Funding tops agenda for successful LEPs

THE successful LEPs in Liverpool, Manchester, Cheshire and Warrington and Cumbria were getting down to business today with the question of how projects will be funded the dominant issue.

The Government has made it clear there will be no direct allocation of cash from Westminster to the LEPs.

While the soon-to-be axed North West Regional Development Agency had a budget this year of £300m, the region’s Local Entreprise Partnerships will have to bid for a share of the new  three-year £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund against every other LEP in England.

John Early, who was yesterday named as the chairman of the first Greater Manchester LEP – until April in shadow form – told TheBusinessDesk.com: “The main issue is to get up and running very, very quickly – there’s always great first mover advantage.

“What we want to study now is the fine print of the proposals. One thing is clear already – we’re not going to have too many resources.

“The Regional Growth Fund is not a lot of money and we need to move quickly. We have got the projects that really demonstrate economic value.

“I do think it’s really important that the fund is allocated on a real value basis and isn’t spread thinly – which won’t achieve anything.”

Delivering skills training and continuing to attract international investment at a local level in partnership with UK Trade and Investment, are also key areas for the LEP.

Speaking yesterday at a lunch arranged by professional services group Pro Manchester, Manchester City Council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein said: “We’ve got to be innovative and creative. We know levels of public investment are going to be reduced. We’ve got to start to innovate around new investment models.”

Asked about funding streams for the LEPs, he said: “It’s very clear there’s none. The LEP has to create its own value. Working with the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) it will be bringing forward its own proposals on how we’re going to drive the economy going forward and that will be the cornerstone of the bid for LEP monies.”

On the abolition of RDAs he said: “What I worry about is that the loss of the RDA does not result in increasing levels of centralisation… national delivery models don’t work.”