It is often hard to really assess the strategic direction of Birmingham as there is no one place where you can get an overview; no one overarching strategy with a hierarchy of strategies. This is a small attempt to piece together the strategic wrap around the City. It concentrates on the economic, environmental and spatial aspects initially. It lists contact emails where I am aware who is leading on them. Please let me know if these are incorrect.
1) GREATER BIRMINGHAM and SOLIHULL LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIP STRATEGIES
Contact: Officer: katie.trout@birmingham.gov.uk
GBSLEP White Paper: Strategy for Growth (Draft for consultation)
Website: here
Download: here
Work is being finalised on a revised Strategy for Growth taking on board consultation responses and updating it to bring in the Heseltine Review. This should be launched in mid April 2013
GBSLEP Enterprise Zone
Enterprise Zone web page here
Enterprise Zone Prospectus January 2013 here
Enterprise Zone Investment Plan June 2012 here
Contact: Officer: wahid.nazir@birmingham.gov.uk
Heseltine’s No Stone Unturned
GBSLEP’s web page on No Stone Unturned here
Heseltine’s No Stone Unturned here
The Treasury Response to No Stone Unturned here
The Greater Birmingham Project: The Path to Local Growth: Heseltine summary: here
The Greater Birmingham Project: The Path to Local Growth: here
Birmingham City Deal
City Deal web page: here
City Deal Full Document: here
City Deal Summary: here
GBSLEP Strategic Framework Spatial Plan
Contact: Officer: david.r.carter@birmingham.gov.uk
Web Page here
2) BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL STRATEGIES
Big City Plan:
Contact: Officer andrew.rounds@birmingham.gov.uk
Website here
Big City Plan download here
Visions for Movement – City Centre Tranportation Strategy
Contact: Officer ann.osola@birmingham.gov.uk
Website here
Download here
Visions for Movement 2
Presentation here
Birmingham wide Visions Transport Strategy for Birmingham download here
A twenty year strategy prepared in 2001. Dated but still extant?
Intelligent Transportation Systems Strategy (Dec 2010)
Web Page here
Download here
Birmingham’s Cycling Strategy 2011-2015
Web Page here
Download here
Overview and Scrutiny Report. Changing Gear: Transforming Urban Movement through Cycling and Walking in Birmingham April 2013 here
Review on Birmingham Central Blog of this Review April 2013 here
(This report doesn’t formally bind the Council as it is a scrutiny report and not a cabinet or cabinet member report)
Economic Zones here
Economic Strategy 2005-2015 (outdated but extant?)
Website here
Download here
Manufacturing Strategy (outdated but extant?)
Download here
The Green Commission:
Work is going on to develop a number of more detailed proposals.
Contact: Politician: james.mckay@birmingham.gov.uk @jrmckay
Officer: sandy.taylor@birmingham.gov.uk @greenbirmingham
Web Page here
The Green Commission Vision Statement: here
Audio Statement on the Vision Statement from Cllr James Mckay here
The Smart City Commission: here and here
Work is currently going on an action plan which will be launched later in the year.
Contact: Politician: james.mckay@birmingham.gov.uk @jrmackay
Officer: raj.mack@birmingham.gov.uk @digibrum
Birmingham’s Smart City Vision: here
Creative City Memorandum of Understanding
MOU here
Research Study here
Birmingham’s Development Plan
Contact Officer: david.r.carter@birmingham.gov.uk
Draft Core Strategy – website here
– download here
The Core Strategy has now become the Birmingham Development Plan
Birmingham Development Plan Options Consultation – here
Birmingham City Council are currently considering the consultation responses to the BDP Optionjs Consultation
Green Living Spaces Plan
Web page here
Draft :Green Living Spaces Plan download here
Birmingham’s Conservation Strategy
Web Page here
Down load here
Birmingham’s Housing Strategies: Already all in one place
Web Page here
Fairbrum
Contact: Officer jackie.mould@birmingham.gov.uk
The White Paper, Making Birmingham an Inclusive City – here
3) CENTRO TRANSPORT PLANNING
Planning former West Midlands County Council geographical area (not the same as the GBSLEP area). Although the LEP may become the Integrated Transport Authority. They have established a Strategic Transportation Group link here
Centro Local transport Plan Strategy 2011-2026 web page here download here
4) OTHER ORGANISATIONS
Inward Investment (Marketing Birmingham)
Contact officer wouter.schuitemaker@marketingbirmingham.com
Key sectors for Inward Investment Summary Report here
Sector Approach here
Birmingham and black Country Wildlife Trust
Nature Improvement areas
Web Page here
5) SOURCES OF DATA
Economic Research and Analysis – Birmingham City Council
Contact: hamish.wilson@birmingham.gov.uk
Website here
General Economic Information
There are various different sector profiles on this webpage.
Labour Market Statistics
- Unemployment Briefing ( 330KB PDF Monthly publication)
- Worklessness Briefing (270KB PDF Published biannually)
- Youth Unemployment Briefing (250KB PDF Occasional publication)
- Unemployment by Ethnicity Briefing (60KB XLS Published quarterly)
Birmingham City Council
Key Facts Download area here
Business Birmingham
Introduction page to a lot of useful facts here
UrbanPivot 
Looks like Central government or the EU needs you…..with documents such as this.
All these initiatives are, of course, important but they need to lead to a city that ‘feels’ that it’s good to be in. Real not world-domination-fantasy notions. Some of those factors are hard, but seemingly not impossible, to create: funkiness; enterprise; a Mayor ?; feels like it’s growing-not decaying. The sum of the parts must gel…..hard to achieve…
And: less litter; good public transport…..core stuff that works is very important.
Great work. Keep it up 🙂
Fantastic resource.
Perhaps we should just open up the web site to bloggers such as yourself Patrick!? Have brought your efforts to the attention of colleagues…
Tony, Well the Council is consulting on a new website at present…so there is opportunity for radical change …but it is not the website that is important it is the co-ordination of these strategies behind the scenes.
Thanks for sharing internally.
Patrick
Maybe,in these new-perhaps more cooperative times- almost everything that BCC does needs to be available for public consumption. Reports, job profiles, information, notes of meetings, expenses etc etc
A default position of openness. Why not…as long as it is not just adding to bureaucracy
Really open; not faux-open, would/ could diminish bureaucracy. But requires a mind-change from BCC. It doesn’t own; it’s there to assist the public; not enable itself.
It thinks it is assisting the public. Complete openness will never happen in the combative political system we have currently