What is EM DevCo?

EM DevCo Ltd is a local authority owned company in the East Midlands that works in collaboration with a wide range of communities, stakeholders, and partner organisations. We have sustainability and net zero ambitions for inclusive economic growth at the heart of all our developments and are working hand in glove with the region’s universities as well as commercial partners and those organisations looking to protect and enhance our natural environment, creating integrated green and blue linked communities.

What will it do?

The East Midlands has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to supercharge its economy and create tens of thousands of new jobs via four landmark investment opportunities of national significance. EM DevCo will maximise the transformational potential of four huge regeneration sites:

They contain major development opportunities, each the size of an Olympic Park with transformational opportunities around major growth clusters situated within the borders of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire, and close to the cities of Nottingham, Derby and Leicester.

These new plans could create 85,000 jobs, 20,000 homes, and add billions in value to the regional economy. Our Net Zero ambitions for future infrastructure developments will ensure local growth, full and productive employment for all, and inclusive communities are created.

Government has highlighted the pioneering approach of the new EM DevCo as a model for accelerating development, realising large-scale potential and achieving locally-led high quality growth. It was named as an exemplar in the Government’s White Paper on planning (Autumn 2020), and with the passage of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 we are now mobilising to establish a statutory development corporation that would have the means and the vision to deliver:

Growth

Reverse historic under-performance by building on the East Midlands’ significant economic potential.

Sustainability

Drive growth in a way which puts local people first, coordinates efforts across public and private stakeholders, and embraces sustainable technologies and sustainable developments.

Delivery

Use focused resources and a clear remit to unlock potential and accelerate delivery.

How will it do it?

The DevCo’s focus is on the four opportunities, whose potential we will progress and unlock via:

  • Facilitating alignment around a coherent vision for area regeneration
  • Taking a comprehensive and integrated approach to planning and delivery, as opposed to piecemeal or ad hoc development
  • Bringing together the dedicated skills and capacity necessary to plan and deliver at strategic scale
  • Providing certainty that de-risks investment in development and infrastructure projects of an exceptional magnitude
  • Establishing a vehicle whose professionalism and credibility enables Government and private investors to deliver on levelling-up through long-term restructuring of the regional economy
  • Accessing the commercial and public finance that enables delivery
  • Being a platform for inward investment, marketing and promotion
  • Identifying and helping to secure infrastructure which unlocks investment and development
  • Working with partners to connect communities to opportunities by investing in skills and connectivity

EM DevCo is here to coordinate, enable and deliver regeneration that has the potential to unlock growth that will have impact at regional scale – and to do so in a way which creates a repeatable model