NWDA could bid to run an enterprise partnership
THE Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) could bid for the right to run one of the coalition Government’s new Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).
The Government is committed to axing the regional development agencies, which were introduced by Labour to spearhead economic development, accusing them of being wasteful and bureaucratic.
It plans to introduce LEPs which will involve a closer relationship between local authorities and business.
In a statement NWDA chairman Robert Hough has drawn attention to comments business secretary Vince Cable made in a Commons debate on Wednesday.
Responding to a defence of the NWDA by Liverpool MP Louise Ellman, Mr Cable said: “I have met the NWDA and I have suggested to it that under the new structures that will be created — the local enterprise partnerships, and local businesses working with their local councils — it will have an opportunity to bid for status in order to carry forward useful projects that support development on the ground.
“There will be a change — those RDAs are going to be restructured — but there is a role for that kind of innovation locally.”
The department for business has already suggested a stripped down RDA could form an LEP if there is consensus between a local authority and the business community. Manchester City Council’s chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein will stress his support for the NWDA at a meeting of the Association of Greater Manchester Councils today.
Mr Hough, who underlined the significant support his agency has received from the region’s business community, said: “The RDAs accept that change is coming and we are ready for it. In fact, we have been making efficiency savings and planning for change for sometime now.
“We are committed to ensuring as smooth a transition as possible. For us, it is the work (and the expertise that underpins it) that matters most, more than the institutional arrangements – vital work at such a critical time for the national economy.”
He added: “This will be an unsettling time for our staff. We are working to ensure they are properly supported through such a significant time of change and I am optimistic about the future. We are seeing a great deal of support in the North West.”
The process to develop LEPs will begin with a White Paper to be published in the summer.
