£m)! (£m)!
(£m)!
(£m)!
(£m)!
47! Unlocking Birmingham’s SUE! 11.11! 1.11!
5.0!
2.33!
5.0!
9,079! 6,000!
53!
Kingswood Lakeside Internal
Access Works!
3.08!
1.08!
104! Selly Oak New Road Phase 2! 6.19!
0.53!
169!
A34 Corridor – Perry Barr!
3.5!
179!
Unblocking small housing
sites!
10.0!
10!
Bordseley Park!
90.0!
51!
Mid-Cannock road/rail freight
16.75!
interchange!
1.20!
1.20!
1,300!
2.02!
0.11!
3.63!
2,700!
0.5!
0.5!
3.5!
3.5!
1,650!
0!
1.0!
9.0!
9.0!
83.0!
1.0!
7.2!
3,000!
11.70!
0.60!
1.30!
50!
1.5!
1.5!
707!
974!
3.75!
52!
East Staffordshire Growth and
Regeneration Programme!
5.70!
4.20!
54!
Mill Green!
3.5!
0!
0!
3.5!
3.5!
55!
Moss Road Estate
Redevelopment Scheme!
21.4!
7.8!
12.8!
0.4!
0.8!
116.02!
23.14!
36.63!
171.23! 18.97!
300!
2,000!
306!
150!
19,460!
8,756!
Programme 4a: Skills Capital - Priority projects!
#!
146!
150!
151!
152!
157!
158!
Total Other Other private
Total LGF
LGF 2015/16
spend public contributions
request from Jobs! Skills!
request (£m)!
(£m)! (£m)!
(£m)!
GBSLEP (£m)!
Project name!
The Visitor Economy –
Skills Excellence Hub
(Food technology Hub)!
Technology Centre
(Cannock) – JLR
Expansion/Employability!
Business Enterprise
Launch Pads (Lichfield,
Tamworth, Cannock)!
Creative Digital Media
Centre (Lichfield)!
JLR Expansion Improving
Skills Capacity in the
Supply Chain!
Investing in HS2: Rail
Engineering!
0.34!
0.34!
60!
3302!
2.0!
0!
0!
780!
700!
1.0!
0.67!
0!
0!
1,500! 2,000!
1.32!
0.85!
0!
0!
500! 1,500!
1.2!
0.55!
0.55!
383!
3001!
0.25!
0!
0.13!
571!
1001!
0.07!
0.07!
18!
501!
1.17!
0.83!
0.83!
168!
1453!
8.0!
11.22!
11.22!
390! 5,0004!
0.75!
0.2!
3.15!
161!
HS2: Construction!
0.15!
145!
Solihull Aviation
(Engineering Training
Centre)!
2.0!
0.41!
Centre of Excellence for
156! Advanced Technologies (BMET)! 51.27!
159!
Maintaining Quality Provision –
Improving the FE Estate!
0.10!
0.03!
0.03!
95!
160!
JLR Expansion improving
skills capacity!
0.60!
0.26!
0.26!
100!
180!
Future skills project!
68.0!
1
129.79! 3.51!
Trainees
2
8.41!
Trainees and apprentices
3
13.30!
68.0!
46,539!
81.42!
4,565! 50,039!
Trained p/a 4 FT students p/a!
Programme 4b: Infrastructure and sites – Priority Projects!
Total spend Other public Other private LGF 2015/16 Total LGF request
#!
Project name!
from GBSLEP!
(£m)!
(£m)!
contributions! request!
Advanced
101!
10!
8.11!
2.0!
2.0!
Manufacturing Hub!
105! Life Sciences Campus!
108!
80!
Jobs!
1,500!
171!
10!
Tbc!
5.0!
5.0!
2,027!
Creative City – Digital
Digbeth Studios!
18.54!
0!
2.8!
0!
15.74!
303!
199.5!
18.1!
2.8!
7.0!
22.7!
3,830!
Map 5: Projects relating to Programme 2!
Map 6: Projects relating to Programme 3!
Map 7: Projects relating to projects contained in Programme 2!
Map 8: UK Central and the Enterprise Belt!
97 GBSLEP – Section 4: Programme Maps and Tables
List of Appendices!
A - Evidence Base – SWOT!
B - Enterprise Belt Strategic Framework!
C - West Midlands LEPs Statement - Enabling Global
Manufacturing Competitiveness, Capacity and Innovation !
D - Cross-LEP Transport Statement !
E - Cross-LEP collaboration!
F – Endorsements!
G - Prioritisation Process and Methodology !
H - FE Skills Capital Methodology !
I - Project Summary !
J - Game Changer and Freedoms Summary !
K - Strategy for Inward Investment Attraction !
L - Place Strategic Marketing of Greater Birmingham !
M - Housing Paper !
N - University Enterprise Zone – summary proposal !
O - Governance and Delivery !
98 GBSLEP – List of appendices

Greater Birmingham and Solihull

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