Black Country JCS: Black Country LEP pledges to create growth
THE body tasked with spearheading the economic development of the Black Country has pledged to do all it can to create the right conditions for growth.
The Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership has taken on responsibility for the policy following the demise of regional development agency Advantage West Midlands, which will close for good in March 2012.
Key to its success will be the implementation of the Joint Core Strategy, a framework by which the four Black Country local authorities – Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton – will work together to coordinate planning and development policy, especially around the area’s newly-designated Enterprise Zone.
Stewart Towe, chairman of the Black Country LEP, said: “The authorities have agreed they will put together one team to manage the Enterprise Zone. This is vitally important to the success of the project.
“We can’t afford to have Walsall going one direction and Wolverhampton another – there has to be a core strategic approach.”
The government’s strategy when formulating the LEP model was to set up a group of bodies which would harness the skills and experience of the public, private and academic sectors within a set area and have them work together to create the right conditions for investment and job creation.
The talents brought together for the Black Country LEP embody the government’s approach.
Mr Towe is well qualified to head the body. He is vastly experienced in the crucial manufacturing sector and is managing director of Smethwick-based Hadley Group, the engineering group that supplies sectors such as automotive, aerospace and construction.
His colleagues on the LEP Board include the leaders of four Black Country authorities: Councillor Mike Bird, of Walsall Borough Council, who is also vice chairman of the LEP, Councillor Darren Cooper, of Sandwell Borough Council, Councillor Les Jones, of Dudley Borough Council and Councillor Roger Lawrence, of Wolverhampton City Council.
Private sector representatives include: Jason Wouhra, director and company secretary of West Bromwich-based ethnic foods firm East End Foods, who is also a vice chairman of the LEP, Tim Hair, chief executive of Walsall-based foundry group Chamberlin, Peter Mathews, chairman and managing director of Lye-based Black Country Metals and John McDonough, chief executive of Wolverhampton-based global support services company Carillion.
Professor Ian Oakes, pro-vice chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, is the academic representative on the board. He was educated at Aston University, where he studied both for a degree in production technology and an MBA, after which he worked in the automotive industry.
Mr Towe said the LEP had already achieved a great deal, including successfully bidding for a Black Country Enterprise Zone.
He said: “I have been surprised that we have been able to get the government to listen to us as well as they have. We went to London with a blank sheet of paper and explained to them what we needed.
“They put a few caveats down but we ended up getting not one site but two. This is great news for the Black Country and it offers the area enormous potential for the future.
“We will now do all we can to create the right conditions for growth and create the jobs and investment the Black Country needs to sustain itself in the future,” he added.
