Calls for a new law which would require more investment in Birmingham at the expense of London are to be made at a summit tomorrow.
The Town & Country Planning Association will be meeting in Birmingham to discuss proposals to attract more investment away from the capital and into the Midlands.
The body, the country's leading town planning pressure group, has invited a commission of leading MPs and academics who will hear claims that Birmingham is being swallowed by an economy generated by the London "mega-city".
Planning expert Sir Peter Hall is expected to call for drastic measures if the Midlands is to get its fair share of jobs and investment.
Concerns will also be raised about the loss of much of the region's manufacturing industry and Birmingham's transport infrastructure.
The commission, which includes former Environment Secretary John Gummer and Labour vice chairman of the Local Government Association, Sir Jeremy Beecham, will help determine a national spatial policy for the UK.
The idea of a law requiring Government and regional bodies to ensure a fair distribution of investment across different regions has come from Germany, where similar measures have been put in place to tackle the massive east-west divide that exists in the country.
The idea is one of a range of measures being considered by the national inquiry run by the association to address the wealth gap across different parts of England.
Gideon Amos, a former Birmingham resident and secretary to the commission, said: "Evidence presented from Germany has prompted the commission to consider the need for a new law in the UK, but members are equally concerned about the need for more transport investment in the Midlands and the continuing loss of heavy industry from Birmingham and neighbouring cities.
"England is the only country in Western Europe without a spatial vision showing how it wants the country to develop over the next ten to 20 years."
Previous inquiries by the T&CPA have provoked major reform of the planning system.
The group claims a large degree of responsibility for the Government's Sustainable Communities Plan that promotes major development in the Thames Gateway and Milton Keynes and South Midlands areas. n The summit will be held at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, Margaret Street, in the city centre. The public can attend and anyone wishing to go should contact 0207 9309303 or nancy@tcpa.org.uk for information.
