A YEAR on from being elected as your Mayor, I’ve been reflecting on what we’ve achieved together and what comes next for the West of England.
From day one, I said I wanted to do things differently. That has meant focusing on the things that matter most to people, while also laying the foundations for the future.
We’ve made a strong start: you will have noticed the West Country’s voice growing louder during the last 12 months, as we continue catching up with other places and securing more investment for the country’s fastest-growing regional economy.
We’ve secured a record-breaking £752 million to improve transport, including better buses, more reliable journeys and exciting mass transit plans for the future.
That’s on top of investment which will soon see 250 new electric buses serve routes across the West, helping make more journeys cleaner and more comfortable.
We’ve continued to invest in rail too, with work on new and improved stations, including Bristol Brabazon and Charfield.
The Bristol & Portishead Line has received the green light, with work well underway, and half-hourly services are being protected.
The launch of our Kids Go Free scheme has helped families right across the West, with more than 910,000 free journeys taken last summer alone, with the offer returning over the Christmas and Easter holidays.
It’s been especially positive to see the difference it’s making in communities where it matters most. The latest data shows that, in areas where families have some of the lowest incomes in the country, children’s bus travel has doubled.
Alongside this, we’ve frozen the £1 child bus fare cap until 2029 and extended free bus travel for care leavers, helping young people and families with the cost of getting around.
While transport is at the heart of much that we do regionally, it’s only part of the picture.
In September, we launched an ambitious Growth Strategy, with plans to create 70,000 new jobs over the next decade, backed by a new Business Board to help attract investment and support local businesses.
Our creative industries will benefit from £25m of new funding to help support jobs, skills, and opportunities in one of our fastest-growing sectors.
We’ve also made progress towards North Somerset joining the combined authority, with the majority of responses in a recent consultation showing that people and businesses support the move.
For communities, we’ve secured £45m to unlock new affordable homes, set out plans for a new regional hub bringing together charities to provide food and essential items to people who need it most, and continued investment in our parks, high streets, walking, cycling and green spaces. We’re also supporting nature and tree planting through the Western Forest, helping to make our region greener for the future.
We are also supporting the development of Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc, with the potential for the area around the upcoming Aviva Arena to become one of the UK’s most significant new towns.
We’ve made real progress in our first year.
I’m determined to keep building on this momentum, working together to make the West of England the best place to live, work, study, and raise a family.