The West of England is home to 1.2m people, with Bristol and Bath being the largest urban centres. It’s the second wealthiest city region in the UK after London, with an economy worth more than £30Bn and distinctive strengths in finance, technology, green-engineering, creative industries and aerospace.  

 

Paul led the development of the first Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) for the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), outperforming 38 other LEP’s SEPs to secure the largest per-capital funding allocation (£200m) from central government in the country.

 

Beyond a funding success, it was a major breakthrough in local stakeholder management and alignment, rallying support for the plan from 800 businesses, four local authorities, four universities, six further education colleges, and every MP and local media outlet signed-up.