A pioneering new body which aims to help generate 84,000 new jobs, 10,000 new homes and add £4.8bn in value to the East Midlands economy in years to come has taken a major step forward by appointing Richard Carr as its first managing director.

The proposed East Midlands Development Corporation will help accelerate the planning and development of three major sites centred on the East Midlands Airport area, Toton and Chetwynd and land around Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station.

EM DevCo is being backed by Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire County Councils, North West Leicestershire District Council and Broxtowe and Rushcliffe borough councils.

The five local authorities supporting the initiative have now formally set up a body to begin its work, laying the foundations for a new kind of statutory development corporation which was flagged in the Queen’s Speech earlier this month as part of government plans to boost growth through planning reform.

The decision to set up EM DevCo Limited follows the submission of a detailed business case to government which highlighted the potential to use the three sites to fuel a step-change in regional economic performance.

One of its first steps has been to recruit an experienced managing director to lead its work. Richard Carr joins the DevCo having steered multi-billion-pound projects in different parts of the country.

He will now spearhead progress as EM DevCo seeks to significantly increase the overall impact of the three sites by delivering greater, faster, more sustainable and inclusive growth. It will do this by developing detailed plans for development, infrastructure and investment to benefit the wider region.

Supported by regional businesses and universities, it will also work to secure funding to help support developments, speak to investors and developers to establish potential, and liaise with local communities about proposals.

Carr becomes DevCo MD on the back of a 25-year career that has seen him work with private and public sector to drive multi-billion regeneration initiatives. A former CEO at city, unitary authority and district level, he also has a wealth of experience liaising with government and business.

He will lead an organisation which is currently recruiting a small team of planning and economic specialists who will build momentum behind its work.

Carr said: “I’m delighted to be part of a groundbreaking initiative which aims to shift the dial of economic performance in the East Midlands. It’s no exaggeration to say that this is one of the single most important economic development opportunities across the whole of the UK. Nor will it be business-as-usual. Our aim is to work with partners, plan carefully and comprehensively, and drive the long-term potential of the three sites in a way which means they can deliver more homes, more business and industrial space and better transport connectivity. We want to hook people up to benefits that bring jobs.

“These sites also offer massive potential to embrace new opportunities and help put the East Midlands economy in a position to exploit clean technologies, new ways of manufacturing, and the region’s status as a global gateway for trade. The projects which the Devco is seeking to progress will bring benefits to both businesses across the region and communities well beyond the immediate development areas.

“One of my priorities will be to engage with businesses in the weeks ahead, and to make sure that we develop a strong dialogue with local communities so that we can build their views into the way we progress.”

The DevCo’s progress is reviewed by an Oversight Authority made up of representatives from the five councils, but the company will also be operated under the direction of an independent skills-led board of directors. A process to recruit private sector board members is about to get underway. One of the private sector representatives will chair the board.

The DevCo is being supported by the Midlands Engine, which works with partners and government to promote growth and investment across the region.

Midlands Engine chairman Sir John Peace said: “Upping the pace of regional economic growth is critically important as the UK emerges from Covid and we seek to make the most of the technologies of the future. I’m thrilled to see this early progress with the DevCo, which has identified opportunities that have the capacity to help the Midlands as a whole to not only grow more rapidly, but to build back better.”