“Invest in Walsall”

1. “Invest in Walsall” Michael Tichford Assistant Director Regeneration & Housing

2. Strategic Fit of Walsall’s Regeneration Agenda • Walsall Sustainable Community Strategy: A vision for 2021 • Regional and Sub-Regional Strategies including: City Region, Regional Spatial Strategy, Regional Economic Strategy, Black Country Joint Core Strategy (due 2011) • Homes & Communities Agency Single Conversation (2009 onwards) • Walsall Local Economic Assessment (due 2011) • Walsall Housing Strategy (2009) • Neighbourhood Management Models • Building Schools for the Future / Local Education Partnership Plus (2009 onwards)

3. Walsall’s Key Regeneration Priorities • Walsall Town Centre / WRC priority area • Walsall Waterfront • Walsall Gigaport • St Matthews Quarter • Darlaston Strategic Development Area (DSDA) • Birchills Canalside Communities • SRF • Bentley • Pleck • SRF1 – Brownhills / Goscote / Moxley • Darlaston • Willenhall

4. The Time and Opportunity to ‘Take Stock’ • Why we are taking stock: • Changing economic landscape • Changing demographics • How we might respond: • Using innovative and creative thinking to unlock new opportunities

5. Moving Forward • Walsall’s New Opportunities • Walsall College – Opened September 2009 • Waterfront South Planning Consent awarded (November 2009) and Kickstart funding approved October 2009 • SRF 1 Outline Business Case - submitted January 2010 • Morrisons Willenhall - Opening January 2010 • Manor Hospital – Due for completion March 2011 • BSF – Wave 6a (start 2009 and schools to start being occupied 2014 onwards) • Tesco Town Centre - Opening January 2011

6. New impetus- “Total Place” & “Place Making” • Walsall is embracing government thinking towards ‘total place’ as a mechanism for delivering its regeneration and growth agendas • The HCA’s approach to ‘place making’ and the development of the Local Investment Plan is an ideal mechanism for Walsall stakeholders to further develop their partnership working. • Walsall’s Local Investment Plan can underpin the regeneration priorities within the Borough and can consider how we might start to ‘pool resources’ into the proposed LIP priority areas

7. Place Making Timetable • Establish via ‘single conversation’ housing & regeneration priorities for Borough 2009 • Local Investment Plan 2010 • Thematic Partnership within Walsall Partnership established within the Sustainable Communities Strategy and prioritiesed within the LIP.2010 • Local Investment Agreements 2011

8. Consultation - Outcomes That the Local Investment Plan should embrace the themes of People, Place and Prosperity • Investment- • Partnership – appropriate partners appropriate place • Process- improve commissioning and involving partners at the right time • Knowledge and understanding about what everything people can bring – dating service • Innovate on delivery models-realise assets and raise aspiration

9. Consultation Outcomes • Strategic Fit – • Shaping place needs to be done together • Key government agencies need to be involved and understand our priorities • We need to let private development know we are reducing their risk • Systems thinking and spatial context – brand Walsall

10. Consultation Outcome • Priorities and Themes • City centre development is a driver with clear pathways to districts • The boundaries need to be flexible enough not to exclude and enable developments which support diversity • Secure community ownership of the boundary • Understand the cross boundary implications ie Moxley and Darlaston • Health, aspiration, skills, worklessness, continue to be the themes given greatest priority within the Sustainable Communities Strategy

11. What next • We will be looking for the Partnership to endorse the process • We will be looking to the Partnership to support work on new development models • Looking at shared procurement process to enable these new delivery models to succeed • This is the core agenda for LSPs, what role does WP see for itself in this approach?