REGIONAL FOCUS
determination there. My message to any public sector agencies that want people of the calibre of John Lewis in their city: you have to lead from the front.
“It is this leadership and accountabil- ity that is essential. So, whenever things didn’t go right – and occasionally they didn’t – or the pace wasn’t as quick as the John Lewis Partnership wanted, I was al- ways involved. Andy has gone on record saying that this is the fastest moving set of negotiations they remember ever having. That’s the city of Birmingham, under my leadership, determined to actually develop these public-private sector partnerships which are going to be so essential in the future. I have to say, as somebody who be- lieves in mutuality, to have John Lewis is even better still.
“Not only will their presence bring 900 new jobs, and create an extra £100m of investment, it will enhance what is already a spectacular new development of New Street station – and enhance our reputa- tion as a city to do business in.”
He explained: “It is so important to have a sophisticated public-private partnership. It’s an alluring partnership that’s been ne- gotiated over 24 months and we have a shared vision of how we’re going to work together and face the future.
“From that, of course, already we’ve iden- tified up to 1,000 new jobs; the John Lewis Partnership is going to work with the city to make sure that as many of those jobs as possible are actually taken up by the peo- ple who live here.”
The £3m four-floor store, at 155,000 sq ft, will be one of the largest outside London when it opens at the station in 2014.
Whitby said: “John Lewis has been looking at the city for a number of years. Andy and I negotiated, along with the chief execu- tive of Network Rail; it’s imperative that a large company recognises right from the outset that there is political leadership and
Andy Street, managing director of John Lewis and a Birmingham native himself, told PSE: “Now, we need to make sure this does happen on the timetable we have set.”
He admitted the negotiations have “not been the best-kept secret”, but said it gave him pleasure to confirm that all of the rumours are true. It is the company’s first new department store since the credit crunch began.
Street added: “Birmingham has won the race to reignite our development pro- gramme.”
Whitby is overseeing what he calls the most ambitious and far-reaching devel- opment plan in the UK, known as the ‘Big City Plan’, which envisages huge changes to an area of the city centre covering more than 800 hectares.
The plan, which defines how the land will be developed and managed over the next
20 years, is based on expanding the core city centre area by over 25%, delivering more than 1.5 million sq metres of new of- fice, retail, leisure and cultural floorspace, as well as 50,000 new jobs.
There will be 5,000 new homes built un- der the plans, and Whitby also wants to re- generate and create 65,000 square metres of public space in the city as well as deliver 28km of enhanced walking and cycling routes.
The plan foresees a £2.1bn growth in the local economy per annum, based around five key regeneration areas; Westside, the Snow Hill district, the ‘eastern core’ ex- pansion and the Southern Gateway. The fifth is perhaps the most important, and is centred on the rebuild of New Street sta- tion.
Whitby said he backed the call from the region’s transport authority, Centro, for ‘four-tracking’ the West Coast Main Line to ensure it can cope with increased pas- senger numbers ahead of the planned opening of HS2.
He said: “Ultimately, this city now has been recognised by the Government; the high-speed priority is the link between Birmingham and London. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has said it makes London a suburb of Birmingham!
“We’ve got cost-benefit ratios that add to the UK growth agenda. Rail is the transport mode of the future. The more effective, pro- gressive and modern it is, the more people will use it; the more people use it, the more investment we can have. We’ve lagged behind our European friends; we need to invest
thoroughly
Visit
bigcityplan.birmingham.gov.uk Mike Whitby
in our public sector transport systems, we really do. I think Birmingham can be a catalyst; people will use the railways, and we’re pro-rail here.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION public sector executive Mar/Apr 11 | 25
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