Andy Street is Mayor of the West Midlands, and is a former Managing Director of John Lewis.
Next week, the people of the West Midlands will go to the polls for Local Elections in six of our seven constituent areas.
As the place where the first cracks appeared in the Red Wall, our region is of huge political significance, and results here matter. But while pundits may look to national narratives to predict voting patterns, the fact is that in the West Midlands local issues also resonate with voters.
I want to use this column to talk about some of those issues and highlight how local Conservative leadership, backed by unprecedented government investment, is bringing delivery on the ground.
In political terms, the West Midlands is finely balanced – and next week elections will be held in three Conservative councils, and three Labour councils. How we Conservatives fare in the areas we currently hold in the Black Country will be important.
Since I became Mayor, our communities have worked together to draw in investment for the whole region. Voters care about how effectively that investment is used and want to see improvements being delivered. This is where our Conservative-led areas have excelled.
In the Black Country, investment is driving industrial innovation, reinvigorating town centres, reclaiming long-derelict industrial sites, improving well-being, and shining a light on local heritage.
Under the leadership of Councillor Patrick Harley, Dudley’s Tory council is supporting huge projects which are improving the lives of local residents, with nearly £1 billion of investment coming into Dudley Town Centre. For example, the council is contributing major new facilities at the impressive Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation, which aims to make Dudley an international centre for rail innovation.
All across Dudley, residents can see investment happening, from the Black Country Institute of Technology to the ambitious expansion of the much-loved Black Country Living Museum, and the £18.2 million Duncan Edwards Leisure Centre.
In Walsall, the Conservative council, led by Councillor Mike Bird , has been lauded by an independent peer review carried out by the Local Government Association, which praised everything from strong governance to effective financial planning.
That strong leadership is delivering all kinds of important projects, from a new Connected Gateway project aimed at improving the connection between the railway and bus stations in the town centre, to innovative programmes boosting skills in digital and construction.
Partnerships with the Canal & River Trust will see the town’s historic waterways improved, making it easier for people to use them to get around in a healthy and pleasant way. The town’s Grade II* listed Guildhall, which is currently vacant, is to be transformed into a vibrant Creative Industries Enterprise Centre (CIEC).
Down the road in Bloxwich, the community is benefitting from a new Active Living Centre, while Walsall Manor Hospital has a new state-of-the-art Urgent and Emergency Care Centre. People in Walsall are seeing hundreds of millions of pounds invested through a combination of the local council, the WMCA, and the Government.
In Solihull, Councillor Ian Courts leads a Conservative council that is delivering a very high-performing economy, providing good jobs while balancing issues around development, growth, and the protection of the environment.
Strong skills development work has seen youth unemployment in Solihull fall below pre-pandemic levels, thanks to projects like Skills for Success, a Council programme that engages with young people who are at risk of becoming NEET: not in education, employment, or training.
Under a Conservative council, Solihull is also setting the pace in delivering net zero ambitions, being held up as one of the best performing local authorities on green issues and recently winning two prestigious Green Apple Environment Awards.
So, the West Midlands’ Conservative councils are definitely delivering on the ground, and in the three Labour areas, Tory candidates will be fighting hard to spread that message.
Of course, devolution has succeeded here because our boroughs, whether Conservative or Labour, work constructively together. While I am a proud Conservative, my job is to be the Mayor of the whole of the West Midlands.
However, I have no doubt that right now campaigning Conservative candidates are making a strong case in Sandwell, Wolverhampton, and Coventry that they would deliver more for residents, do it faster, and ensure better value for money if elected.
So, in Sandwell, where the council has suffered much-publicised issues, Tory candidates will be promising a steadier hand at the controls. In Wolverhampton, they will be campaigning on a need to see a quicker pace of development in the city. In Coventry, Conservative candidates will be calling out the council’s approach to housing developments, which has imperilled the Green Belt unnecessarily.
I want to dedicate this column to those candidates and the army of Conservative volunteers driving their campaigns – it’s a huge, region-wide team that I am proud to be part of.
What happens in this region matters. Economically, when the West Midlands does well, the UK does well. We are setting the pace when it comes to devolution too, with a trailblazer deal now signed. Politically, this finely balanced place will provide a bellwether for the nation.
That’s why those first breaches in the ‘Red Wall’ here were so significant, and I am certain that they were the result of a united approach by Conservatives across the conurbation. We fight as one team.
I look forward to next week’s elections and stand by our record of local delivery. We hope that the unique position of three Conservative urban metropolitan councils will continue and that we can strengthen our position on the other three.