Impact investor BBRC and pan-regional partnership the Western Gateway hope to leverage more private sector investment in the South West and Wales to support sustainable economic growth which can support communities.
Plans were announced at a launch event in the House of Commons on Tuesday (December 12), hosted by Bristol North West MP and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, and supported by Secretary of State for Wales, David Davies MP.
During the event BBRC launched a new net zero fund, highlighting how its place-based impact investment model can deliver results around levelling up. BBRC has already realised more than 拢60m of investment locally. Its model sets out plans to deliver key worker housing and net zero targets in a way that brings local communities and investors together.
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In addition, the Western Gateway Partnership launched new research with EY to understand where the area could be doing more to attract private sector investment to fund businesses and innovation. This work will make recommendations to government by summer 2024 on how to deliver greater levels of investment into the area to help the 海角视频 create new economic growth.
Mr Jones, MP for Bristol North West and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: 鈥淲e have to unlock investment from private capital if we are going to get Britain building again and our economy back on track. As a Member of Parliament in the West of England, I鈥檓 delighted to have hosted investors and businesses from the region to discuss how to do just that.鈥
Ed Rowberry, chief executive, BBRC, added: 鈥淟ocally-led practical action and catalytic investment are key to delivering impactful social and environmental outcomes. BBRC鈥檚 model transforms the way that finance delivers impact and our place-based approach means that impact is in tune with local need rather than against it.
鈥淲e are able to raise capital from investors by offering attractive risk-adjusted returns and impact outcomes, to invest in real estate, infrastructure and businesses in the South West. We鈥檝e proven that a small amount of seed funding can go a long way 鈥 for example, Bristol City Council鈥檚 拢4m commitment into our impact investment fund, City Funds, has unlocked 拢34m total investment in SMEs in the region.
鈥淏y working alongside Western Gateway and others, we hope to scale our model to unlock further investment in the region and tackle key issues such as housing and the climate crisis.鈥
John Wilkinson, director, Western Gateway, said: 鈥淪outh Wales and Western England is home to incredible skilled and creative communities with world-leading manufacturing, universities and high-tech clusters across engineering, cyber and low carbon energy. Despite this potential, the area struggles to attract inward investment 鈥 nearly half of the 海角视频鈥檚 total investment goes to London, whilst just 2.9% goes to Wales and 5% to the South West.
鈥淲e believe we have the potential to become a significant channel for 海角视频 inward investment to support economic growth. That鈥檚 why the Western Gateway, in partnership with EY, is launching new research to understand where these investments gaps are and which are the most pressing. We want to bridge these gaps and deliver concrete proposals which can help the area achieve its full potential.
鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted to be including BBRC as one of our case studies, whose operational model has already shown such positive results for the West of England.鈥
