LEPs: the break-up begins

UP TO six Local Enterprise Partnerships could replace AWM when the agency is abolished, with Coventry and outlying shire counties loosening their economic ties with Birmingham.

Council leaders in Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton are believed to be taking steps to create a Black Country LEP which will rival any Birmingham-based LEP in size.

But Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Chamber of Commerce want the Black Country to join with them, although Coventry, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and North Staffordshire are all expected to fall outside a ‘Birmingham City Region LEP’.

Stephen Hughes, chief executive of Birmingham City Council, said: “The logical foundation for an LEP would be based on the Birmingham and Black Country City Region, which includes Solihull, the NEC, Airport and M42 corridor.”

Mick Laverty, the chief executive of AWM, which will cease to exist by May 2012, said his organisation was looking to effect an orderly transition to the new structures.

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“We need a single package of LEP proposals from across the West Midlands,” he said.

“This could see four to six LEP proposals being presented to government on September 6. It’s important that all the local authorities share their thoughts and intelligence and then present a united regional front.”

Birmingham Chamber chief executive Jerry Blackett (pictured left) has firmly nailed his organisation’s colours to a proposal to form a West Midlands LEP based on Birmingham and the Black Country  – and he wants Solihull to be part of it, despite some indications that the borough may choose to defect to Coventry and Warwickshire.

“The question for Solihull is can it be in more than one LEP, and if it can’t it will have to choose where its interests are best served,” he said.

“In my view, that’s the emerging LEP that is based on Birmingham, the Black Country, South Staffs – and Solihull. Bromsgrove and Redditch perhaps, but essentially not including  Coventry or North Staffs or the shires. Greater Manchester is putting together a Greater Manchester LEP, and this region needs something of similar clout.”

Warwickshire County Council said it was looking to strengthen its ties with Coventry by forming an LEP, and wouldn’t rule out linking up with Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.

A spokesman said: “We are looking at how working with authorities in other geographical areas may add value to Warwickshire’s economy.”

In an apparent reference to the ill-fated Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country City Region grouping of local authorities and business groups, Mr Blackett said: “What we’ve got to do is formalise what’s been done on an informal basis – keeping the best of what’s gone before and jettisoning what hasn’t worked. And that emphatically includes the naming issue.”

The City Region’s convoluted name has been a long standing source of ridicule in business circles, and seen as a symbol of the parochialism of some local authorities who are jealous of Birmingham’s scale and perceived dominance in the region.

Mr Blackett said: “I’m really hoping that the business voice can be clear and concise, and we need to be very mindful of, say, the Black Country trying to go off and do its own thing. Businesses and local authorities really need to get over the naming issue and come together to ensure the region punches its weight.”

But the greatest threat to the creation of a regional LEP is squabbling between local authorities, said Mr Blackett. “I think the political leaders are trying to do the right thing for themselves, but the big issue is lack of trust between different local authorities.”

“The danger is that they move towards forming an LEP on their own doorstep with perhaps one local partner they trust and even though it’s too small to achieve much, they think at least they won’t be subsumed by the interests of a more dominant partner.”