Metro Mayor Dan Norris tells West of England business leaders he will put region ‘on the map’

Dan Norris gave his first address to the region’s business community since being elected as Mayor of the West of England at a meeting of the Bristol & West of England Initiative yesterday (3rd June).

Business leaders representing the region’s largest employers and communities across the patch logged on to hear from the Mayor who was speaking live from the National Composites Centre just outside Bristol.

“Clearly, as a very important business group in the region, you have gone through a challenging time,” said Dan in reference to the coronavirus pandemic, before stressing the importance of local business and political leaders “working closely together…to take the opportunity that is there for us” as we emerge out of lockdown.

Key to the newly elected Mayor’s platform and policy agenda is to put “our region on the map,” he said, “On the map locally, but nationally and globally too.”

He then channelled former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s famous ‘education, education, education’ speech, laying down the gauntlet as he professed his rapier sharp focus on putting the West of England “on the map, on the map, on the map”.

In a nod to research conducted by Business West in the run up to the election, the ex-Labour MP for Wansdyke said that the region needed to shout louder, particularly about what our world leading businesses do.

For all the talk of putting the region “on the map” Dan was keen to stress that he is seeking “profile with a purpose” for the West of England in order to help win investment from central government and elsewhere and to secure a further devolution of powers for the West of England Combined Authority.

A brief Q&A followed which covered topics including the green agenda, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and a mass transit system for the region. Dan’s response to members’ questions was lucid and he encouraged those asking to work with him via the Initiative as a forum to develop joined up solutions to shared problems.

Summarising the brief but engaging first encounter with the region’s largest and most influential business group since being elected, Dan promised that there would be many more “important conversations to follow” engaging with the business community as his agenda for the region begins to take shape.

West of England Initiative Chairman John Savage chaired the meeting and closed by expressing his gratitude for Dan’s input and said that he looked forward to a fruitful working relationship with the Mayor guided by “common purpose”.

In addition to hearing from the new Metro Mayor, Bristol & West of England Initiative and Chamber members also heard from key business leaders in the tourism and visitor economy sector in our region to hear how these sectors are bouncing back after a challenging year.

Bristol City Centre BID’s Keith Rundle and Allison Herbert of Bath BID spoke about how their respective high streets have been faring since the easing of lockdown on 12 April. In Bristol, there are encouraging signs that footfall is increasing in the city centre, whereas Bath looks poised to profit from the staycation boom this summer with options for overseas travel limited.

Data from the Bath BID team (see below) shows a steady rise in visitor numbers to the city over the past few months, indicating that the sector is beginning to bounce back.

Kathryn Davis, Director of Tourism at the newly merged destination management organisation Visit West spoke about the prospects of a summer recovery for the region’s all important visitor economy.

Finally, a key priority for the Initiative moving forward is to ensure that when employers return to the office, staff are able to travel safely and sustainably to ensure we reach net zero as a city region. Our members were polled via Zoom to identify how employers intended to commute back to the office, if at all. Interestingly, of the members surveyed, 63% said that they would be returning to a hybrid working model (partly in the office, partly continuing to work from home) and a huge 49% said that they would be travelling back in via car, indicating much more work needs to be done to ensure active travel and sustainable options are viable for commuters.

The Bristol & West of England Initiative meeting will take place on Thursday 1st July and will be centred around how our region can reach net zero.