Cogitamus provided turnkey communications support to an alliance of local authorities and business organisation embracing North Wales and North West England known as ‘Growth Track 360’ in campaigning for rail investment in their cross-border region. Our full service package included parliamentary and media monitoring, strategic and tactical public affairs services, event organisation and management, and media relations including the preparation and distribution of news releases to regional, trade, national and broadcast outlets along with stakeholder engagement services.
Monitoring was a fundamental foundation to our work as knowing what would be happening in both the UK Parliament and the Senedd provided countless opportunities for making interventions through debates, questions and the consideration of legislation. This knowledge also supported us in making multiple representations to the Chancellor at times of Budgets and Statements and in assisting the client in understanding opportunities presented by schemes such as the UK Levelling Up Fund.
Our business infrastructure – including the existence of proprietary databases of politicians, journalists and other stakeholders along with the technology to be able to direct-mail them electronically – made a vital contribution to this campaign.
Submissions yielding positive outcomes included to the Union Connectivity Review conducted by Sir Peter Hendy on behalf of the UK Government which identified the North Wales corridor as a key area for further investment: http://createsend.com/t/y-BCB4E30CD9BE64452540EF23F30FEDED. Our work for Growth Track 360 is encapsulated in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2FokJJDIZA&t=5s and this ‘X’ account: https://twitter.com/360_track.
The Growth Track 360 project culminated in October 2023 when the UK Government published its ‘Network North’ document and included within this a pledge of £1 billion for electrification of the North Wales Main Line railway.