West Midlands Combined Authority mayor Andy Street has said public services in the region need to improve.
Speaking at the West Midlands Forum for Growth in Birmingham today, he said the £8bn West Midlands devolution deal agreed in 2015 set out two objectives. The first was economic performance, for which the WMCA gets “a green tick”.
But he added: “The second is to improve the public services and the lives of our citizens, and to be honest we get only an orange squiggle on that.
“There is no purpose to the first if it does not deliver the second.”
Other leaders in the combined authority also said that growth should be happening throughout the region and not be concentrated in Birmingham.
Sarah Middleton, chief executive of the Black Country Consortium, said: “We have got to ensure that growth percolates across the broader region,” while Stella Manzie, interim chief executive of Birmingham city council, said: “We have an awful long way to go to make sure growth affects all members of our society.”
Co-ordinating joint interests
Street has taken charge of a disparate group of regions since becoming the WMCA’s mayor, and one of his chief tasks, he says, will be coordinating their joint interests.
“The critical thing is that these areas have worked together better than any other region in the country. Many other regions have failed the devolution test because they have not worked together,” he said.
He wants Birmingham to have its fourth industrial revolution, he said, adding that the new national industrial strategy would help showcase the competence of the new authority.
“We have got to be the national exemplar of this industrial strategy. Brexit is priority for the government overall, but industrial strategy is the domestic priority.”
Street’s three priorities will be telling the story of the region, securing a second devolution deal, and delivering more housing.
“We need to start delivering, and most importantly we need to start delivering the housing target,” he said.
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