East Birmingham & North Solihull

Birmingham City Council & Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

We have been retained over a series of commissions throughout which we have defined, advocated for, and begun to implement a new strategic approach to driving inclusive economic growth in East Birmingham & North Solihull (EBNS).

EBNS is a young, vibrant, socially, culturally, and economically diverse part of the West Midlands, comprised of 25 wards with a total population of more than 370,000 residents. The area is a major growth priority for the UK, with HS2, UK Central and other major employment sites within and around the area creating the potential for a decade of renewal and opportunity. While the communities of EBNS are diverse and differentiated, they also face some shared challenges. Deprivation is consistently high across the corridor, health outcomes are poor, and physical connectivity to economic and social opportunity is limited.

We established a shared programme of work between Birmingham, Solihull and the West Midlands Combined Authority to scope the role for new powers and tools through the Trailblazer Deeper Devolution Deal to support enhanced investment and intervention in the area. Through this work and subsequent negotiations we agreed to bring together:

  • A new form of governance for the area with political and officer engagement from the two local authorities and partners delivering services across the area;

  • Enhanced infrastructure delivery focus, including a number of sites ringfenced for enhanced local business rate retention; and

  • A vision for and pilots-based approach to public services delivery focused on long-term public service savings.

We facilitated extensive engagement, analysis and advocacy to secure buy-in to the EBNS area of opportunity, and to secure business rate retention powers across a series of strategic sites throughout the corridor. Most recently, this has involved developing a long-term investment strategy for EBNS which distils an outcomes-based approach to intervention in the area, as well as priorities for investment and intervention.