£76M Funding Set To Boost Birmingham’s Status As ‘City Of Choice’ For Investors And Residents

This will enhance prospects for residents and businesses and underpinning Birmingham’s status as a city of choice for investors, after plans were unveiled in a meeting of the Cabinet.

The funding comes from the integrated settlement, negotiated through the trailblazer devolution deal agreed with the Government and West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).  It covers five areas: local growth and place, adult skills and employment, retrofit, housing and regeneration, and transport, and helps to deliver the Council’s Economy and Place Strategy (EPS), which was also agreed at the Cabinet.

Specific investment includes funding to assist local businesses and social enterprises to grow, boosting the skills and opportunities of residents, and supporting the diverse, creative, art and cultural scene including film, music and tourism. It funds sports and participation, helping community anchor organisations to support their local area and bring underutilised spaces back into use. The funding package also includes upgrading of homes through retrofit works and enabling active travel schemes. 

The EPS will help drive investment in specific places to support the expansion of key economic sectors for jobs growth, the local business environment, transport improvements and employment opportunities for residents. 

In particular, the EPS outlines a set of major opportunities of the East Birmingham North Solihull growth area, which will receive an additional boost following this week’s announcement that a share of £2.4billion of transport funding from the Government will be used to extend services from Birmingham city centre to the new sports quarter. The extensive opportunities in the EPS in the East include:

• The East Birmingham Growth Zone sites of Bordesley Park, (the location of Birmingham City Football Club’s proposed ‘Sports Quarter’ development), Tyseley Green Innovation Quarter, and the new HS2 control centre with accompanying commercial land.
• The Birmingham Knowledge Quarter (BKQ) which is a site within the West Midlands Investment Zone 
• Most of the Enterprise Zone in the heart of the city centre, with key sites of Smithfield, Digbeth and Curzon.

The EPS also highlights significant housing sites including Langley, Ladywood and Druids Heath for large scale housing delivery alongside priorities for housing retrofit. 

The strategy aims to grow the local economy in an inclusive way so people and places across the city benefit, and to promote sustainable, bottom-up opportunities for economic, social and cultural projects across Birmingham, including social enterprises and partnerships with organisations that offer knowledge of local needs and opportunities to develop local solutions.

Councillor Sharon Thompson, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, welcomed the agreement of the funding and strategy, saying: “The new funding can help us move forward in growing the success of our city and expanding benefits beyond the City Centre, securing more jobs and investment and providing support for businesses and residents, such as skills training to move into the jobs.

“This additional funding helps underpin Birmingham’s status as a great place to live, work and invest. Key to our Economy and Place Strategy is developing stronger local capacity to enhance local centres and high streets, anchored in co-delivery with communities.” 

For media enquiries, please email press.office@birmingham.gov.uk

You can find out more about the proposed EPS funding by downloading the report that was presented to Cabinet on June 3rd 2024.