City council prepares to take AWM cash

BIRMINGHAM City Council has confirmed it is prepared to take over funding powers from Advantage West Midlands.

The authority has confirmed a motion it passed last year in which it called for the “devolution of funding from Advantage West Midlands” to its own so-called ‘Economic Prosperity Board’.

According to the motion, the authority would like to establish the EPB to devolve funding “in order to facilitate coherent delivery of sustainable economic growth and sustainable development”.

It adds that it would create “an autonomous enterprise area in which all public spending is under local control” and the EPB would become the single regeneration vehicle for the city, so removing the unnecessary plethora of organisations which currently operate at the local, sub regional and regional levels.

The motion became incredibly relevant after the new Tory/Lib Dem coalition announced it wanted to create Local Enterprise Partnerships in place of regional developments agencies like AWM, giving powers to businesses and local authorities.

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said: “We want to take some time to work with our partners to fully consider the Government’s thinking before taking any decisions on the way forward.”

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has also said he would be prepared to devolve powers to local enterprise partnerships.

AWM chief executive Mick Laverty has so far made no public comment about the proposed Local Enterprise Partnerships.