New fund and research announced in Westminster to unlock £56bn investment in South Wales and Western England

Currently London receives nearly half of the total investment that goes into UK companies from other countries at 43%.  Wales on the other hand receives only 2.9% whilst the South West of England receives 5%.

The Western Gateway area, from Swansea to Swindon brings in more overseas investment than the rest of the South West and Wales together but is still £56bn behind the UK average.

Plans for work to bridge this gap were announced at a launch event in the House of Commons on Tuesday 12th December which was supported by Secretary of State for Wales, David TC Davies MP, and hosted by Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and MP for Bristol North West, Darren Jones MP.

Darren Jones MP, said: “We have to unlock investment from private capital if we are going to get Britain building again and our economy back on track. As a Member of Parliament in the West of England, I’m delighted to have hosted investors and businesses from the region to discuss how to do just that.”

The event saw around 80 national and regional businesses, leaders and policy makers from the areas of net zero, devolution, levelling up and finance, with a focus on examining the best models for leveraging investment from both the public and private sectors.

The Western Gateway Partnership launched new research with EY to understand where the area could be doing more to attract private sector investment to fund businesses, innovation and infrastructure.  This work will make recommendations to government by summer 2024 on how to deliver greater levels of investment into the area to help the UK create new economic growth.

BBRC officially launched a new Net Zero fund at the event and highlighted how its place-based impact investment model, which has already realised more than £60 million of investment locally, can deliver tangible results around levelling up – delivering key worker housing and realising net zero targets in a way that brings local communities and investors together.

John Wilkinson, Director of the Western Gateway, said: “South Wales and Western England is home to incredible skilled and creative communities with world-leading manufacturing, universities and high-tech clusters across engineering, cyber and low carbon energy.

“We believe we have the potential to become a much more significant channel for investment to support economic growth. That’s why the Western Gateway, in partnership with EY, is launching new research to understand where these investments gaps are and which are the most pressing. We want to bridge these gaps and deliver concrete proposals which can achieve our area’s full potential.

“We’re delighted to be including BBRC as one of our case studies, whose operational model has already shown such positive results for the West of England and as an example of what can be achieved.”

Ed Rowberry, Chief Executive, BBRC, said: “Locally-led practical action and catalytic investment are key to delivering impactful social and environmental outcomes. BBRC’s model transforms the way that finance delivers impact and our place-based approach means that impact is in tune with local need rather than against it.

“We are able to raise capital from investors by offering attractive risk-adjusted returns and impact outcomes, to invest in real estate, infrastructure and businesses in the South West. We’ve proven that a small amount of seed funding can go a long way – for example, Bristol City Council’s £4m commitment into our impact investment fund, City Funds, has unlocked £34m total investment in SMEs in the region.

“By working alongside Western Gateway and others, we hope to scale our model to unlock further investment in the region and tackle key issues such as housing and the climate crisis.”

You can read more about this work and our latest briefing on our investment pages.