The new director of the Western Gateway says its priorities for 2023 include launching its vision for rail until 2050 and renewable energy supply.
The cross-border organisation is made up of local authorities and local enterprise partnerships in the West of England and South Wales, and is designed to play a leading role in boosting the region’s economic fortunes.
As it enters its second year of operation its strategic priorities for the year have been laid out by new director John Wilkinson. They include rail and energy supply, potentially once again trying to harness renewable energy from the Severn Estuary.
Mr Wilkinson, who is 48 and lives in Keynsham, said: “I want to make 2023 a year of real delivery. We have our strategic rail vision for 2050 which we will be launching shortly in Parliament.
“We have a huge amount going on around energy supply, whether that is hydrogen or new nuclear. And we’ll be holding a national conference on this in June to showcase the innovation and opportunity in this area, and show how we can become the UK’s Green Energy Super Cluster.
“And we also have exciting plans to launch our independent commission on harnessing energy from the Seven Estuary which I am very excited about and will make us a UK leader in this technology. We are also going to launch our super cluster around cyber security with the CBI, and developing our digital, creative and tech super cluster work.
“Alongside this, we will work on how we finance the great ideas that are emerging from our area. And of course, continuing to show the Government at every opportunity what an amazing area this is.”
As well as working with local government the Western Gateway has to form strong relationships with Westminster and the Welsh Government in Cardiff, as it competes for investment with other areas of the country such as the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine.
He said: “We started because the cities of Bristol, Cardiff and Newport recognised there was a common economic geography between them and that it was important that they collaborated and worked in partnership together.
“Our independent economic review showed that we are an economic geography with those cities at its core, but one that also stretches into surrounding rural communities with clear, shared economic strengths.
“The partnership now has a really clear purpose and vision which I can summarise by saying that we want to deliver sustainable economic growth from the drive to Net Zero and create economic opportunities for all our communities from that.”
He said that its key missions are contributing an extra £34bn to the UK’s economy; attracting investment and increasing exports; decarbonising our economy and unleashing innovations. When asked if he saw the Western Gateway as a powerhouse for the South West, he answered in the affirmative.
He said: “I do – one of two obviously. We work already closely with the Great South West which is the pan-regional partnership for Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset. “We work with businesses, universities, the UK and Welsh governments, and local authorities across our patch. “Our geography has 55 per cent of the world’s mobile phone compound semi-conductors manufactured here.
“We have 14 of the 15 largest aerospace engineering firms and two out of ten of the UK’s Fintech clusters. So, we are a powerhouse. We have obvious economic strengths contributing to the UK’s economy.
“I think this year is going to be the year where we really put ourselves on the map. We have got some really exciting programmes that are going to be launching and people across the UK are going to take notice of.”
The Western Gateway is funded by the Department of Levelling Up and Mr Wilkinson said working collaboratively with governments in London and Cardiff, plus its local authority partners, is key.
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