Pan-Regional Partnerships like the Western Gateway have been highlighted as an area for potential savings in the Budget today, pending consultation.
Whilst a wide range of organisations support the Western Gateway, with local authorities and businesses supporting the organisation to grow and deliver a range of workstreams across Net Zero and economic growth, funding from central government is necessary to underpin the day-to-day running of the partnership and give others the confidence to invest.
We believe the Western Gateway has a unique offer for the UK, representing a functioning economic geography which hundreds of thousands of people travel every day for work, leisure and family. Together, the area has been predicted to become the fastest growing area outside of London, if vital work to strengthen ties across business and attract large opportunities continues.
Our recently launched “Plan for Sustainable Growth” (17th October 2024) lays out a coherent plan to over double the size of our economy by 2050 with support from 28 local authorities, universities and businesses who have united through this strategy. Without the coordination of our partnership, this plan will not be delivered and the UK will be poorer as a result.
This news is not the outcome our board of local leaders was hoping for. During these hard economic times, we will continue to make the case for our cross border economic area as an essential means for creating the growth and opportunities we need for our communities to thrive. We will also seek to understand what options are available to continue to fund this cross-border work.
Update – 22nd November
The consultation is now live and closes 16th December 2024 at 12.00pm. Very soon, we will be sending out advice to all our stakeholders on how best to respond to the consultation questions. Please get in contact with secretariat@western-gateway.co.uk for more details.
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