REDDITCH MP Chris Bloore said the town was unfairly missing out on critical investment due to arbitrary regional borders.
Speaking in a House of Commons debate on private sector investment and regional growth, Mr Bloore highlighted how Redditch lay just south of the West Midlands Combined Authority boundary.
This excluded the town from strategic transport partnerships, housing investment pots and enhanced education funding structures which neighbouring areas could access.
As a member of the Business and Trade Select Committee, the MP argued historic towns like Redditch laid the foundations for the nation’s economic wealth long before modern mayoral structures existed.
He said the current set-up systematically favoured major cities and combined authority areas, leaving towns with strong economic histories and real growth potential chronically under-resourced.
His intervention was supported by Maya Ellis MP who agreed economic growth required a commitment to true devolution that empowered local towns, rather than funnelling investment exclusively into big cities.
The debate comes as areas, such as Worcestershire, frequently compete for investment against larger neighbours like Birmingham and the wider Black Country, despite heavy commuting links.
Mr Bloore said: “We feel that frustration in Redditch.
“We are south of the West Midlands Combined Authority border.
“I find it difficult to explain to students who want extra funding in education or to residents who want transport links, why we miss out – simply because we are not inside the right boundary line.
“If we are going to get the economy moving and growing, that has to happen in our towns – that led the industrial revolution long before metro mayors existed.
“Redditch built things the world depended on long before combined authorities existed.
“We have the workforce, the manufacturing heritage, the land and the drive to grow.
“But we keep being passed over for partnerships, strategic housing funds and transport investment that goes to areas with metro mayors.
“That is not ‘levelling up’. It is the opposite.
“The question should not be whether a place fits neatly inside an existing structure.
“The question should be whether people there have potential, ambition and businesses ready to grow. Redditch does.”
