IT has certainly been a busy month since I last wrote my column.
In September, the Government announced an overnight visitor levy which, alongside other regional mayors, I will be looking at implementing.
We are used to paying a visitor levy – or ‘tourism tax’ – when we go on holiday to other countries. Now is the time to look at making sure we can invest more in what matters through a small charge on overnight stays here – with common-sense exemptions where we need them.
Alongside the plans for more income tax raised here to be spent here, this is an exciting time for the whole region, as we move to generating more funding ourselves than ever before.
New, improved and upcoming attractions like the Bristol Zoo Project and Aviva Arena can, with continued backing, be joined by more top-quality sites like the Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare and Bath Fashion Museum.
We know that local people also want to see further improvements to our transport network, particularly our buses.
More late-night services would help more people enjoy what our region has to offer – and enable workers to get home more easily – and so would some more funding for public spaces, including in central Bath and Bristol, alongside new support for the sectors that support tourism.
We are grabbing the chance to take more control of our future with both hands.
These extra sources of income for our region will enable me to invest more in what matters most to us, and help turbo-charge the West Country’s future.
Of course, one of the reasons the West of England has such a thriving visitor economy is huge numbers of people wanting to get up close and personal with some of the locations for TV and film’s biggest productions. From Bridgerton to Wonka, our region is now the third largest in the UK for TV and film production.
That’s why last month I announced Greenlight West: a new £4.5 million production fund designed to increase the quantity, range and scale of film and TV productions made in the region.
Greenlight West is not only forecast to generate an estimated £20.7m in production spend in our region, but it will also support or create more than 230 jobs.
Creating more jobs in our region, across all sectors, is a critical part of our Growth Strategy, which we launched one year ago.
We still have a long way to go, but with more investment, including from the Mayoral Combined Authority, in the new entrance at Bristol Temple Meads, the opening of Bristol Brabazon this autumn, the designation of Brabazon and the West Innovation Arc as our first Mayoral Development Zone, we really are going full steam ahead.
I said it had been a busy month, but we are not slowing down. The next few months should be just as exciting for the West Country, as we continue to deliver changes you can see and feel where you live.