The new mayor of the West Midlands is certainly a significant and geographically diverse role: Andy Street will be representing around 2 million people across 7 local councils (Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton) and will be controlling an investment fund budget of £1.1 billion over 30 years (£36 million a year). So what does this mean for real estate in the region?
One measure of assessing how successful the mayor will be is property-based: the ability and speed with which he is able to deliver major infrastructure and housebuilding projects. Examples include making the most of the £4.4 billion High Speed Two Growth Deal promised for the West Midlands, delivering 165,000 new homes by 2030, focussing on building on brownfield sites first (including compiling registers of brownfield land for housing and business regeneration and spending £200 million on the preparation and decontamination of brownfield land), speeding up the planning and building process (via possible measures such as a tax on vacant land being held for development) and creating “flourishing high streets and town centres”. The latter involves working with businesses and councils to set up Business Improvement Districts and assessing whether the Enterprise Zone Model with business rates relief and simplified planning could encourage the regeneration of high streets and town centres. Real estate is also a key part of Andy Street’s other goal of getting companies to bring highly paid jobs to the West Midlands, with an emphasis on making the region the advanced manufacturing “workshop of the world”. This includes ensuring there is sufficient employment land available for manufacturers to expand/open new sites, encouraging the growth/relocation of businesses, professional and financial services and facilitating the development of life sciences faculties and businesses to the West Midlands.
It’s early days and there was limited policy detail in the mayoral manifestos. The mayor’s powers are, at the outset at least, relatively limited. Power is currently sourced from central government and the West Midlands Combined Authority. We will therefore watch with interest to see what impact the new mayor will have on real estate locally. However, what is already clear is that the mayor will have a vital role in aligning various growth strands and strategies. He will also provide leadership and a valuable voice in articulating key messages on behalf of the region, lobbying for support, having the ear of central government and pushing for internal and external investment to the West Midlands.