On 27 January we tried something new. We hosted an Investment into Cities event at 10 Downing Street, where three of our core cities – Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds – presented a selection of investor-ready projects to more than 30 senior investors in the room. A sort of Dragons’ Den of regeneration projects seeking investment.
In my opening address I was able to pledge the support of the government. And thanks to the able chairing of Lord Deighton, commercial secretary to the Treasury, and chair of the HS2 Task Force, the three cities’ presentations, in the elegant surrounds of Number 10, were pacey, focused, stylish and humorous.
Our audience was a mixture of overseas investors, sovereign wealth funds, UK institutions, REITs and real estate consultancies. And it was timely. Figures released by CBRE a week prior had shown that in the most recent quarter 74% of all overseas commercial property transactions in the UK had been outside London. It is beyond question that the clever money is looking at value uplift in places other than London and the South East.
Investment into Cities was a great event. I was proud of the way that all three city teams presented themselves as market-facing and fiercely determined to achieve growth. And the contrast between the three was important: each presentation was different, but each was excellent in its own way, playing to the strength of the differing identities of each city. There has already been a great deal of follow up, and we will track this closely. If the event has yielded results in terms of real investment into real projects – and initial feedback would seem that this is very promising – then I will look to repeat the exercise with a further three cities. Notwithstanding the distraction of the general election, of course.
The appetite for growth in our cities, both from our civic and business leaders, and from the investor community is palpable. And the government is backing it by accelerating our agenda of transferring power and resources to local economies.
Two days after our investment summit we announced the £1bn expansion of the Local Growth Fund. It was well received: devolution to our towns and cities has been acclaimed as an important tool in the rebuilding of our local economies.
And strong city leadership is acknowledged as a necessary, although not sufficient, factor in attracting inward investment. This is before the catalytic effect of the HS2 project in attracting investment into our cities gathers momentum.
So the last week in January was a good week for regeneration. We have established a platform to secure the investment our communities need and deserve. The market is responding in cities across the UK. This is the early stage of a journey that has much further to travel, regenerating regeneration as well as the towns and cities that are experiencing it.
Greg Clark is minister of state for universities, science and cities
