It’s nearly a year since Vince Cable and Eric Pickles lit the fuse on local enterprise partnerships with their joint letter to business leaders and local authorities. Over the intervening months the shape of England under the LEPs has emerged in fits and starts, as the proposed LEPs have gradually been signed off.
Today the total stands at 33 approved LEPs, with white spaces still to be filled in East Yorkshire, part of Surrey and Buckinghamshire, Corby and Wellingborough, and a swathe of the West Country covering Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Dorset.
The Centre for Cities published a 6-Step Plan for Local Enterprise Partnerships in June 2010, setting out the key principles we believed would determine their success. Our plan focused on helping LEPs get off to the right start, with appropriate powers, governance arrangements and a clearly defined role.
Progress has been mixed, but many LEPs are working hard to put their plans in place. A year later many of these issues are still unresolved, but time is now far more pressing. That’s why we’ve published Sink or Swim: What Next for Local Enterprise Partnerships. We believe the LEPs have six months to answer some crucial questions and to convince business and the third sector that they will be effective, focused bodies that can get things done. LEPs rely almost entirely on goodwill, and the longer they delay the lower supplies will fall.
Each LEP needs to agree its purpose, and we believe the only focus should be on creating jobs and driving growth. Centre for Cities has outlined six levers for LEPs in its report, which we feel will give LEPs some of the teeth they need to build credibility and legitimacy with businesses and government over the next six months.
There’s a gap in many parts of England at the level of the real economic footprint of cities, which crosses local authority boundaries. Effective economic planning needs to be done at this scale, and it’s a job for the LEPs.
The government tasked LEPs with providing strategic leadership to set economic priorities, and creating the right environment for business and growth. LEPs should not turn themselves into delivery bodies, a role which can be fulfilled by other organisations. Proper strategic planning is a crucial task that no-one else is in a position to undertake.
We also believe LEPs need some real clout if they are to be effective. The Budget handed distribution of Enterprise Zone income to the LEPs, providing them with a major financial rationale. However, not every LEP will have an Enterprise Zone and the income will take time to accrue.
We believe LEPs need more financial leverage, and that the Local Government Resource Review should allow funds to be devolved from central government to LEPs on areas such as transport and skills, as well as speeding up the introduction of Tax Increment Financing.
LEPs have huge potential, and a small window in which to fulfil it. They could be a new force driving economic development in England, an unprecedented joint endeavour between public, private and third sectors. Or they could end up as another layer of local government, carrying out business as usual. By the end of the year we’ll know how well the LEP concept has worked.
Tom Bolton is senior analyst at Centre for Cities
I think the jury’ll be out for a little longer….
I can only speak for the progress within our LEP at Coventry and Warwickshire.
The mood with us is very positive and the LEP is working well.
It is the first time (for a very long time) that business leaders and owners have had the chance to be heard.
We have formed an excellent board with strong leadership from the private sector. We are working well with the public sector and many new initiatives have been suggested and already implemented.
Our focus is clear – grow jobs, grow the economy and remove barriers to growth.
All our progress and meeting minutes are detailed at http://www.cwlep.com
Our 5 year strategy is complete and is also on the website.
We have formed focus groups in areas of Access to Finance, Skills, Planning, Transport, Low Carbon, Farming and Rural Business, Tourism, Automotive and High Tech Manufacturing, Innovation and more. We have over 100 business owners engaged in these groups working with public sector leaders. We are already showing results.
We have regular board meetings with clear objectives and measures.
I hope this gives a clear picture that the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP ….means business!
Denys Shortt (Chairman)
denys@dcseurope.com
I am heartened by Denys Shortt’s comment, and particularly pleased the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP has clearly ‘got its act together’ and can demonstrate results and significant involvement of the private sector. This continues to be challenge for many of the LEPs as the private sector jostles with the public sector in trying to build effective relationships and partnerships. ‘Sink or swim’ by Centre for Cities rightly identifies that LEPs should be taking the lead on local economic strategy, including the planning of Enterprise Zones, spatial plans, and acting as a broker and facilitator to support and develop businesses. The Capacity Fund will undoubtedly help many LEPs ‘get on their feet’ but is the timescale long enough to ensure continued business buy in and sustain the momentum? And in end, will such limited funding be adequate, even with the potential RGF funds available for some areas?