The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce has welcomed a Government announcement that the region has been granted City Deal status.
The Chamber is one of the partners within the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership that bid for and clinched the status.
City Deals are designed to put cities and areas in control of the economic opportunities and challenges they face and to give them increased powers to meet local and regional needs.
The CWLEP proposal was centred around advanced manufacturing and engineering and looked at ways of supporting and speeding up growth among companies in that sector.
The Chamber helped to deliver the bid to Government and has supported the City Deal project throughout the process.
The successful bid will see a ‘Clearing House’ established that will offer businesses – initially 450 companies in advanced manufacturing and engineering – a single point of contact to support their growth.
Advisors – including the Chamber and its UKTI service – will be part of a single point of contact and a signposting service to all companies in order to find the best individuals and organisations to support their growth. As well as a physical Clearing House, there will also be a website and hotlines.
Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “This is great news for Coventry and Warwickshire and it can have a real, lasting impact on our economy.
“This has been a great example of a public/private partnership working together to bring about a positive change to our region.
“It very much boils down to some of the recommendations made by Lord Heseltine in giving power to cities and regions because they understand their own local economies and how best to support growth.
“It doesn’t mean we are suddenly getting a big chunk of money from Government to spend. It just means that, through the CWLEP, the region has a degree of autonomy to set its own economic agenda.
“For businesses in advanced manufacturing and engineering it means this one simple thing: they don’t have to go ‘shopping around’ for support to grow.
“It doesn’t matter if they are looking to export, to find new premises, to train or take on new staff to solve a skills shortage or to purchase new equipment, they will now have to make one phone call and the Chamber will point them to the help and support they need.
“The ultimate aim is to create growth and jobs in the area and then look to roll out the idea into other sectors.”
