Terrific bid win should boost city confidence

PLYMOUTH'S World Cup bid win is an outstanding example of what this city can achieve when it sets out clearly what it wants and everyone works together to make it happen.

To be shortlisted among just 12 cities in England is a terrific boost for the morale of all Plymothians. It can also become a turning point for the way people here view their own city – and how Plymouth is then perceived by the outside world.

Plymouth has some fantastic natural attributes, great companies, a skilled and loyal workforce and the opportunity for a superb quality of life.

A successful England bid would of course put Plymouth on the world stage and provide an unparalleled platform for the city to showcase these assets, as well as its ambitious plans for the future. However, even if the England bid is not eventually successful, I believe this win can have a significant and lasting positive impact on the aspirations of the entire population of Plymouth.

Plymouth was selected because all the key stakeholders worked together to develop an excellent bid which captured the imagination and won the support of the entire community and allowed the city to present a united, compelling case at a national level.

The teamwork behind this is exactly the model which the PCDC proposes to use in developing Plymouth's offer and other key projects. It shows the importance of having everyone in the community pulling together with a common goal in sight.

I see the PCDC's role as helping to lead, galvanise and co-ordinate that activity to drive Plymouth's growth and to present it as one of the UK's leading cities and a destination of choice for living, working, recreation and investment.

Confidence is an incredibly powerful force. You see its effects in sport at an individual and team level and it can work for cities too, as the experience of Glasgow showed when it won European City of Culture in 1990.

Now it's Plymouth's turn to take confidence from this World Cup bid, use it to grow the pride and belief in our city and then take this message to the rest of the world.