Busy first month at the Western Gateway - view from the director's chair

After nearly a full month with the Western Gateway, it’s been a whirlwind of visits across the patch, getting to know new people and organisations.

It really has been a fabulous first three and a half weeks and I remain incredibly excited both by the excellent team driving the Western Gateway but also by the passion everyone has for the area and the desire to see it flourish.

Here are a few things I’ve learned during my time:

We have huge ambition:

• Meeting with our Hydrogen Steering group, it was great to learn about the work to develop a regional strategy to ensure our area is at the forefront of developing this green energy source
• I have taken part in discussions around our plans for an independent commission to explore sustainable energy in the Severn Estuary – something I’m very excited to be able to share more detail on in the new year.
• Was great to meet Cyber experts in Cheltenham to prepare for a roundtable which we’ll be holding in the New Year to build on our potential to really push our area as the UK’s top Cyber Super Cluster
• Having met with the Western Gateway All Party Parliamentary in Westminster – I know the desire to see our work on developing a 2050 Rail Vision for the area published and I am looking forward to following up on this soon.

There is lots of opportunity out there:

• In my first week I attended a great Western Gateway roundtable in Cardiff for the Lord Mayor of the City of London.  This showcased some of the world-class low carbon infrastructure projects we have, such as The Global Centre of Rail Excellence, Swansea’s Blue Eden Project and LettUs Grow.
• In my second week I met with Innovate UK to hear more about their plans for Innovation Accelerators and how we might work in partnership to deliver them.
• Last week started with a fascinating visit to Bristol Port – reminding me of the important role all of our ports play in acting as a hub for international trade, boosting the area and the UK as a whole.
• I visited IAPPs at the Bristol and Bath Science Park to see the pioneering work they are doing on propulsion as part of the incredible R&D facilities we have across the area.
• I discussed with civil servants plans to support careers outside of London and potentially bring departments out of London - something that we would want to continue to make a strong case for.

Across all of my meetings I have seen the desire to push our area into the future but doing this in a way that is creative, collaborative, respects the beauty of the place we call home and benefits our future generations. So many people have said to me that how we go about our collective endeavour is as important as what we do.

My main reflection is how much opportunity there is. There’s certainly no danger of us not having enough to get on with – in fact, I wonder if we have the opposite challenge. How to pick the few really game changing opportunities for our area and shape the conversations with our two governments around those.

Wishing you all peace and blessings at Christmas and looking forward to picking up again in January.