LEPs promised government cash
THE North West’s Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) will be given up to £250,000 a year each by the Government to meet running costs – if they can find match funding.
The promise from the Government represents a victory for LEPs which have been arguing they cannot work properly without ‘core funding’ to pay for key staff and independent research.
The Government will make a £5m fund available for LEPs to share in the current financial year, with up to £250,000 available annually to each partnership in the following two years.
LEPs will have to match any of the money they receive with funding from councils or the private sector.
Last week David Frost, chairman of the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) network, warned that some LEPs could fold without help and called for annual funding of £250,000.
LEPs, which were created by the Coalition after it decided to scrap regional development agencies, have sof ar relied on councils and bids for a variety of Government programmes for funding.
Mike Blackburn, chairman of the Greater Manchester LEP, said: “The Greater Manchester LEP is fortunate to have an established support network across city-region, however, this new funding would allow us to run some of the essential services required by the LEP for ourselves and when the details of this scheme emerge we will be looking at them carefully.”
