Wolverhampton Business Breakfast, held at Molineux Stadium.

Transcript

00:00This place is where I fell in love with football. I have so many memories here, there's so much

00:23nostalgia, so much joy. I think we can all agree that the results of the moment are not

00:27meant to destroy, but we won't speak about the awards results. But I do really love this

00:32place. And for me, Wolverhampton, I've got so many strong ties here. I mean, my family's

00:38here, my friends are here, I went to the girls' high school and the girls' high girls are

00:41here, oh yes, and we've got some girls' night girls in here. And it is such a special place.

00:46And I'm really lucky that I've got really good foundations with the Football Club, I'm

00:50part of the charity, the Wolves Foundation, so they sit alongside the Football Club, they're

00:54the official charity, so if there's anyone here that wants to get involved with the foundation,

00:58I will be around for a chat. Because that's what today's all about. It's about conversations,

01:03it's about collaborations, regeneration, business and economic growth here in Wolverhampton.

01:09The new government has announced that it wants to deliver 1.5 million homes over the next

01:16five years. Can I say we're ready? We are ready and willing to do that in spades, to

01:23be perfectly honest, because it's the only way we're going to drive our economy, it's

01:26the only way we're going to get people to come into our city, to get the skills and

01:30the jobs that they rightly deserve. And it's really important. So, we have a vision for

01:35Edmonton and Glough. We know what we want to do, we know how to pivot that forward,

01:40it's really important. We want better council homes stock, investment improvements, we want

01:45to massively stimulate the private sector, focus on growth and remediation to protect

01:51our precious green space within our city. It's important that we have that green space

01:56for the families and children to enjoy our city. Our city is relatively green, if you

02:02look out the windows, if you look across the city, you'll see lots of trees, lots of visitors

02:06come to our city and say, never in my life have I ever seen something that green.

02:11There is a new political sense emerging in this country about the importance of housing

02:16and delivery and development, and the government plans that Steve Simpkins has already referred

02:22to around building 1.5 million new homes is at the top of the government's agenda, and

02:28it's something I talk to Angela Rayner and her team about every week, and we're doing

02:33as much as we can at a regional level to speed things up, enhance delivery and improve

02:40and streamline planning arrangements so we can ensure that the people of this country

02:44get the homes that they deserve.