About 20 top local businessmen - and me - sat round the table this week and discussed how we could sort Birmingham.

We decided quite quickly that there are far too many lobby groups and quangos jostling for their say.

If you take the business community alone, then you have the chamber of commerce, Birmingham Forward, West Midlands CBI, West Midlands Business Council...the list goes on.

Consequently the message gets disipated.

Secondly, the days when the pillars of industry, like the Chamberlains, got involved in running Birmingham because they felt it was their civic duty are no more.

Today's businessmen don't have the time and, with most working for entities now headquartered outwith the city and often the UK, there are not the same loyalties.

You might have thought that for business there was never a better time to influence events.

After all Mike Whitby, leader the the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition on the city council, is a businessman.

So if the voice of the business community is not coming across loud and clear, and it doesn't seem to be, the only people to blame are...us, the business community.

Perhaps the big frustration is that Birmingham does not seem to be accelerating at the sort of pace which it might aspire to. This is not necessarily the fault of Mr Whitby.

Success stories like the Bullring and Brindleyplace only happened after years of stagnation, setbacks and argument.

And, perhaps given our disastrous 1960s legacy, it is no bad thing if getting it right means taking our time.

There are good things happening. New life is being pumped into the Rotunda and, at last, redevelopment of Fort Dunlop, which already, still a year away from completion, looks to be a winner.

But then you have the prestige projects, the sort of schemes this city needs if it is to move forward, which we have still to get off the ground.

Development of the Metro, a new New Street station, the library, expansion of the airport, the proposed new sports stadium.

These things never run smooth but they do appear to be edging ahead at an agonisingly slow pace. And we can't afford that if we are to maintain impetus and vibrancy. If we want to make Birmingham a truly international city then we need to be dynamic, adventurous and have some out of the box thinking.

So why, decided the meeting, don't we get CBI director general and former Birmingham lawyer, Sir Digby Jones on board. A blue skies thinker, a focal point we can all unite around, a man who demands urgency, a fixer with influence among those who matter. Maybe as elected mayor - it works for London albeit I have never been keen on "elected dictators".

Or maybe as a non-political sort of board president to Mike Whitby's managing director, with the council chief executive implementing policy and strategic thinking.

What a team that might be. Digby will be winding down next summer as his extended term comes towards a yearend close. Time to pounce?

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