In her March column, Councillor Nadine Peatfield shares her excitement for her upcoming trips to France and China, and the chance to share all that Derby has to offer.
March might be my favourite month of the year so far - the sun is shining (for now), Spring is on its way and I’m able to spend time showing off all that our city and region has to offer!
March is shaping up to be a very busy month for me, not only in role as Leader of Derby City Council but also as the Deputy Mayor for the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA).
This week I’m wearing both hats whilst attending MIPIM, the world’s leading real estate event. The event is an opportunity for businesses and organisations to showcase all that they have to offer and for us to attract investment into Derby and the East Midlands, supporting our ambitious plans to create a vibrant and welcoming place to live, work and visit.
Did you know that the University of Derby’s law school – more affectionately known locally as ‘the copper building’ received funding as a direct result of a previous MIPIM event? I think we can all agree that this is a huge asset to our city centre and I hope to see more examples of investment into our city as a result of this year’s event.
A big thanks to Marketing Derby for inviting me to come along as part of their delegation and help represent our brilliant part of the world. This year Marketing Derby’s focus is on showcasing Derby city centre’s potential as an office location, with EMCCA there to share about how it’s supporting our city and the wider East Midlands. as well as the activities of other local organisations such as EMCCA.
2025 is a huge year for Derby in particular, with the opening of Becketwell Live, reopening of Derby Market Hall, and much more so I’m really looking forward to being able to share our progress and talk in detail to current and prospective partners about all that we have to offer.
Straight after MIPIM, I have the privilege of heading to China in my capacity as EMCCA Deputy Mayor.
This is another ‘pinch me’ moment and I can’t stress how proud I am to be able to show off all that Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire has offer and share our successes with other regional Mayors and their teams.
The trip, funded by the Government’s Department for Business and Trade, is the first of several Mayoral delegations focused on securing inward investment into our region, sharing good practice and learning from other regions. China is a key player when it comes to investing into the UK so I’m thrilled that I, along with others, will be able to fly the flag for the UK and help secure more investment into our towns and cities.
Along with representatives from the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool, the City of and Greater London, Salford, South Yorkshire, I’ll be visiting Shenzhen, Chongqing and Chengdu in the south and southwest of China. There’s a full agenda for the trip, which includes meeting with local political leadership, visiting ports, factories and local industry hubs, and of course taking every opportunity I can to shout about Derby and the East Midlands.
In the 24 hours I’m back in Derby in between the two trips I’ll be attending an Extraordinary meeting of Council which will hopefully help progress the city toward the next stage of Local Government Reorganisation. Working in collaboration with all the Districts and Boroughs of Derbyshire, we are proposing two equally sized unitary councils for Derbyshire, one north and one south. Our proposal meets the Government’s criteria and is both large enough to make a difference and small enough to remain localised and meaningful.
I’ll be talking more about this in the months to come. In the meantime, dzai-jyen! (Goodbye!)