Workshop to increase business resilience and green growth across the Marches
Business, infrastructure providers and local authorities are meeting to discuss resilience and green growth opportunities through the Marches Forward Partnership.
Participants will explore how joint action with the MFP could improve the way the area responds to environmental and economic pressures.
The focus is on understanding common barriers and what practical steps organisations can take forward together.
The workshop sits within the MFP’s wider programme of work to support green growth and long‑term resilience across the region.
Led by Powys County Council and Shropshire Council, the MFP is progressing a green growth programme, central to which are:
- Marches Environmental Investment Platform (MEIP): A concept to attract private capital and direct it to our land managers by addressing barriers such as unclear returns, risk quantification, and fragmented project pipelines.
- Marches Environmental Delivery Vehicle (EDV): A proposed governance model to bring together communities, buyers, investors, policy makers and delivery partners.
- Severn Valley Water Management Scheme (SVWMS): A pilot project led by the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Powys County and Shropshire Councils to explore large-scale water infrastructure solutions.
This workshop will contribute to the green growth programme’s aim of developing a regional model for long‑term environmental investment.
Jake Berriman, leader of Powys County Council and speaking for the MFP, said:-
“There is a need for a clearer shared understanding of natural assets, region‑wide funding gaps, land‑use pressures and opportunities to co-ordinate action across local authority boundaries in the Marches.
“By bringing different sectors together in a practical setting, the session is intended to support that work by generating insight on how partners can collaborate more effectively, feeding into emerging investment models such as MEIP as well as cross‑border land and water management.”
The MFP has also identified the need for stronger delivery structures and more consistent cross‑border coordination, such as the proposed EDV, which is intended to help overcome delivery barriers and support a more joined‑up approach to environmental and economic outcomes.
The workshop will help build the shared understanding needed to inform these developments.
Heather Kidd, leader of Shropshire Council, said: –
“This workshop is a chance for us all to look closely at the issues we’re all dealing with and to develop realistic, coordinated a joint way forward. No single organisation can tackle these challenges alone.”
Insights from the session will shape the next phase of MFP programmes, including work on long‑term investment, MEIP development and cross‑border approaches to land and water management including delivery of the SVWMS.
