Places

The maintenance of an effective and sustainable transport system is essential for the West Midlands to remain an attractive place to invest, work, learn, visit and live.

Advantage West Midlands and its regional partners have recognised the need to improve transport infrastructure and the way it is managed in order to avert future congestion on our roads and railways.

The Agency played an influential role in creating the West Midlands Regional Transport Priorities ActionPlan through its work with the Regional Transport Partnership.

Advantage West Midlands was a key partner in the Birmingham Gateway Project to redevelop New Street Station. The Agency also helped to introduce plans for High Speed 2, a high speed railway line from London to Birmingham that forms the next phase of the Government's long term plan to extend a high speed rail network across the UK

The Agency has also been the lead Regional Development Agency on transport issues, bringing together the views of the nine RDAs into one united message for government policy makers.

Reference Documents

West Midlands Regional Transport Priorities Action Plan - PDF - 765kb

The transformation of derelict and under-used brownfield land into attractive commercial development sites has been a core priority for Advantage West Midlands.

The Agency has focused significant investment and resources to unlock the potential of brownfield land that would otherwise not be developed by the private sector.

The Agency's diverse work has ranged from supporting schemes major employment sites, such as Ansty Park in Coventry and i54 near Wiolverhampton, to flagship projects including New Street Station in Birmingham and the redevelopment of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Investment has also been made in leading-edge science and business parks that provide incubator and business growth space at Malvern Hills Science Park and the Longbridge Technology Park.

In rural parts of the region, the Agency has created enterprise hubs and resource centres to encourage small business start-ups and collaboration, such as the Shropshire Food Enterprise Centre.

Reference Documents

Asset and Liability Plan 2011 - PDF - 2mb

Some 80% of the land in the West Midlands is rural and 35% of the region’s population lives there, while 33% are employed in rural areas.  Rural workplaces contribute 33% of the region’s GVA. This means that the West Midlands has some of the most sparsely populated rural areas in the country with their own unique economic challenges and opportunities.  

Advantage West Midlands has played a key role in gathering evidence to not only identify the economic challenges facing rural areas but also the best way to tackle these challenges, such as improving access to job opportunities and increasing the number and quality of jobs available.

Agency investment also helped ensure that the necessary policies, programmes and support services were implemented.

Examples include the Rural Development Programme for England, the Rural Regeneration Zone, the Market Towns Initiative and the West Midlands Farming and Food Delivery Plan.

Reference Documents

Rural Evidence Base 2010 - PDF - 468kb

Rural Disadvantage Indicator (2010) - PDF - 859kb

Tourism is the fourth largest contributor to the economy of the West Midlands. Each year more than 140 million visits are made to the region, generating over £6 billion to the economy and supporting more than 130,000 jobs. Additionally, business tourism is now worth over £6.6 billion and offers employment to more than 100,000 people.

Advantage West Midlands has had strategic responsibility for tourism in the region since 2003. Working with tourism partners the Agency led the establishment of the Tourism West Midlands Advisory Board to guide the delivery of this area of work and the development of the West Midlands Visitor Economy Strategy. 

Effective marketing and communications has been crucial to the promotion and development of the tourism and culture sector. The Agency led  the development of a number of TV and media campaigns targeting domestic visitors and a £12 million campaign to attract new conferences, exhibitions and events to the region.

The Agency also invested in the improvement of iconic visitor destinations such as the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon, Ironbridge Blists Hill in Shropshire, Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, the Cold War Museum at Cosford and the LG Arena.

Reference Documents

West Midlands Visitor Economy Strategy - PDF - 3mb 

The West Midlands faces a range of economic, social and environmental challenges and opportunities. Sustainable development is an approach to navigating through these to create a strong, healthy and just society, which lives within environmental limits.

Sustainable development is a key theme of the West Midlands' Economic Strategy - the UK's first low carbon regional economic strategy.

In order for businesses to gain maximum benefit from the transition to a low carbon regional economy, Advantage West Midlands has worked with partners and business support organisations to develop policies and direct investment where it can help companies reduce costs and maximise new market opportunities.

The expertise of organisations such as Sustainability West Midlands has helped inform Agency decision-making. Sustainable development has also been a key consideration in Agency flagship projects such as G Park Blue Planet in North Staffordshire.

A number of key low carbon programmes demonstrating Agency commitment to sustainable development include the Landfill Diversion Strategy, the Salix Finance project Increasing Energy in the Public Sector and the RE:think Energy grant scheme.

Reference Documents

West Midlands Economic Strategy (WMES) - PDF - 1mb

Sustainable Development Policy and Action Plan 2006 - 2010 - PDF - 1mb

Low Carbon - Evidence of Succes - PDF - 898kb 

Advantage West Midlands has worked closely with a number of regional partners and stakeholders to ensure that the West Midlands Economic Strategy is aligned with other strategies, notably the Regional Spatial Strategy, to deliver the best possible benefits for the West Midlands.

The Agency established a team of specialist planners to work with partners and deliver a range of complex policy consultations, large-scale planning applications, statutory consultations and responses to national planning issues.

The Agency's influencing role has also been important in assisting, promoting and progressing projects of regional economic importance through the planning system, such as the redevelopment of Longbridge and the Eastside regeneration programme in Birmingham.