Commentary
VIDEO + GALLERY | Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority sets out stall for future
More than 200 stakeholders converged on Alderley Park last week a half-day dedicated to celebrating the sub-region and plotting its next steps.
Minister for investment Lord Stockwood, as well as senior vice presidents, directors, and chairs of Bentley Motors, Astra Zeneca, Amentum, EET, and Great British Energy, were among those attending the Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Launch Conference.
They all put their support behind the combined authority’s vision for a united Cheshire and Warrington, one voice representing the area on an international stage and lobbying for greater investment.
It was exactly the kind of response that Louise Gittins, chair of the combined authority and Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, had been hoping for.
“I think it was really important that we brought everybody together who’s interested in working with the combined authority, to get people’s views and thoughts, and to really start that conversation about our combined authority and what the priorities are going forward,” she said.
“We really do want to collaborate,” she continued. “We don’t want to be an entity that sort of sits on its own. We want to be part of a wider partnership of everyone working together for the benefit of the region.”
Minister for investment Lord Stockwood was one of the speakers at the Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Launch Conference. Credit: PNW
Getting it right from the start
Collaboration was a theme throughout the day, which featured a mixture of panel sessions and interactive workshops looking at placemaking, transport, health, rural communities, inclusion, innovation, and more.
Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority interim chief executive Nick Walkley explained: “We’re not just about one place or one sector; we’re about the economy at large.
“As you can see when you look around, that opportunity to network and engage and learn about things beyond your own sphere is really what the combined authority and this event are about.”
Rachel O’Donnell, chair of the Northern Nuclear Alliance and director at Mace, was one of those attending the launch. She described it accordingly: “It set out the stall and the narrative that the combined authority is new and has a different purpose – it’ s not just another council.
“It is business friendly. It wants to celebrate the assets that it’s got and it will start to advocate for them, which is not something that has happened before.”
It was a description that echoed Walkley’s own ambitions for the combined authority.
“Ours is an organisation focused on growth,” he said. “That means focusing on the private sector, focusing on community groups that can help us. Less doing, more connecting.”
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Speakers at the event included EET Hydrogen and Power chief executive Ruth Herbert, Great British Energy chair Juergen Maier, and Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority interim chief executive Nick Walkley. Credit: PNW
Driving investment
When it comes to growth, Cheshire and Warrington should lean into the energy and power sector, according to Great British Energy chair Juergen Maier.
“The role of a combined authority is to provide focus, strategy, and confidence,” he said.
“Now look, Cheshire and Warrington has got so many growth opportunities: it’s a tourist destination, there are digital activities here. But I would say to focus on what you’re really good at: clean power, opportunities in the energy transition for hydrogen, for carbon capture, and for all of the employment and prosperity that can bring.”
He pointed out the keys to building a thriving industrial cluster: ensuring there is demand for a product, having the knowledge and expertise to deliver that product, and having support mechanisms in place to help build up that cluster.
The demand for clean energy is clear, Maier said. The knowledge base exists already, with the University of Manchester on Cheshire’s doorstep and the industries already at work in the area – including those at Birchwood Park in Warrington.
Birchwood Park is the unsung hero of the UK nuclear industry. Home to more than 30 companies and more than 6,000 jobs, the park’s occupiers include Rolls Royce SMR, Amentum, Cavendish Nuclear, Nuvia, the United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory, Urenco, and Tenet.
Then there’s the work being done in Ellesmere Port around the £3.6bn Origin industrial cluster and HyNet, a world-leading decarbonisation project that links hydrogen production with carbon capture and storage.
The support mechanism is where the combined authority comes in. “What people often get wrong is people say that these companies all they want is a subsidy, they want a payment – that’s not the main thing,” Maier said.
That support is about showing a commitment to an industry to give them confidence to put down roots, according to Maier.
There is also a strong role for the combined authority to play when it comes to promoting the region and its industries, according to Ruth Herbert, chief executive officer of Essar Energy Transition Hydrogen and Power.
“We’ve got a world-leading decarbonisation cluster. We already were showcased by the World Economic Forum. We already host a lot of international delegations to look at what we’re doing,” Herbert said.
“What I think the combined authority can bring to this is to proactively take that showcase out there, get investors interested, and help us secure the investments for these large assets.”
It can do this by providing a united front on the national and international stage.
More than 200 people attended the Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Launch Conference. Credit: PNW
Strong foundations
Where the combined authority will focus its attention is still to be decided. There is still 10 months before a mayor is elected.
But the combined authority is not sitting still, twiddling its thumbs while it waits for an elected leader.
“We need to get our priorities right, and I think that’s where the independent economic review comes into play,” Gittins said.
“We’ve probably got a gut feeling about what this should be but actually that independent economic review will tell us exactly what the evidence is saying and we need to be evidence driven.”
Walkley concurred: “There isn’t an unlimited pot of money, but when we get a mayor, we can be confident they’ve got the best evidence base to take decisions that they can have.”
Those foundations are critical, according to Huw Merriman, chair of the Liverpool Manchester Railway Partnership Board and former minister of state for rail, HS2, and regional transport. He had been at the launch promoting the potential £90bn economic uplift that a new Liverpool Manchester Railway would unlock in Warrington and the wider region.
If Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority is to be a success, it will be because they had a vision and took time to get it right, Merriman said.
The launch event showed that the combined authority was on the right path.
“I think this launch conference has been really, really positive,” Merriman said. “There’s a real sort of buzz and anticipation and excitement that something new can be delivered.”
You can see photos from the launch conference in the gallery below. Learn more about Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority by visiting cheshireandwarrington-ca.gov.uk.
