Insider's very own Ian Griffin, deputy editor of Midlands Business Insider, sat down with Richard Parker, the newly-elected mayor of the West Midlands, to discuss his plans to develop the region and how your business fits into them.
In one of his first appearances before a business audience as mayor, we put your questions to Mr Parker on issues such as growth, transport, skills, development, planning, business support, inward investment and housing. We also discovered what is top of his in-tray, his priorities and how he plans to proceed.
In one of his first appearances before a business audience as mayor, we put your questions to Mr Parker on issues such as growth, transport, skills, development, planning, business support, inward investment and housing. We also discovered what is top of his in-tray, his priorities and how he plans to proceed.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you Richard for taking time out of your really busy schedule to give us this interview.
00:10Obviously you can't make it to this live event because you've been summoned to Westminster
00:14for obvious reasons.
00:16But can I kick off with the first question.
00:21What can you say to the business community?
00:24Obviously Andy Street was very well regarded.
00:28What can you say to the business community that makes them think you're pro-business?
00:33Your big focus is on growth.
00:35Well look I've worked in business all my life.
00:37I spent all my professional life at PwC.
00:41I worked not just with government organisations and local authorities but I worked with businesses
00:46investing in our regions.
00:48So my business credentials I think are pretty clear.
00:52But also I want to just make it absolutely clear to the business community that my priorities
00:58are growing our economy and I want this region to be the best region to do business in the
01:02UK.
01:04And I'm focusing on working with my council colleagues to look at how we can more effectively
01:10deliver fast track planning so we can attract business investment here, deliver the housing
01:15we need but also ensure that we've got enough employment land we can deliver for business
01:19growth.
01:21I want to support the work of the growth company in attracting inward investment but I'm also
01:25pretty clear that we need to do a lot more to support our SMEs and our entrepreneurs
01:28in this region because we need to rebuild our economy and we need to do that from the
01:33bottom up and the inside out.
01:35But also I've got a really big commitment to overhauling the failures and the weaknesses
01:43in our skills system.
01:44So we need to be sure we're training and developing people here for jobs of the future and if
01:50we do that I'm convinced we can grow our economy, attract business investment here
01:54and deliver the skills that businesses need.
01:57This morning you're due to meet the Prime Minister so to speak because you can't be
02:01here at this live event, we're obviously recording this before today.
02:07What kind of support can you expect to get from Number 10, the new regime?
02:11Yeah, so I am sorry but I've been asked to attend a breakfast meeting in Number 10 on
02:17Tuesday morning and I'm looking forward to building on the relationships I've built with
02:23and all the mayors have built with the senior Labour team over the last six to eight months.
02:28So just to be clear, for the six months prior to May 2nd the mayors and the mayoral candidates
02:36in the Labour Party met with Keir Starmer and his senior team every month to discuss
02:41how we can work together in office and that's one of the reasons why I think the new government
02:46have hit the ground running and we're really clear about how we want to work together in
02:49office collectively and collaboratively to deliver for our regions.
02:54The regions are at heart of the new government's approach to delivering economic growth and
03:01I want this region to play a full part in that so we'll be going to meet them to talk
03:05about the contribution we can make to this region, not just a set of requests but a set
03:10of offers to them which is really important and I'll be talking about our hopes and ambitions
03:15for this region and how by working together we can deliver that growth and that business
03:19investment but we also need to address some of the fault lines in our regional economy
03:24that stop people making the most of their potential and I will be emphasising the need
03:30to invest in our transport system, the role we need to play with government attracting
03:34jobs and particularly developing our investment zones here but also the way we need to invest
03:39in skills so particularly our young people can get access to the jobs that will change
03:43their lives.
03:44I mean they seem to be your main priorities and that's one of the questions I wanted
03:47to ask, what are your main priorities?
03:50People talk about these first 100 days, what do you want to have achieved in that first
03:53100 days?
03:54I know a lot of it's been taken up by the pre-general election stuff.
03:57So let's go back to that, I was really clear and I'll reiterate what my priorities are.
04:01There is a frustration to me that the PURDA periods meant that we couldn't make the announcements
04:06that I wanted to do but I'm really clear that we're going to deliver the programme that
04:11was set out in my manifesto and got me over the line to victory.
04:14The focus will be on addressing the fault lines in the skills system and we're making
04:18good progress with that already, I'll be making some announcements later this week on that.
04:24We want to bring the buses back under public control and the next combined authority board
04:28meeting will set out very clearly what we need to do to improve the transport system
04:34in this region and given that 80% of the journeys by public transport in this region are by
04:40people that use the bus network, solving and dealing with the issues of the bus network
04:44is fabric to that.
04:45But also we need to attract investment in housing and not just housing for people that
04:51want to get on the housing ladder but we've got 20,000 families living in low quality,
04:55high cost temporary accommodation, that's blighting their lives.
04:58I want to address those issues by developing the largest programme of social housing building
05:03that we've seen in this region for 40 years.
05:05So those are my priorities.
05:08Delivering growth and attracting investment is on the back of that but one thing I also
05:11want to say to you what I've done, for me the focus is on that delivery and getting
05:16on with that really quickly.
05:18So I've changed the way we're going to deal with the governance, with the leaders here,
05:22they've no longer got cabinet portfolios, we're going to meet together once a month
05:26to discuss the most important issues for this region and we've done that now twice already
05:29and we've made big progress and leaders feel that they're far more involved in the destiny
05:33of this region than ever before.
05:36I've also closed down a whole series of boards that met without any specific purpose or role
05:42saving 9,000 hours of meeting time and we're doing further work to streamline decision
05:46making so this organisation, the Command Authority, can be far more relevant and far more agile
05:52in the future about how it supports business investment and develops the economy in the
05:57region.
05:58I mean it seems like you're talking business as language here with this streamlining and
06:00this kind of just razor sharp focus on growth which is absolutely, obviously the business
06:05community will be very much welcoming of that.
06:07I mean what are the opportunities for things like social housing though because obviously
06:11that is a key priority, there's people on waiting lists as you say, there's been a lot
06:16of focus on residential development in Birmingham and in obviously areas around it for a lot
06:22of years, particularly built to rent, but you're looking specifically at social housing.
06:26What are the opportunities there for business?
06:27Yes to be clear, so every £1,000 worth of investment in this region is important and
06:32we want to continue to attract that and I've had many conversations before I was elected
06:38and since with investors that want to deliver those programmes and I applaud them for that
06:42work and they play a very important role in delivering those housing.
06:46But there are fault lines in our housing system that mean that too many people aren't able
06:52to participate in the housing market or get access to homes that will give them better
06:56futures so the real role I can play, because I don't have direct planning powers, is using
07:01the housing resources here far more effectively and like many other mayors, Labour mayors
07:07across the country, the real focus we've got is on building social housing or low rent
07:12housing for people that are currently primarily either can't access housing at all or living
07:19in poor quality temporary accommodation.
07:21Those situations are stopping them getting on with their lives and are impacting on education
07:25and development and everything else so that's my focus.
07:29The role I can play is actually redirecting and redeploying the housing resources we've
07:34got available here in the region in a very, very different way.
07:37The previous mayor in eight years built 46 units of social housing, that's not just my
07:43view of policy failure, it's a derogation and I've said to my campaigner responsibility.
07:50So I'll be writing to the new Secretary of State requesting that almost £200m of resources
07:57we've got in this region that we can't use for housing because the rules are set too
08:01tight is to redeploying that to start a programme of social housing and we're building a case
08:06that when we have more homes in England resources devolved in 2026 that we can use the majority
08:11of that to support investment in and the delivery of the social housing that will remove people
08:17from housing waiting lists, remove people from temporary accommodation and start to
08:22give those people opportunities that are currently unavailable to them.
08:25Because it's quite interesting, you mentioned you have no statutory planning powers, at
08:29the moment it's all about unlocking potential isn't it from the point of view of the mayoral
08:34system.
08:35I mean what more powers would you want, would you want more powers over planning, would
08:39you want other powers as well?
08:41So the government have set out some initial themes around more devolved powers to mayor
08:47and particularly around I think a more strategic approach to planning.
08:51I'm very clear, I want to see planning removed as an obstacle to investment and development
08:58and whether that's on employment land for businesses, to development of new projects
09:03like the investment zone in the south east of the region around the green power park
09:06in Coventry and for housing and I have no issue with local authorities being the primary
09:13arbiter to decision makers around that.
09:16For me this approach to my mayoralty is about working in collaboration with our key partners
09:21whether that's in business, local authorities, universities or colleges so we can be best
09:26aligned about delivering a growth in our economy and delivering better opportunities that people
09:31live here.
09:32So even when one has those hard powers to make decisions you can only get things done
09:36by working with other stakeholders and that's my approach.
09:41My responsibility is set a direction of travel and landing points you want to get to and
09:46then working with other partners to deliver the route map to get there.
09:49Just to clarify for the business audience because we've got different tiers here of
09:53authority, what is it that your powers can do that will unlock development, whether it's
10:00social housing because of the local authority powers?
10:04So very clear, so if I have the freedom to use the housing powers more freely I would
10:09direct, I've said it before, the majority of that funding into supporting the development
10:14of social housing or housing at that rent.
10:16The best way I can deliver as a mayor is by working with other partners whether it's
10:20ELMOs and local authorities or housing associations so I can augment and supplement their programmes
10:26to deliver that stock as part of their developments and I will work with the private sector in
10:31the same way.
10:32So it really is about how we align our priorities and our development plans so we can deliver
10:36that housing largely through schemes that are being developed by others where we can
10:41use our resources to either augment or recalibrate their programmes so they've got a greater
10:47element of and have a greater emphasis on social housing as opposed to market rented
10:54or even other forms of intermediate rent.
10:56But the way that would work is you would have funding to make that to kind of snoop that
11:01way?
11:02No indeed, absolutely and if I had the freedom to use that £200 million I've talked about
11:06already for social housing, I could deliver 4,000 to 5,000 units of social housing within
11:1018 months by aligning that or augmenting development programmes currently being delivered
11:16by housing associations and that's the way I want to work, in partnership, in collaboration
11:21so we can improve everyone's lives in the West Midlands.
11:24What other powers would you wish to have?
11:27So I would like to have, it's not always about power, it's about the freedom to use the resources
11:33that are devolved yet more effectively so I've talked about the constraints around the
11:37housing budgets, it's ridiculous to have devolved funding that we can't deploy here
11:41because the rules around its use are drawn too tightly so it's about having far greater
11:45freedom and choice about how we use those resources to improve the evolution.
11:50So I'd like more freedom about using future transport resources and having more freedom
11:55about how we use those and I talked about the plans we've got on buses but there's also
12:00choices we need to make about our priorities around rail and metro going forward, I'd rather
12:05we were allowed to make those choices here rather than a national government.
12:11The other priority that is key to me and fabric to success in this region is dealing with
12:15the skills issue.
12:17We have about a quarter of the workforce in the West Midlands with low skills or no skills.
12:21That blights the lives of 25% of the workforce, those people largely come from the poorest
12:26parts of the region and means they are destined to lives of low pay and they suffer all the
12:31vulnerabilities and anxieties that go with that.
12:34We have to start investing in skills for young people, particularly those that aren't
12:37going to university and for those that leave school with few qualifications.
12:41So I really want to work with the new government alongside businesses and I emphasise that
12:45and colleges to design a skills system that meets the needs of the people in the West
12:52Midlands but is also aligned to the needs of businesses here.
12:55So if we can align that and we will do it through a regional industrial strategy or
12:59regional growth plan, by locking in together what we invest in skills and what businesses
13:04need we can make everyone in this region better off and deliver better paid jobs and start
13:09to change people's lives and give them access to the opportunities that they have been denied
13:14for more than 15 years.
13:15Can I come back to transport, you have mentioned the metro, are you looking at expanding it?
13:21I mean there were plans to expand it to much further than it currently is, is that?
13:27We are going to have, you will hear some announcements later this month about a reset
13:31of our transport priorities and we will be looking at future options but I will be very
13:36very clear, I am a mayor that wants to be a mayor for the everyday people of this region
13:43and our everyday economy and at the moment too many people can't get around this region,
13:48they can't get to the high streets, the doctors, to college or to work because the bus system
13:53is failing them, so my immediate priority is addressing the fault line in the transport
13:57system that is used by everyone every day, 80% of those people using public transport
14:03use the buses and currently they have not got a bus network that allows them to get
14:07on with their lives.
14:08Can I talk to you about the buses then, of course some people have called it a mini nationalisation
14:11of the buses in the area, just explain how it will work?
14:17So it's not nationalisation to be clear about that and it's no more no less than what Andy
14:23Burnham has done in Manchester, what Tracey Brabian is planning in Leeds, what Oliver
14:30Copley is planning in South Yorkshire and Steve Rotherham in Liverpool, it's a franchising
14:34system whereby we the people of the West Midlands and their representatives take a role in designing
14:42a bus network and a bus system that this region needs.
14:45As opposed currently, it's currently run by National Express, a private company, they
14:50have unilateral powers to cut routes and increase fares as they like and currently we are supplementing
14:56the resources they get through the fare box with enormous subsidies, 50 to 75 million
15:02pounds a year to keep routes running but we have little and no say on what routes run
15:07and where they run and that needs to change.
15:09I'll give an example of a failure, I was talking to Sully Hull Chamber of Commerce, there are
15:14lots of jobs in Sully Hull town centre, at the airport and at JLR that young people from
15:19North Sully Hull, the most deprived bits of the region can't get access to because the
15:23buses don't run at the right times, that is wrong, it's stopping young people particularly
15:28get access to the first jobs that can change their lives simply because those routes aren't
15:33viable for the current bus company to run.
15:35When we start to design that system ourselves, we will ensure that people can get access
15:41to work in colleges and SEPs particularly because we'll have to develop a bus network
15:45that meets their requirements but also a bus network that supports the needs of business
15:51too because currently many of those businesses are unable to recruit people from neighbouring
15:55communities because those people can't get to jobs.
15:58So what you're saying is it will have more of an economic strategy around it as opposed
16:02to being what the operators think is the most profitable route for them?
16:07Absolutely and I think you use absolutely the right phrase there, we need to ensure
16:12we have a bus network that works for everyone.
16:14How much more will that cost you though?
16:16So I was really clear in my campaign and I disagree with the previous Mayor on this as
16:22you know if you followed it, but I was really clear from the advice I sought from experts
16:26during my campaign that that cost would be between £20m and £30m, I stick to that number
16:32and I'm hoping we'll have more clarity on that number once I've had four briefings
16:36from the officers there.
16:37Because the point is you were currently subsidising anyway, you're just having better control
16:41of that?
16:42Better control of it, we also need to get more money into our bus network too, but to
16:47be really really clear it's costing this region a lot of money for a bus network that is failing
16:54too many of our people and I am looking to work with leaders to remedy that issue and
17:00to develop and invest in the bus system and the bus network so it meets the needs of everyone
17:05in this region.
17:06Okay, can I move on to rail, now I know you've been continuing these talks that Mr Street
17:13had with Andy Burnham about obviously the connections to the north, we know HS2 was
17:20canned going north from Birmingham, can I just ask how those conversations are going
17:24and where we are with that?
17:26Well yeah, you may know more than me, no certainly I've spoken to Andy Burnham about it and I've
17:31had one briefing with the consultants that undertook the work, I've been really clear,
17:38there is a clear place for improving connectivity north of the West Midlands going to Manchester,
17:45what I think needs to be addressed is the idea that this could ever be privately financed,
17:52that won't happen, there's not another rail network anywhere in the world that has been
17:56delivered simply by private finance without it being underwritten by a government and
18:04that makes sense and we've got consultants doing some helpful work from their desktop
18:10but no one is going to put a spade in the ground or seek planning permission unless
18:14any future scheme is underwritten by a future government and over the next few months I'll
18:20be having conversation with Labour's transport team to get a better understanding of what
18:25their priorities are and I will support that work and I'm hoping that we can make some
18:31progress on it but in the short to medium term my priority for this region is getting
18:36a bus network that improves our connectivity east to west particularly and addresses the
18:42fault lines we've got on our own transport system here that are preventing us from growing
18:45through our economy and not helping, if you like, people get to work and is not helping
18:52businesses that need to recruit people who need to get jobs and need to get to work from
19:00other places. So your focus is on internally basically, internally in the region? It is,
19:03now I'm not losing sight of big infrastructure projects that are important to this region,
19:08decisions on that will be outside my control and I will support the work going on but I
19:15think my immediate priority is to ensure we get the best transport settlement for this
19:19region. I think Rachel Reeves was asked this in her first press conference about HS2, would
19:27you like to see it back on the table? If the economic situation allowed it and there was
19:35enough money there but I think Rachel and others would have other priorities in the
19:38near term, we also need to face up to the fact that we need to take different decisions
19:44on transport. The reason we got this problem is not just that it was overspent or maybe
19:47part of the reason it was overspent is that the previous government decided to bury it
19:51in the ground between London and Birmingham and that cost a fortune and if we're engaging
19:56in supporting major transport infrastructure projects we need more confidence in their
20:00cost but we need to start delivering them very differently too. Can I ask you about
20:04working with other mayors, you've obviously talked about, you've chatted with Mr Burnham
20:08about this particular rail issue. I'm guessing you've already spoken to the other mayors
20:14in the area, I think you've hinted that. How closely are you going to be working for instance
20:19with the New East Midlands Mayor, Clare Walwood? Yes so I've got to know Clare well during
20:24our respective campaigns and I talked previously about the fact that all the mayors and candidates
20:29have been meeting once a month for the last six or seven months so I've got to know each
20:32other very well and I'm looking forward to working closely with Clare on the sort of
20:39joint missions for the Midlands and I think it's very important that we work closely to
20:44put the best case forward for the Midlands as a region, East and West and I look forward
20:49to working with her. In fact we spoke over the weekend about taking a really clear message
20:55into number 10 about the way we want to work to each other and particularly I think around
21:00improving transport connectivity between the East and West Midlands. Well I was going
21:06to come on to that Richard because that is a huge issue. We talked about internally in
21:11the prioritising transport within the West Midlands, connecting with the East and West
21:15because there's a lot of commuters and a lot of business people who move between the two
21:18areas quite a lot, daily in fact. I mean as someone who uses it themselves the rail system
21:24isn't particularly fit for purpose I think we'll say. What can we do, what can the two
21:30mayors do about that? Well we'll be producing our own economic plan, industrial strategy
21:37regional growth plan for the West Midlands. Clare will be developing her own and I think
21:43we're then looking to look at a way in which we can integrate this plan to cross the Midlands
21:48yet to best effect and transport connectivity in particular between the East and West Midlands
21:53I think is the way we can make the biggest difference both in terms of job creation,
21:59business efficiency, reducing transport times and giving businesses and people in work the
22:06potential and the access for further opportunity. So that's really, really important and myself
22:12and Clare are really clear about that. We'll be sitting down for dinner with Sir John Peace
22:16over the next couple of weeks to discuss how we can bring new life to the Midlands engine
22:21and resurrect relationships that I think have failed in the past and make the most of the
22:26opportunities. What's really important for both of us is that we build a case, a really
22:33a collaborative place, a case, a meaningful case of advocacy around the Midlands as an
22:39economic region and we work together jointly to do that. Can I ask you about the Midlands
22:44engine, you've touched on it, what needs to be done to revive it so to speak? Well I'm
22:52not sure, it's never had a life so it's not a case of bringing it back to life but I do
22:57think the challenge we've had in the past is they didn't have a mayoralty in the East
23:01Midlands so it was a bit of a one-sided conversation but we need to work together and I'll be delighted
23:08if we can do the job for the Midlands working jointly and under the banner of the Midlands
23:14engine in the same way that Manchester have used the Manchester powerhouse. So it is about
23:20branding, it is about connectivity and then it's about finding a really effective way
23:25to collaborate and also put the governance into place that can join up the way we make
23:31big strategic decisions relevant to the Midlands economy as a whole. Given that, do we have
23:36an advantage in the Midlands as we've got two elected regional mayors who can lobby
23:41government as opposed to the one mayors in the... do you understand what I mean? Well
23:46I hope so, particularly on those larger infrastructure projects, that's where it can have best effect
23:51but we talk about lobbying which is important, I see it more about us taking a series of
23:57offers to Westminster and Whitehall so you're not going there with a begging bowl, yep we've
24:02got to go there on the front foot as advocates for this region, set out a very clear vision
24:07that we have for this place and then discuss with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet about
24:15the difference we can make working together and how we can help by working jointly with
24:20the Labour government to deliver the economic growth and prosperity this region needs. I've
24:25got some questions from people that have registered to attend this event this morning. I'll kick
24:32off with the first one and it kind of was a question I was going to ask myself but I'll
24:36let Jeremy Parker of Fire and Landscape ask it. What are the strategic priorities for
24:43the West Midlands to encourage investment and how can they be delivered and the reason
24:47I ask that Richard is obviously there seems to be a priority that you've set out where
24:52you're growing existing businesses over attracting investment. No I haven't said that, what I
24:59have said is that I think we've got 300,000 small businesses in this region and I think
25:05they've been overlooked and I think we have overlooked the potential for supporting the
25:09growth of those entrepreneurial businesses, those family owned businesses and those SMEs
25:14and it's not just me saying that, it's those people. I had over 1,000 meetings during the
25:18two years of my campaign and the uniform view from those businesses on the ground is you
25:23need to help make us relevant to this region, help us grow and we'd expect you as Mayor
25:30to have more resonance with us across the region and they're quite right and I don't
25:34think they've been served as they should have done. That needs to happen hand in hand with
25:43the continued attraction of inward investment so it's not one to substitute for the other.
25:46What I would say when it comes to inward investment, I want those inward investors to invest in
25:52this region and I want them to create new jobs in this region and providing training
25:56opportunities for people in this region and I want them to help grow our economy and I
26:01want to ensure that when businesses locate here they are recruiting and they're employing
26:06people that are learning, living and training in this region and too often in the past when
26:10we've created new jobs in this region they've gone to people from outside this region and
26:14that's not going to offer this region or the people in this region the future that I want
26:18for them.
26:19Can I ask you one last question about Nick Singh from Alexander Daniels. He's talking
26:27about, I mean you've talked about working in collaboration but obviously he feels that
26:33we need to foster closer collaboration between local government and the private sector to
26:39drive growth and innovation in the region and I would add really the university sector
26:43as well but that seems to be, we seem to be working, we need to be working more closely
26:48together as a complete over.
26:53We do, we need to create a new care system. So I was very clear when I came into office
26:56on day one or two and I spoke to staff here, I said the difference I can make as new elected
27:01mayor, the staff at the combined authorities can make working in isolation, the difference
27:05we can make would be negligible at best. The only way we can turn this region around,
27:09and it needs to be turned around, we've got one of the poorest performing regional economies
27:14in the country. In the last five years Manchester's productivity and growth has outperformed us
27:19by close to 20%. We've got to address that. The best way we can address it is through
27:24collaboration and that means me working with councils, with businesses, with the FE colleges
27:29and our universities. I can't expect everyone to have their agendas and objectives completely
27:33aligned to mine but the more aligned we are, the bigger the difference we can make and
27:38that's when as we go in to develop this regional growth plan, we'll be working with the private
27:42sector, with our councils, with our colleges and our universities to drive that agenda
27:46forward. We've already made great progress talking about working with councils, working
27:50with the business community. We've got the investment zone to three of them across this
27:55region off the ground approved at the last board meeting. The Green Grigger Park site
27:59in Coventry in the south east of the region has the potential to attract five billion
28:03pounds worth of investment and create 31,000 jobs. That's what happens when we collaborate
28:08and we work together and we have a singular purpose and a real focus on delivering the
28:13right outcomes and that's how I want to work in the future. I've not got all the answers
28:18for all the challenges we face but I'm listening to people, I'm learning from what people are
28:22telling me and I want to work really closely with businesses and our councils and our colleges
28:26and our universities because if we work together, if we build out this integrated plan around
28:32growth, we can attract more businesses here, the businesses here will be more successful
28:37and we can change people's lives by giving them access to the skills they need to get
28:40better jobs and better paid jobs.
28:42Well thank you for that and thank you for giving your time to obviously do this interview.
28:47As I say you've got a really busy schedule, you're obviously off to London to see the
28:51new Prime Minister. Can we, and I think we are going to arrange something where you come
28:56to one of our events in person sometime in the future.
29:00I apologise for the day, there really is no other reason why I wouldn't be there, I really
29:04wanted to be with you. I'll be looking forward to meeting you again, updating you on our
29:08plans and by the time we meet next time, I'm hoping that there will be a lot more sight
29:13or more of a sight line about the things we're delivering, the trajectory we're on and the
29:18difference I'm planning to make.
29:19Well I look forward to that, thank you Richard.
29:21Thank you, thank you very much.