Commitment, ambition and partnership at first Western Gateway conference

A week ago at the ICC Newport, it felt like the Western Gateway had come of age.

On Tuesday 8 March we held our Partnership’s inaugural conference, Green Growth in the Western Gateway. Sponsored by Deloitte, almost 300 people joined us from both sides of the Severn. The aim of the day was to explore how we can best work across our area to drive green, inclusive growth. As we got set to start, the energy in the room was almost tangible and it stayed that way throughout the day.

It would be impossible to do justice to the richness of the conversation in this blog. But (with that caveat!), I have endeavoured to summarise some key themes from the day below.

Commitment

I’m often asked whether Governments in Wales and Westminster are ‘supportive’. That question was well and truly put to bed.

The Secretary of State, Michael Gove MP’s backing could not have been more evident as he encouraged the partnership to pursue its ambition to go from a national to international powerhouse. And the Minister for the Economy Vaughan Gething MS was clear in setting out the Welsh Government’s commitment to being our willing partner.

Evident in spades, and perhaps even more importantly, was the commitment of everyone in the room to a shared endeavour. Simply put, ensuring that people and places across our area are universally able benefit from the opportunities it has to offer.

Ambition

I would challenge anyone to say that the Partnership is short on ambition.

Already spear-heading the ‘Severn Edge’ bid to bring the UK’s first Fusion Energy plant to our area, our Chair, Katherine Bennett, announced that the Partnership would appoint an Independent Commission to explore how best to harness the renewable energy potential of the Severn Estuary. In common with our developing programmes of work on strategic rail investment and our future hydrogen economy, these programmes of work take a long-term view and could deliver dividends that extend across our area and beyond our borders. Understanding how best to realise this potential will need the insight and expertise of many. We are now pressing ahead to convene this. As Cllr Huw Thomas said,” if we didn’t exist you would have to invent us”.

Partnership

Whether discussing Levelling Up, investment and innovation or our future as a green energy super-cluster, the transformational potential of partnership was a recurring theme.

Joanna Rowelle from Arup provided a place-based perspective, David Warburton one on Urban Splash’s working with Swansea to regenerate its places and Prof. Hugh Brady announced the Western Gateway’s very own first strategic partnership with the GW4 Alliance. Watch this space for more to come on that.

I’ve long been passionate about partnership working (as many will attest!) and am keenly aware that it is only through delivering with and through others that the Western Gateway will be able to realise its ambitions. Given the hubbub of conversation and connections made throughout the day, I am certain that this wasn’t lost on anyone and that you could confidently strike out ‘participants’ in terms of describing the audience, and swap in partners in practice or in the making.

Purpose

Speakers and participants alike spanned our geography, sectors, and communities. All spoke to a common purpose. To connect communities with opportunities, decarbonise our economy and ensure that talent across our area thrives.

Cllr Jane Mudd spoke to this purpose being at the heart of our partnership. It was also evident in Catherine Lewis La Torre’s highlighting how the British Business Bank is supporting SMEs on their net zero journey, Greg Mothersdale speaking about the work of Clwstwr and the creative industries to ‘green the screen’ and Joanna Pontin’s overview of the Blue Eden project and its focus on creating a place for people to live, work and thrive.

Everyone was there to make a difference.

Scale

Cllr Toby Savage spoke to the scale of the ‘Severn Edge’ STEP Fusion opportunity (over 30,000 jobs and almost £3bn GVA) and Ian Edwards highlighted the potential for the Western Gateway to work with business and industry to crowd in investment and drive export growth at scale. But the Western Gateway was far from the only organisation in the room thinking (and acting) big.

We heard how Bristol Airport, AB Ports and Cardiff Capital Region are all leading action to decarbonise the way people and things move. ‘Sparky’ conversations with leaders from SETSquared, Fintech Wales, the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult, Clwstwr, CBI, Innovate UK and more to highlighted action that is underway across our area to inform policy, enable enterprise, and creating market shaping technologies and services.

This ‘big thinking’ was matched with deep thinking around how to build and strengthen our understanding of the place-based nature of our challenges. Not least by Prof. Phil Taylor and his leading work to understand the Western Gateway’s energy system and how to decarbonise it.

Finally, a Call to Arms. The Western Gateway is your Powerhouse. We want to hear from and work with people in the room and in our area as we strive to make change happen for our 4.4million residents and grow our £107billion economy. Mayor Rees made this plain in commenting on the need for the day to be a prelude to delivery and not an opportunity for a free cup of coffee. Now for action.

If you joined us, I’d be pleased to know if these chime with you. If you didn’t, I hope they might inspire you to do so next time!