We’re committed to ensuring your voice is heard in your region, and that real, practical change can be driven to boost productivity and prosperity. To do this, the CBI sits on business groups across Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in the regions, making sure that businesses voice is central to their plans to drive growth across all English regions.
This monthly update gives the latest news from across the regions focused on the CBI Seize the Moment priorities; to achieve net zero, driving innovation, putting business at the heart of UK trade policy shaping a more agile skills system, and instilling a culture of valuing health more as a nation.
Latest headlines
- The Crown Estate has signed agreements for lease for six offshore wind projects which could begin to generate green electricity by the end of the decade and have the potential to provide enough renewable electricity for more than seven million homes. Three of the six projects are located off the North Wales, Cumbria and Lancashire coast, and three are located in the North Sea off the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coast.
- Two devolution deals for Suffolk and Norfolk have been announced offering the counties in the East of England more powers and funding worth over £1bn.They are both ‘level three’ deals, which means that the counties will change their governance model to appoint a directly elected leader.
- Government backs a new pan-regional partnership (PRP) for the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor - The partnership covers Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and parts of Oxfordshire - an area which has a population of about 3.5 million people.
- The government is reviewing whether to appoint levelling up directors after interviewing just a handful of people for the 12 posts last year. Dehenna Davison, levelling up minister, has said that the whole process is now being looked at within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities.
Decarbonisation
- Midlands and East of England: Cadent and National Grid Gas Transmission have joined forces to explore just how much hydrogen will be needed to supply demand from industry across the West Midlands and East of England region, kickstarting a hydrogen economy in the process.
- South West: A partnership bid to help Bristol reach net zero and bring £1bn of investment into the city has been launched. The Bristol City Leap initiative between the council and renewable energy company Ameresco is aiming to transform the way Bristol generates, distributes, stores and uses energy.
- North East and Yorkshire and the Humber: US battery manufacturer Nanotech Energy has revealed it is investigating seven UK sites for a potential £1bn gigafactory. Under the plans, the UK could become a second home for the production its graphene-powered lithium-ion batteries.
- London: The Mayor of London has launched a £110 million City Hall funded vehicle scrappage scheme to help businesses, charities, low income and disabled Londoners, to replace or retrofit their old, polluting vehicles. Further details about the scheme can be viewed here.
Innovation
- Midlands: The Multi-Area Connected Automated Mobility project, being led by Conigital has received £8.3m from the government alongside an industry grant of £6.9m to develop key infrastructure in the West Midlands to help self-driving vehicles become commercially viable. The project aims to establish a control centre in the region where self-driving vehicles can be monitored from, using 5G technology.
- South West: Cornish Lithium has proposed a new exploration project near Blackwater. The Penryn-based mining company is looking to demonstrate commercial capability of lithium production in Cornwall for potential use in products such as batteries for electric vehicles.
- North West: Manchester remains the fastest growing tech hub in the North West and one of the biggest outside London and the South East, according to new figures. Its tech companies raised a record £532m of funding in 2022, a 50% increase on 2021’s figures.
Trade
- North East: New figures have revealed passenger numbers have hit their highest level since 2011 at Teesside International Airport. No fewer than 173,006 people used the terminal in 2022 – up more than 200% on the previous covid-hit year.
- Midlands: Through a combination of attracting new private investment and providing skills training, the West Midlands is seeing new jobs created that have long been outsourced overseas. An innovative training course funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has helped dozens of local people start new careers in the region’s buoyant financial sector.
- South West: Plymouth is hoping to welcome an influx of French tourists to the city this year through a new initiative with cross-channel operator Brittany Ferries. The partnership, which is being financed by VisitBritain’s GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund, will promote the benefits of sailing to Britain’s Ocean City.
Workforce
- North West: BT Group is to recruit 29 apprentices and graduates in Manchester as part of its September 2023 intake. The company will recruit talent in Manchester across areas including cyber security, network engineering and data analysis to support the UK's fast-growing digital sectors.
- Yorkshire and Humber: A new training scheme that will help futureproof small and medium businesses across West Yorkshire has been launched by Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin. Employers across the region will now be able to access a series of ‘Skills Bootcamps’, which will upskill adult workers and help businesses retain staff by investing in their development and training.
- North East: Metro Mayor for the North of Tyne, Jamie Driscoll, has called on companies to demonstrate their commitment to providing good jobs by signing up to The North of Tyne Combined Authority’s (NTCA) ‘Good Work Pledge’ scheme.
- London: CBI (London) continues to engage with the London Local Skills Improvement Plan. The key areas of focus for this LSIP are; Green and Construction, Hospitality, Creative and Digital, Health and Social Care
Health
- South East: Planning permission has been secured for the next phase of development at Oxford Technology Park, providing the opportunity to build the much-needed lab-space for the county's life science sector.
- North West: A planning application has been submitted to build a private hospital at Peel L&P’s £5.5bn Liverpool Waters project. The ‘City Hospital’ is a collaboration of well established Liverpool medical practices.
- Yorkshire & Humber: Norwegian care technology company Sensio AS is to establish an office in Leeds. The care technology company aims to improve the health and wellbeing of elderly people around Britain.
- Midlands: Celadon Pharmaceuticals has announced that its Midlands facility, based on the outskirts of Birmingham, has been registered for the good manufacturing practice standard by the UK’s health watchdog for the production of its medicinal cannabis.
How you can get involved
The CBI wants your views on how we can drive growth and level up our rural and coastal communities. We want to understand the opportunities and barriers to growth, and how legislative reform could make a positive difference. Contact Nicky Williams for more information and to share your views.
Contact the Regional Growth Team
- Mark Goldstone – Head of Regional Policy
- Jake Morris – North East and Yorkshire and Humber
- Alex Guest - North West
- Fleur Geernaert– South East and East of England
- Nicky Williams – South West
- Josh Male – Midlands
- Simon Dishman – London