GEC: Liverpool has made progress, says Leahy

FORMER Tesco chief Sir Terry Leahy has welcomed Liverpool’s move towards elected mayors, which was one of the key recommendations highlighted in the report he co-authored with Lord Heseltine last year.

Sir Terry, who was one of the keynote speakers at yesterday’s Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Liverpool, said that city-regions “need leaders who share a bold vision, and I think we’re beginning to see that in Liverpool”.

“It’s very important that the leadership of Liverpool and the business leadership really take control of their own affairs and set out a strategy for the economic and social development of Liverpool.

He added that it was “a privilege” to co-author last year’s report, titled Rebalancing Britain: Policy or Slogan?.

It called for the creation of an elected mayor, as well as calling for “senior level engagement and co-investment” from the government in the ambitious £50bn Atlantic Gateway scheme.

Sir Terry said the aim of the report was to build long term goals based on regeneration efforts achieved over the past 10-15 years, but he added there were signs of progress already.

He also welcomed the decision to grant planning approval to Peel’s £5.5bn Liverpool Waters scheme.

“I think that cities have to develop. They’re breathing living, things and ports now are different.

“The related industries are logistical and processing industries – not storage in that traditional sense. So the old dock areas need to find a new use and that has to be about living and working. The plans for Liverpool Waters do just that. They’re a very natural extension of a vibrant, commercial quarter which has been rebuilt and is being further extended.”

Mr Leahy added that there was “still much to do” in terms of skills and education, and said the city needed to promote enterprise as well as focussing efforts on big gains from inward investment.

“You need both. And one feeds off the other. If a big inward investor like Jaguar comes in, that gives an opportunity for lots of local businesses to be developed.”

Since leaving Tesco, Mr Leahy has invested in “around 10” start-ups, which are mainly technology or web-related businesses, including Northwich-based retailer The Hut Group.

He said that when looking at new investments “first of all I look at the people, they’ve got to have developed IP, they’ve got to have determination and they’ve got to have common sense”.

“Usually they’ve got to have a trackrecord. It’s hard to judge an idea, but if you turn that idea into  a reality you learn a lot about the idea and you learn a lot about the people.”