McKenna brands Liverpool LEP structure "a joke"

DOWNTOWN Liverpool in Business chairman Frank McKenna has branded the proposed structure of the Liverpool’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) as “an absolute joke.”

McKenna has said that he is amazed that the proposed structure will contain 52 staff (containing the bulk of the current Mersey Partnership), as well as being supported by other local authority personnel.

He said: “I am astonished that this staff-heavy organisation is being seriously suggested at a time when both the public and private sectors are facing major challenges in a time of austerity.

“The LEP is simply meant to be a commissioning body; an enabler, a facilitator. Clearly, some city-region politicians are using this government-imposed entity to continue the wrong-headed approach of too many agencies delivering duplication and breeding confusion.

“There was an opportunity for us to clear a tier of the bureaucracy that has existed in Greater Liverpool for far too long, re-brand Liverpool Vision, extend its remit and make some much-needed efficiency savings, whilst adopting a more business-friendly structure in the process.

“Instead the old problems of Merseyside parochialism and the appetite to empire build have won the day over common sense.

Wrangling over the ongoing structure of the LEP has meant that the organisation has arguably not been able to extend influence that LEPs in other areas have been able to achieve in prioritise regional growth fund bids.

Moreover, the new directly-elected mayor for Liverpool will also gain control over the Whole Place fund provided by Government, which is overseen by LEPs elsewhere. The mayor will also gain control of several regeneration sites in the city of Liverpool which were previously held by the North West Development Agency.

Mr McKenna also points out that LEPs in other areas are supported by much smaller staff teams – six in Leeds and just two in Cheshire.

He said: “I will be equally astonished if the Government accepts this proposition. They have promised a culling of quangos, yet all that we have here is one organisation, The Mersey Partnership, morphing into another.

“The private sector will demand to know who is expected to pay for this expensive beast.”

A spokesman for the proposed Liverpool City Region LEP said: “Robert Hough and his board are determined  that the LEP will be more than a talking shop.

“It will give strategic leadership and facilitate and enable existing organisations and bespoke teams to deliver the desperately needed acceleration of economic growth.

“It is aware that the city region has far too few businesses, not enough business activity and not enough jobs. To deliver what is needed to meet these challenges and the high expectations of our communities and businesses, the LEP is taking over the resources of The Mersey Partnership (TMP) including its membership, income and staff; and the private sector-led teams that are already delivering rapid growth in the key sectors and are on the way to creating 100,000 new jobs within the decade.”