BCIC West Midlands has been featured in a new report: Local Visions: Black Country, the first in a new series of reports exploring how industrial strategy can work in practice. The research opens by asking: what do residents and businesses in the area actually want?

Manufacturing accounts for around 12% of Black Country jobs, compared to 7% nationally. These firms make the components that can power Britain’s defence systems, clean energy infrastructure, and construction programmes. Firms and business groups told us four things are key: market access for their goods, cheap and reliable power, the right skills, and land to expand into. The report sets out how to deliver each of these.

BCIC WM used its experience as a multi-disciplinary industrial cluster to advocate for improved infrastructure; plentiful, inexpensive energy; and synergy between employers and educators to help local supply chains achieve resilience and competitive edge in a challenging global economy.

The report explores what growth looks like in places shaped by deep manufacturing heritage and rapid economic change. Beginning with the Black Country, the series combines public opinion research with residents and workers, in-depth interviews with local businesses, and economic modelling to develop practical recommendations rooted in local realities rather than assumptions made from Westminster.

Read the report below

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