A group of UK cities unveiled its bid for to achieve more economic growth to a European audience this week.
The innovative Key Cities group was formed to give a voice to cities with a population of between 250,000 and 500,000 people to influence the government’s agenda for rebalancing the economy and increasing prosperity as well as giving its member cities more economic opportunities.
Now featuring 22 cities across England from Sunderland to Plymouth, the four main messages of its Manifesto for Growth will be presented to global investors, developers and other property industry figures from throughout Europe at MIPIM in Cannes, France, next Wednesday.
The future of city centres – which is being led by Coventry City Council – devolution, skills and employment, and innovative finance will be the topics discussed.
Cllr Ann Lucas, leader of Coventry City Council, said Coventry’s high-profile standing at MIPIM had led to the area being able to offer the Key Cities group a platform for its international launch.
“Within the Key Cities group, we are taking the lead in the future of city centres which is a subject we fully support because of the massive impact a thriving city centre can have on jobs, education and leisure time,” she said.
“City centres have an increasingly important role to play in attracting and retaining highly-skilled jobs, enticing jobs instead of automatically heading towards out-of-town business parks and because its facilities mean they are ideally placed to act as a pilot for new schemes.
“One of the main messages of the cities involved in the group is that if local authorities are given more financial freedom from central government they can improve the economic performance of their city because they have the local knowledge to divert resources to where a real difference can be made.
“The fact Coventry City Council is becoming an anchor tenant in the development of Friargate, which will soon be underway, in the city centre emphasises our support of the ethos of Key Cities and that is one of the messages we will be getting across at MIPIM.”
The Leader of Sunderland City Council, Councillor Paul Watson, who is chairman of Key Cities, said the 22 cities represented nearly seven million people who could make a big difference to the UK’s economic recovery.
He said: “Our Manifesto for Growth will outline to European property professionals how key cities in England are working together, the similar issues we share that we want to resolve and how we plan to achieve those.
“We hope the messages will strike a chord with property professionals that we are all can-do cities that are determined to attract inward investment to our cities because we want to improve our communities.”
Eighteen companies and organisations are part of the Coventry and Warwickshire MIPIM Partnership which will hold several events designed to attracted investors and raise the profile of the region at the largest show of its type in the world. Their presence is entirely funded by private sector companies with the majority attending the show.