Business group wants region-wide LEP co-ordination

UMBRELLA group Business Voice WM is pressing the government to create an over-arching mechanism to co-ordinate the activities of the six LEPs that are expected to replace Advantage West Midlands.

In a submission to Business Secretary Vince Cable and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles came on deadline day for proposals to set up Local Enterprise Partnerships. The body said co-ordinated action across the region is needed to tackle the economic downturn.

The Government is expected to reveal today how many LEP submissions it has received, and has indicated it expects the new arrangements to be in place by September 2011.

In a 29-page dossier, Business Voice WM called on the Government to set up an overarching mechanism that would support LEPs in Birmingham and Solihull, Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire;

This new tier would also deliver strategic business support in the Midlands, such as the Manufacturing Advisory Service. The Government had indicated such services would be run from London;

Business Voice WM Chairman, Barrie Williams, said: “Our plans reflect the ambitions of the new Government. Ministers rightly state that the legacy of wasting of public money must end and that, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer has correctly said, we are all in this together to sort out our economy.

“That is why our proposals would support the local actions of Local Enterprise Partnerships by having an overarching mechanism that supports LEPs through services via economies of scale – so councils can save money.

“This mechanism also means that when it comes to supply chains in sectors such as automotive, aerospace and food and drink – which cross the whole of the Midlands and not just a handful of council areas – we can supply strategic business support services that are sensitive to the needs of the Midlands and move away from the London-knows-best approach of the past.”

Institute of Directors regional chairman John Rider, who led the drafting of the final Business Voice WM submission, said: “We must do this for the sake of jobs. Official figures show that since the heyday of the 1970s – when the West Midlands was seen as the UK’s economic powerhouse – our economic clout has gone into a long decline.

“Unless we pull together then families in the West Midlands cannot enjoy the full prosperity that we should all aim for.”