Centre for Cities

LEP-speak and what money can’t buy for Birmingham

Kate Cooper's take on the GBSLEP's Annual Report

By:
Published August 13, 2012, in Opinion


Do you suppose that the joyful energy and friendliness of the Olympics, powered by thousands upon thousands of volunteers, is telling us something economically important?

That what money can’t buy really matters.

And now for something completely different. LEP-speak. Not just from our LEP, it’s a national thing.

The recently published  by Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBS LEP) epitomises it. Many photos (nearly all of middle-aged white blokes), splurges of colour, computer graphics of yet-to-be-built places among phrases like “transformational bold ambition” plus quite a lot of “focus”, “clear strategy”, “world class” etc etc.

Continues…

Bigger than Boris

Report illustrates size of Brum mayor's job

By:
Published April 24, 2012, in Elected mayors


A from the Centre for Cities spells out the size of the challenge for any new mayors that appear following next week’s referendum – none larger it seems than that in Birmingham.

Throughout the report’s survey of the education, business and employment challenges in each of the cities, Birmingham sticks out in all the graphs like a lanky teenager. Here’s one, just for example:

The report says:

New city mayors will need to support and respond to the needs of their population. A mayor of Birmingham, for example, with a constituency of 1,036,900 people, would have the second biggest constituency in the country after the Mayor of London.

The Centre for Cities echoes the call of the for the Government to look to introduce ‘Metro Mayors’ whose responsibilities cover geographical areas much wider than those proposed currently.

The think tank also makes the case for mayors to co-chair their Local Enterprise Partnerships and to head up their Integrated Transport Authority. (I today that Sir Albert Bore, now Liam Byrne’s running mate for mayor, has said he wants to see the Birmingham and Black Country LEPs united.)

Well worth a read. The full report is .

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Show me the money

By:
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

Continues…

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

By:
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’.

Continues…

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