LCRCA in call to business leaders after absorbing LEP functions
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is to take over the work of the region’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
It follows an announcement by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in his March Budget that LEPs will be scrapped by April next year.
A new Business and Enterprise Board within the combined authority will now take over the role of providing a voice for business in the Liverpool City Region and the combined authority is now seeking recognised business leaders in their sector from across the area to volunteer their expertise and time as members of the board.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “For more than a decade now, Asif Hamid, Mark Basnett and the LEP have built a platform for business leaders and entrepreneurs across our area to join up their thinking, collaborate and fulfil their potential – but now it’s time to look to the future.
“This is an opportunity for business and enterprise leaders to work with us, to make their voice heard, and to help us identify the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for our economy. I want the Liverpool City Region to be the home of ‘good’ business and I’m looking forward to seeing where this next chapter takes us on our journey to making our area the best place in the country to live, work and run a business in.”
Asif Hamid, chair of the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “We have been working collaboratively on the integration of the LEP with the combined authority since the publication of the Levelling Up White Paper early last year. Central to all these discussions is the value and importance of retaining the independent voice of business to inform economic development policy, strategy and delivery, particularly relating to business growth and investment.”
LEPs are voluntary partnerships between local or combined authorities and businesses, first set up by government in 2011.
Since the creation of the combined authority, several LEP-related functions, such as setting local economic priorities and leading on economic growth and job creation, have already moved across to the authority.
Under the new plans, a new Business and Enterprise Board will be set up within the combined authority as one of the main means of engaging with the local business community.
This board will ensure representation from priority industry sectors in the city region as well as wider business representation. Its purpose will be to articulate business views about the main economic opportunities and challenges facing the region so they can be reflected in policy priorities.
The Business and Enterprise Board will be the primary strategic link between business and the combined authority and its designated representative would become a non-voting member of the combined authority.
Representation on the board will be ensured for key industry cluster chairs, Higher and Further Education, social economy, and the Liverpool Visitor Economy Partnership. Further representation will be sought from other significant business sectors, such as port and maritime logistics, professional and business services, third sector and built environment.
Three new cluster boards will be set up covering advanced manufacturing, health and life sciences and the digital and creative industries, in recognition of key strengths and growth opportunities for the LCR economy as evidenced in the city region’s Plan for Prosperity. Cluster boards would be able to set up task groups to address issues affecting the performance and competitiveness of the sector and wider LCR economy.
