LEPs

Why we’re getting LEPs ‘on the cheap’

Frustration at limited funding for Local Enterprise Partnerships, businesses warn

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Published August 8, 2012, in LEPs

Local Enterprise Partnerships are at risk of failing because their administrative costs are not being properly funded by the Government, an influential business lobbying group has warned.

The LEPs, which were set up to take over from regional development agencies in boosting economic redevelopment and job creation, are over-reliant on grants from local councils and are failing to find significant private sector support.

The Federation of Small Businesses, in a submission to an all-party parliamentary inquiry into the progress of LEPs, warns of

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City set to axe planning restrictions in bid for jobs and growth drive

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Published January 30, 2012, in Councils, LEPs, Politics

This is Digbeth High Street of Digbeth as viewed from a platform in Selfridges in Birmingham, England. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The precise location of Birmingham’s Enterprise Zones has become clearer following the publication of detailed maps showing where new businesses will be able to set up without having to obtain planning permission.

City council planners are applying for fast-track (LDOs) to much of Digbeth and the whole of Birmingham Science Park Aston.

The LDOs cut across normal regulations by allowing entrepreneurs, start-up companies and established firms to change the use of buildings without having to go through the time-consuming and costly process of applying for planning approval.

The council says its aim is to create hundreds of jobs by encouraging the growth of financial services, creative, digital media and ICT businesses in Digbeth and at the science park.

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One year in, LEPs start eyeing more powers

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Published November 20, 2011, in LEPs

RJF attended the Birmingham outing of the series on LEPs, chaired by BIS Select Committee chairman MP alongside CfC’s Andrew Carter. Around 20 people attended, including representatives from Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire and Leiceter & Leicestershire.

Curiously, Greater Birmingham & Solihull were not among the number, but its record was vigorously endorsed by event host Mark Smith of PwC and Birmingham Chamber President Mike Ward. Hat tip too to London-based solicitors and parliamentary agents Bircham Dyson Bell which is sponsoring the series.

The session was strictly , so no names, no pack drill on the more opinionated comments. We’re on safe ground though, we think, to highlight some key discussion points.

As CfC’s  noted, progress among LEPs is patchy. They’re doing different things

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LEP watch: time to pick up the pace

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Published September 16, 2011, in LEPs

Local Enterprise Partnerships continue their – albeit slow – roll out. Many are beginning to benefit from LEP start up funding as well as more co-ordinated action. The first meeting of the LEP Network took place yesterday led by former British Chambers of Commerce director-general David Frost. It brings together the 37 partnerships so far established, with its first meeting addressed by three senior ministers.

The creation of Enterprise Zones by the Greater Birmingham & Solihull and the Black Country LEPs are the most notable features of the Partnerships, although much work is still to be completed on the detail of how they will work.

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Show me the money

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Published July 1, 2011, in LEPs

Image via Wikipedia

Nick Clegg’s confirmation that councils will be able to retain the business rates they collect is perhaps the most important piece of the Government’s growing localism agenda.

It wasn’t a new announcement, sure, but as the the policy will do much to incentivise local authorities to attract, nurture and retain businesses that can bring with them sustainable income streams via their rates bills as well as jobs for citizens.

As CfC says:

Currently, English city councils get no direct financial benefit from supporting new development. There’s evidence to suggest that this has constrained their expansion, restricted the supply of offices and factories, and ultimately driven up the cost of the premises for business. This has been detrimental for economic growth.

As well as the economic benefits, the policy provides businesses with a strong incentive to engage with local authorities via relationships that are much more constructive than some that exist at the

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Are Metro mayors a distraction too far?

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Published June 15, 2011, in Elected mayors, LEPs

Image via Wikipedia

Of course, this week’s announcement of for Birmingham was a major step forward for the ‘yes’ campaign, but another event on the same day was just as significant.

Mayoral cheerleader, think tank head and former Labour minister Lord Adonis was in town to help launch the joint and report into the potential economic impact of elected mayors in the 11 core English cities that are yet to opt for the system.

Leave aside for a moment the significance of the choice of Birmingham for the launch (and in our view that is VERY significant). Leave aside the choice of KPMG as the host venue  (see above). And leave aside the fact that Adonis’s major intervention in the mayoral debate is yet to come – when he submits his ‘letter’ to Eric Pickles within the next few weeks. (The latter will reveal to what extent Adonis will translate his frustration with the shadow mayor concept into a firm policy proposal).

The report, articulates many familiar as well as new arguments for elected mayors, and its proposals focus on the reach and powers of the elected mayor’s office.

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A question of scale: a challenge for the Black Country LEP

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Published May 22, 2011, in LEPs

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The thinktank this week published an excellent overview of the state of play of Local Enterprise Partnerships across the UK.

The report, , succinctly presents the challenges for the country’s 33 LEPs, particuarly around the need to avoid mission creep and to ensure the private sector’s pre-eminence in the partnerships is maintained.

But in the stats to support the report, there’s a stark fact that should give the Black Country LEP pause for thought.

During last summer’s chaotic formation of the LEPs () , the burning question in the West Midlands was whether  Birmingham and the Black Country could work in unison. After weeks of wrangling and dispute, the parochialism of the region won out, and the two went their separate ways.

Birmingham, however, has since welcomed into the camp , neatly illustrating the need for LEPs to cover ‘natural economic areas’.

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Prisk defends LEP programme

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Published April 25, 2011, in LEPs

Business and Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk has mounted a spirited defence of Local Enterprise Partnerships.

Writing in , he defends the way the post-RDA bodies have been developed:

We have deliberately not set out a strict set of guidelines or frameworks for the partnerships to follow. To do so – especially in legislation – would have hamstrung the partnerships’ freedom before they even started. We must move away from the last government’s ‘top-down’ approach to governing, and allow partnerships to determine the form and functions which are most suitable and effective for businesses their area.

Elsewhere, he endorses the role of LEPs in helping businesses apply for support from the Regional Growth Fund, and says they’ll also have a say in how European funding is distributed:

Local areas will not lose out on European money, either. The Department for Communities and Local Government has always had responsibility for delivering the European Regional Development Fund in England. Local authorities will have a strategic role to play in delivery of the fund, as will local enterprise partnerships.

For the full article,

Localism: work in progress, but room to lead and shape

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Published March 23, 2011, in LEPs

Image via Wikipedia

I attended the British Property Federation briefing event on the Localism Bill with some co-conspirators this evening. Turley Associates (planning consultants), Birmingham City Council and PPS (public affairs) provided the speakers. Wragge & co were in charge of the rather nice canapés.

As Andrew Round from BCC commented, it’s difficult to philosophically argue with the localism cause. The UK, even after devolution, is far too centrally run and regulated. It’s also true that much of the Coalition Government’s localism policy leaves a little to be desired when it comes to the detail, not least in terms of the planning process.

I was, however, disappointed by the mood and tone of the event. Very negative and cynical. One might even suggest that the property and legal types don’t like the idea of change – and the impact it will have on their lives and businesses.

Localism is good and it’s happening. Not brilliant and pretty in parts, but the direction of travel is right.

The subject of LEPs inevitably reared its head. Inevitably too, there was much chuntering on the vagueness and LEPs boundaries, powers and budgets. Fine, they are another imperfect policy.

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