A plan to revitalise Birmingham should include the city making the most of its proximity to London, a summit of business leaders has decided.

The city's future prosperity depended on its business community speaking with one voice, so campaigns were more effective, it was claimed.

More should be done to create wealth and retain skills, as well as tackle problems like New Street Station.

All featured in The Vision for Birmingham drawn up by representatives from Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, EEF, Institute of Directors and the heads of local firms.

Outlined at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the gathering was set up to arrest a slackening in the momentum of the city's development.

Improving the city's educational offering by retaining more graduates and matching the training offered by its universities to the business need was among the aims identified.

This could ultimately lead to a combined Birmingham business school to compete on the world stage, as well as an international school to attract overseas companies.

David Draycott, executive director of Birmingham Chamber, said Birmingham should no longer compete with the capital but make the most of its location.

He said: "We should make more of our proximity to London; we could argue that we are sitting on London's shoulder. We are only 110 miles away.

"With the improvement in transport links, we are getting closer to London in time terms, but it is far cheaper to set up businesses here."

While many companies would always locate in London, Birmingham could benefit from its nearness as well as its greater availability of affordable land and nearby countryside, he added.

Other proposals included making Birmingham more of an enterprise city, and more attractive for companies to base their headquarters in the region.

Among the work outlined by the group was identifying how many multi-millionaires lived within Birmingham, a figure which could be highlighted to show how supportive it was of business and entice others to set up here.

Andrew Morris, chief executive of the NEC, said: "The headline should be: this is the city where you can make money or make more money as a corporation than anywhere else.

"If we have more multimillionaires per capita than any other city outside London, then we will have a huge queue down the motorway to get here."

Jerry Blackett, policy director of the Chamber outlined alleged concrete moves to make the vision a reality in the next few months.

Mr Blackett said letters would be sent to prominent politicians and developers ahead of next year's MIPIM property conference in France to stress the importance of resolving issues like New Street Station.

"Wherever you go in Birmingham, you will find a person with a point of view. But maybe that has got in the way of things we are trying to do.

"This is the first time by common consent we have spoken with one common business voice.

"Now we must unveil a single coherent message for how we as a business community want Birmingham to be."