May 2022
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
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This conference examined latest developments and next steps for the Western Gateway.
Areas for discussion included priorities for economic growth, infrastructure, and environmental sustainability in the region.
Stakeholders and policymakers considered how the region can achieve potential benefits from plans in the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper and the Western Gateway Partnership’s latest policy agenda.
They also examined case studies on local initiatives and assessed what can be learned from them to enhance the region’s potential.
Overall, the agenda brought out latest thinking on priorities for:
- finance - attracting investment & funding for the regional economy ◦ support for inclusive cross-border growth ◦ promoting the global profile of the Gateway
- competitiveness - enabling the Gateway to stand out amid other local deals & partnerships ◦ harnessing the digital innovation sector to boost productivity, skills & investment
- infrastructure - development priorities to support cross-border connectivity ◦ learning from regeneration projects such as in Swansea
- a green Gateway - sustainable development ◦ opportunities for support via government green policy plans ◦ utilising the area’s natural potential to decarbonise energy, transport & industry
- policy and partnerships - tackling regional economic & social inequalities ◦ support for cross-border economic partnership
We were pleased to be able to include keynote sessions with David T C Davies MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales, Office of the Secretary of State for Wales; Dr Jo Dally, Director, Western Gateway; Councillor Kevin Guy, Leader, Bath and North East Somerset Council; and Councillor Rob Stewart, Leader, Swansea Council, as well as contributions from Athanasios Grammatikopoulos, Strategy Lead - Climate Action, Connected Places Catapult; Peter Kydd, Chair, Southwest Infrastructure Partnership, Institution of Civil Engineers; and speakers from Bristol Airport; Bristol City Council; The Bristol Port Company; Deloitte; the Institute of Coding; Newport City Council and Western Gateway Partnership; Ripple Energy; Severn Estuary Partnership; and Swindon & Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
The chairs were: Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP, Vice-Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Western Gateway; and Ruth Jones MP, Shadow Minister for Agri-Innovation and Climate Adaptation; and Officer, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Wales in the World.
The conference was an opportunity for stakeholders to consider the issues alongside key policy officials who attended from BEIS; Defra; the DLUHC; the CLGU; DfT; DIT; DCMS; the DWP; the ORR; UKSA; and the Welsh Government.
