Shaping the future of the region

Join the Centre for the New Midlands as we learn more about the West Midlands Futures Green Paper and how it will shape and define the West Midlands’ Growth Plan.

We are delighted to be hosting this event in partnership with Mott MacDonald, who are also generously hosting the discussion at their 10 Livery Street offices in Birmingham on Wednesday 7th May from 5.30pm – 8.00pm.

Please note that this event is for members of our Reimagining the Region network.  For further information on how you and your organisation can join, please visit our ‘Join Us’ page

Context of the discussion:

The West Midlands Combined Authority is due to publish its West Midlands Futures’ Green Paper towards the end of April 2025 and its objective is to support a conversation across the West Midlands to ‘affirm and crystalise our long-term strategic economic priorities’ as a region as we embark on a ten-year programme of economic transformation. This session is designed to bring key stakeholders across the region together to discuss its content and provide any recommendations for development.

The WMCA have provided the below summary of the West Midlands Futures’ Green Paper:

Why now? The West Midlands is approaching ten years of devolution. Against the backdrop of the opportunities and changes outlined above, now is the right time to be crystal clear about what our challenges and opportunities are both today and tomorrow, what we need to prioritise in order to address them, and the levers we will pull together to make change happen. This is not about ripping everything up and starting again. Rather the Green Paper brings together and evolves what we are already doing into a more coherent strategic fit for the decade and its opportunities ahead of us.

Who is it for? The Green Paper is for everyone who has a shared stake and role in the West Midlands’ economic transformation: local government, universities, colleges and schools, businesses and private sector organisations, investors, central government, key public services, utilities and community organisations and our citizens themselves. Together, and only together, we will marshal our collective resources and capabilities to sustain economic transformation at scale. The WMCA has a leadership role in convening and investing in transformation, but in lockstep with our partners.

How will the Green Paper be used? Our strategic economic priorities, as affirmed through this Green Paper, will help the West Midlands to focus its collective resources on what is going to shift the dial. Our priorities will guide how we deploy our existing and future devolved powers and budgets, and provide a focus for the existing and new regional partnerships we will develop to deliver collective change. In the near-term, your responses to this Green Paper will shape the WM Growth Plan due to be published in the summer. Looking beyond that, your responses will help to shape our approach to the West Midlands Spatial Development Strategy, our approach to public service innovation, and the new Net Zero Five Year Plan.

With special thanks to Mott MacDonald for sponsoring and hosting this event for the West Midlands region.