‘We need leaders with long-term vision and ambition’

I have spent much of the last five decades working with some excellent leaders. They came from all walks of life and they have led major charities, businesses and institutions, in national and local government, and also in our communities.

Often, it has been individuals who have had the ability and strength of personality to extend their leadership beyond their own formal authority. It has given me insight to what is required to be a good leader, and has been a key influence in how I have managed and led major projects and businesses in my own career.

For me, this has resulted in turning the Bristol Royal Infirmary and surrounding hospitals into one of most successful Foundation Hospital Trusts in the country. In turn, this has helped raise the quality of education and career support in the West of England, leading to the creation of The Station, a centre for young people, and driving regeneration around the Harbourside, Cabot Circus and Temple Meads.

I brought the West of England councils together back in 1996 to work together to focus on key strategic and long-term issues. This was a voluntary forerunner to the new combined authority.

Under my guidance, we have created the best leadership and support organisations for businesses, under the banner of Business West: uniting business communities with chambers of commerce in Bath, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol. I have always tried to unify and strengthen the voice of business and enterprise, and the resources available.

The most impressive leaders are those who have vision and ambition, but can deliver with humility. They don’t look at results for each financial year, but rather plan decades ahead.

In 2011, in a book entitled 2050 High in Hope, I set out ambitious plans for the West of England that looked far into the 21st century. Vision and a clear sense of destination is an essential ingredient for anyone who wants to lead a major business or intuition, and is a lesson that our politicians would do well to learn.

I have often been deeply disheartened to see short term planning in local government, who sometimes focus only on the challenge of the next election and then the one after that; it has produced a conspiracy of mediocrity and a deep lack of ambition that has held our region back for so long.

The Government made a bold decision to provide devolution deals to our regions. It is a huge step forward and means that local people can have a much greater say in the future of their place. I have been calling for such an approach for much of my working life.

In the West of England, we have not had the same attention from national media that Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool have received – all of which have been better at championing their own brand. Some of the candidates standing for metro mayor roles have considerable profile, such as Andy Street in Birmingham, which has seen more attention focused on their elections than ours.

However, it is vitally important that people recognise our devolution deal as one of national significance. In the West of England, universities, businesses and institutions are global leaders and we need to match this running ‘the business of the people’. We need leaders with long-term vision and the ambition to put the complacency of the past firmly behind us.

Devolution has created a new political role. These are jobs for people who can work with everyone, make local government more effective and efficient and who will effectively devolve decision-making to local people.

The role of metro mayor is a huge leadership role and we need to make sure that our regions elect leaders who have ambition and vision; people who look forward in decades, rather than in election cycles.

This is why I decided to stand as metro mayor in the West of England. It is a natural extension to the work I have done in this region for much of my life, and I claim the certain ability to bring the skills, tenacity and ambition to the job.

John Savage is an independent candidate for the West of England metro mayor

Read more: John Savage: ‘My vision for the West of England’