The contribution of regional policy

The Regional Spatial Strategy recognises that the outward migration of people and jobs from the region’s Major Urban Areas is unsustainable. It sets out policies for urban renaissance, creating attractive urban areas where people want to live, with vibrant town and city centres and high quality urban environments, that can meet their own economic and social needs; and rural renaissance through the improvement of choice in housing, diversification of the rural economy, improved transport links, and environmental protection. The Regional Housing Strategy sets the strategic context for improved housing choice in the region, supporting the central principles of the Regional Spatial Strategy and the delivery of the Government’s Sustainable Communities agenda.

The Regional Transport Strategy highlights the need for the regional transport network to be improved to facilitate a more sustainable pattern of development, improving accessibility and mobility, reducing the need to travel, providing better public transport links and enabling and encouraging sustainable transport choices. The West Midlands Transport Delivery Plan identifies priority areas for activity to focus in order to deliver more sustainable transport both in terms of the provision of transport services and the choices that individuals make.

The Regional Economic Strategy and Spatial Strategy seek to encourage the development of high-growth employment sectors and the modernisation of existing traditional industries. Economic development is promoted in the areas of greatest need through regeneration zones and high technology corridors, whilst high value-added sectors are promoted through the development of business clusters.

The Regional Energy Strategy sets targets for increasing energy efficiency to reduce overall energy use, increasing the proportion of energy that comes from renewable sources, and exploiting the business opportunities in both energy efficiency and renewable energy for the benefit of the regional economy. The West Midlands produces very little of the energy it uses, and the Regional Energy Strategy also sets out plans to ensure a secure supply of energy in the future.

In order to address the unsustainable trends in the way the Region has developed in the past, the different agencies and organisations working in the Region and the strategies, policies and plans they produce and deliver will need to work together. No one policy area can be addressed without taking into account the wider issues. Housing, for example, can have a huge impact on improving neighbourhoods by providing well-designed buildings and places; it can help deliver reductions in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by incorporating energy efficiency measures and renewable energy technology; it contributes to economic development by ensuring that skilled workers come to and stay in the Region; it can contribute to sustainable transport by making the best use of existing infrastructure, whilst also having an enormous impact on demand for transport in different areas; it can contribute to the health of the Region by providing dry, warm shelter; and decent, pleasant places to live are a fundamental building block of a sustainable community. However, some of these issues fall outside the remit of the Regional Housing Strategy and therefore need to be dealt with by other strategies, policies and plans and at sub-regional and local level; highlighting the need for effective linkages across strategy and policy development.

Email: admin@swm.org.uk | Tel: 0121 449 4406