SIX months have now passed since my election as Mayor of the West of England.
I’m proud to be doing things differently, and have taken the time to reflect on what we have already achieved together in this new chapter for our region.
Kids Go Free this summer saw more than 910,000 free journeys for children and young people across our region, putting almost £1 million back into the pockets of parents or carers.
We’ve already secured the best part of £1 billion for our region – including £752 million for better buses, more trains, and mass transit plans.
On top of that, the government is investing £40 million into Twerton and Hartcliffe, devolving £25 million for us to grow our creative industries, and funding solar panels for two dozen schools.
Working with council leaders and partners, we’re investing in new and existing train stations, rolling out green electric buses, and launching new routes.
Regional funding is supporting better walking and cycling options across the West, and investing in parks and high streets.
Together, we’ve launched an ambitious new Growth Strategy, with a plan for 72,000 new jobs over the coming decade.
Our new business board will help secure investment, while the Youth Guarantee gets more young people into work and training.
We’ve made a strong start but there’s more to do, and the best is yet to come.
One of the issues that we can – and must – tackle together is child poverty.
The West is seen as an affluent, progressive region but that reputation belies a painful reality.
In Bristol, 35% of children are growing up in poverty. In some parts of our towns and cities, every other child faces that daily uphill battle.
Our rural areas face similar challenges, with between one in four and one in five children in poverty, compounded by isolation and a lack of opportunity.
This means hungry children unable to learn or play, families bouncing between temporary accommodation, parents blocked from work by constrained childcare, and people cut off from family, services, and social life by unaffordable travel.
This month, building on the commitment in our Growth Strategy, I will be publishing a regional child poverty action plan to complement the work of government and use local levers to help lift as many children as possible out of poverty.
Working with amazing local organisations, we can make a generational impact on the life chances of our most precious asset: our children and young people.
National reforms including the extension of free childcare, school meals and breakfast clubs, funding for new nursery places and 1,000 family hubs, are already making a difference that families can see and feel here, even before a national child poverty strategy is published.
From next April, 2,000 more schools will join the breakfast club scheme and, from September, another 500,000 more children will get free school meals.
I’m determined as your mayor to use every possible lever to try to break the cycle of poverty and give people hope.