Last Wednesday, it was our quarterly Bristol Initiative meeting, where 100 business leaders gathered to listen to a range of speakers, including Metro Mayor, Dan Norris, discuss the challenges and opportunities facing our city.

This event was hosted at Openreach’s new central Bristol office, and as Victoria Matthews, our Bristol Initiative Director, noted – it was a prime spot for viewing development across our city centre. From the event space, you could see numerous building sites and cranes across the city; an encouraging sign of investment into Bristol’s central business district.

However, it was also clear, from all the speakers, that we need more investment across the city to drive inclusive and sustainable growth; this includes much-needed investment in transport and mobility, education and skills.

Dr Justin Morris’s first address as New President of The Bristol Chamber & Initiative

Dr Justin Morris, our new President of The Bristol Chamber & Initiative, opened the event and stressed the role and responsibility business has in shaping the cities in which they operate. 

“We now have a series of existential challenges to address such as climate change, habitat loss and population growth that require a more combined focus and long-term commitment. Cities have a specific and important role to address these challenges, and we need a strong, responsible business community to drive positive change, which is why the Bristol Initiative exists.”

He said that city dwellers across Bristol must experience the benefits of urban life for the city to thrive. “It is in all our interests that our city is a pleasant place to live, one that is easy to commute and one that offers opportunities for all.”

Dr Morris said he is eager as President to work with businesses to identify initiatives to help address the challenges we face, and realise the opportunities. 

Openreach’s Martin Williams outlines commitment to workforce investment, and a ‘balanced build’

Martin Williams, Partnership Director South West at Openreach, the UK’s digital network business and one of our Initiative members, described how the company is investing £15 billion to upgrade from copper to Full Fibre. Openreach estimates that there will be a £42 billion boost to productivity in in the South West as a result. 

He discussed the workforce requirement; over 10,000 engineers need to be recruited for the roll-out. The company is asking the government to reform the apprenticeship levy to support this. He compared the transition from copper to Full Fibre to the shift the car industry is undergoing; from petrol to electric. It is landmark, and requires the right workforce. Openreach will be upskilling 30,000 engineers and investing a further £7 million over five years to expand civil engineering capabilities. 

He also stressed that Openreach is committed to a balanced build, which means not just deploying Full Fibre in urban areas, but harder-to-reach communities too.

Victoria Matthews: Social mobility always has been, and will continue to be, a core focus

Bristol Initiative Director, Victoria Matthews, gave the audience an update on the Initiative’s current work. This includes our support of OurCity2030, which aims to support young people from low-income households, starting from inner city Bristol, to secure a median salary role by 2030.

Victoria Matthews also discussed The Growing Together Alliance, a partnership that is driving place-based economic strategy to boost regional productivity and good growth, including strengthening innovation, spatial planning and foreign direct investment. The alliance will work together to leverage each region’s particular strengths. It is chaired by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and also includes BusinessLDN, Business South, Business West, Cambridge Ahead and the North West Business Leadership Team. 

Although not Bristol based, the Swindon Futures Commission, which was initiated by Business West, represents a huge area of growth and sets the scene for a wider Business West initiative – Futures West - set to launch in Spring 2024. 

Futures West will be forging partnerships with academia, local community and other stakeholders to provide evidence-based recommendations that will help build a future, across our region, that is both sustainable and inclusive.

Victoria went through the list of upcoming events, including Business West’s ‘Meet the Party’ events, starting with the Bristol Green Party Breakfast, and outlined a number of core activities coming up in 2024. 

She closed with the message that we are a place-based business organisation, and businesses need to be part of the community we operate in. She then handed over to Bristol’s Metro Mayor, Dan Norris. 

Dan Norris, Bristol’s metro mayor; ‘My objective is to put us on the international map’

Dan Norris said his objective is to put Bristol on the international map. He said “Bristol is a fantastic place but it’s potential is not being reached”. Bristol’s output figures are very high, which he said makes it a challenge to explain to government that the city also has lot of need. 

He said that the measure of success is “for all of our citizens, wherever they grew up, to succeed in a very competitive world.” 

Norris described how skills is a very big part of his agenda, and how Gravity Smart Campus presents a great opportunity for workers in Bristol South.

He also said that Bristol Temple Quarter is hugely important to him and thanked Mayor Marvin Rees for bringing it to this stage. 

The Metro Mayor also highlighted Retrofit West, his £9m million policy that provides advice to homeowners and skills to the workforce, as the kind of plan he would like to see a future government replicate and scale-up.

He said how we need to work with national government on regional issues, such as the ability for the power grid to support the switch for petrol to electric vehicles. This also underlined the importance of investing in skills; who will repair the EVs? He said a child born today will likely have five different careers to account for the pace of technological change. 

While Martin Williams at Openreach focused on the need for digital connectivity for all, the Metro Mayor discussed the importance of transport connectivity for all; “the current transport infrastructure is poor”. He said, “I promise you we will make progress” and talked about improving the A4 corridor and how developments in trams – they are now stronger and lighter- present a great opportunity.

He said that next year there will potentially be a change of government. Assuming it is a Labour government, he cautioned that his party would inherit a “multitude of messes” and would be constrained by this. “All this will take time. It’s like a massive DIY job on your house - best to fix the roof, and get new windows in, before you can do all the decor that’ll change how it feels. We will need you to be patient. It’s not 1997, this will be a hard slog to get the turnaround we need.”

“If we elect a Labour government - and I am in no way sure that will be the case, as there is still much work to do to earn people’s trust - then I believe we can have a brighter future that West of England residents deserves.”

Dan Norris Q&A with Andrew Kelly

Ahead of the Q&A with Dan Norris, we asked our membership to pose questions for the Metro Mayor. Andrew Kelly, from Bristol Ideas, put these to him. We’ve summarised some of the key points here: 

Why don’t we have a better reputation with national government? Why are we missing out on opportunities, like becoming one of Government’s nominated ‘Investment Zones’? 

Dan Norris explained that Combined Authorities are not the same across the country, and the region is politically balanced, unlike Manchester, so this causes complications. He said the region is not where it needs to be because the political landscape, including his party, is too risk adverse.

He said this risk aversion is the reason the tram system plans were scrapped. He urged the business audience to get together to win the political support it needs.  

What’s next for Transport?

Dan Norris said “We are reviewing all sort of things. We need to make decisions”. He said that franchising is an issue that comes up a lot, but is too often seen as a silver bullet. He also explained “we are not the highway authority and don’t have the associated powers” and gave the e-scooter trial as an example of those restricted powers; “we don’t have control over where they can be parked”. 

He said he is investigating the possibility of an independent transport commissioner. He has been speaking to other metro mayors about this idea and consulting on best practice. He said “we are behind in key areas, but ahead in others. We need to up our game in some areas.” 

Closing remarks

Dan Norris said any incoming government needs to be clear on what it is doing in the long term. He said businesses and government need a better dialogue, and that is why he chose to attend the Initiative event. 

He talked about the “amazing skills” that we have in the region, and how these are transferable. He mentioned AI and Quantum computing, and Bristol University’s work. 

He said there needs to be greater regional powers for the green belt. It has been effective, but there are anomalies – and gave the example of how one area near a motorway is protected, yet other, more picturesque areas, are not. 

He was asked if he would stand against Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and responded “I’d like to be a Combined Authority Mayor with the powers I need. Standing as an MP would help that.”

On devolution, he said this has all too often meant taking powers away from unitary authorities. This comment caused a lot of audience members to nod in agreement. He said a major problem is that too many votes require unanimity and how this can scupper progress, such as the proposed Spatial Development Strategy. He said what needs to happen is for Whitehall’s resources to genuinely devolve.