Stronger local enterprise partnerships in our region – have your say
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Background: what is the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP)?
The Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) works to ensure everyone in our region feels the benefits of a strong economy by enabling business and enterprise to thrive.
The LEP is one of 38 local enterprise partnerships nationally. Established in 2011, it brings private sector leadership to a group of 11 local authorities, which have worked together on a formal and informal basis since 2004. Those local authorities are Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield and York, plus North Yorkshire County Council.
Since 2011 the LEP has taken on increased responsibility for significant central government funding, including an overall £1billion-plus Growth Deal. This Deal is having a positive impact across our region in the shape of new, world-class college facilities, homes, commercial developments and transport infrastructure and, crucially, more skilled jobs created and safeguarded for local people.
Working in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the LEP also provides support for businesses to locate and grow in the region, including support around skills, apprenticeships, grant funding, innovation, export, resource efficiency and inward investment. You can find out more about its work here.
Government review of local enterprise partnerships
In July 2018, the Government published a review into local enterprise partnerships nationally.
This review identifies local enterprise partnerships as an essential part of Government’s plans for driving local economic growth and productivity. It also sets out the intention to strengthen the role, capacity and capability of local enterprise partnerships to deliver the new UK Industrial Strategy. You can read the full review here.
As a result of this review, all local enterprise partnerships in England are required to consider the geography they cover and their governance structure. Government has asked local enterprise partnerships to:
“come forward with proposals that best reflect real functional economic areas, remove overlaps and, where appropriate, propose wider changes such as mergers.”
The deadline for these proposals is 28 September.
What does this mean in our region?
This means there will be some changes for the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership.
The most significant change will be to the LEP’s geography to remove overlaps with other local enterprise partnerships.
LEP Board members are currently investigating the benefits and implications of this, but the likely changes to geography present two emerging options:
- To get smaller – for example by focusing just on West Yorkshire, while continuing to work closely with neighbouring local enterprise partnerships on economic and social issues
- To get bigger – for example by joining with neighbouring local enterprise partnerships that cover the entire City Region and potentially more
Growth deal funded projects that have already secured funding will not be impacted by any future changes.
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Geography:
I believe that there is a logic in having some commonality between the area covered by the LEP, the CA and any future mayoral region. This is a mute point because the discussions are ‘still’ taking place as to whether we should have a mayor.
Geography - Definitely should get bigger - surely makes sense to go for Yorkshire wide to harness benefits for the whole area and anticipate a fully devolved deal for Yorkshire from Government. The evidence is there that this would be a powerful way to deliver sustainable, inclusive growth for businesses and individual residents.
Main issues - Careful of creating too large a bureaucracy around any new LEP set up - ensuring the balance between sufficient transparency and too much of a new Whitehall around it. Focusing on delivering benefits with sound decision making incorporating all sectors bringing residents along too.
LEP representative as possible of view of private sector and areas - ensuring all investment proposals are simply and clearly explained in terms of cost and benefit and value so engagement by businesses and residents direct or via Councillors is valuable and they are encouraged to continue to engage as they can understand and see benefits which are direct and indirect over short, medium and longer term. Without too much bureacracy and paper work using data and digital innovations.
Good luck! Exciting times for the region.
More needs to be done to open up potential development land for industry especially where the site needs significant remediation works making it unviable as there is a lack of space for businesses in the Leeds City Region especially in Calderdale & Kirklees to move to in order for them to expand. The LEP needs to have a larger fund and be more proactive to help land owners and businesses create the new business space (industrial units) which is where a lot of the growth for the region will come from, currently this growth is being held back by the lack of new modern business space.
I think the LEP should get bigger. Yorkshire has always been stronger as one whole unit than any of the ridings individually. A Yorkshire Enterprise Partnership would be able to leverage the resources of a vast region while still retaining a local focus. I think the main issue that will need to be addressed is narrow-mindedness, getting people to care not just about their own back yard but about Yorkshire as a whole will sadly be a challenge. The issue of local representation will also be key, making sure people from all parts of Yorkshire have a voice at all levels will be highly important. I think that appointing officials, each of whom has a general responsibility for each area, to come together at a council-style meeting on a semi-regular basis would be a good step in that direction. This would allow each local area to bring their problems to the wider community to try to find solutions, not just working in their own area.
The Leeds City Region LEP should merge with the Sheffield City Region and York / NY / ER LEPs. This would ensure a combined LEP is ready for the potential 'One Yorkshire' devolution deal.
I believe the current LEP area is the appropriate size, however would accept Barnsley leaving to be closer to Sheffield which economically has probably more impact on its residents and businesses than Leeds. The remaining areas all strike me as having more in common with Leeds than say the North Yorkshire LEP which doesn't really have any impact in the likes of York like the superfast deployment for example.
I believe simply removing Barnsley, and ensuring that the combined authority makes changes to accomodate the new geography is the way to go.
I believe that the current LEP area is too large, it would make far more sense for it to mirror the West Yorkshre Combined Authority Area thereby allowing more concentration of efforts.