The Digby Jones column: One size of LEP doesn’t fit all
Just because regional development agencies were unnecessary in the South West, the South East and the East of England doesn't mean they weren't both successful and needed in the Midlands and the North.
Just because regional development agencies were unnecessary in the South West, the South East and the East of England doesn’t mean they weren’t both successful and needed in the Midlands and the North.
Look at how the closure of Longbridge was handled when MG Rover went down. Advantage West Midlands was prepared, had put in five years work since the BMW pull-out to bolster the vital supply chain, and ultimately kept job losses and the effect on the economy to a minimum.
It was a body blow…..but it could have been a disaster. Equally brilliant work was taking place in the North East and Yorkshire.
So why do we always have to have a one size fits all approach?
The challenges are different. The skills base and ethnic/age/density profiles are different.
But the best thing about the RDAs was that they had, by law, to be business driven and business led.
So action was taken, and our money spent, independent of party political advantage and currying favour with voters.
Were RDAs bloated? Yes.
Could money be saved? You bet it could, even if a Treasury review put RDAs as the most cost effective of all public bodies with administration costs of only 7p in every £1.
Did we need one in certain parts of the country? No.
Were the geographical areas drawn in Whitehall to define a region good enough? Not only no but some of the initial decisions were potty.
And therein lay an in-built lack of focus.
How do you plan for Swindon and Cornwall in the same area? Or Dover and Newbury? Stoke and Hereford?
Absolutely barmy. But throwing the baby out with the bathwater is not the answer.
Local enterprise partnerships are politically driven and managed. And turkeys never vote for Christmas.
They are confused in their objectives and constituency. Taking the eye off the ball or what!
Interestingly when I was director general of the CBI my distinct enthusiasm for RDAs was a tad at odds with the more guarded acceptance from many members, whose reluctance grew in direct proportion to how far down the country they were.
The CBI is universally against this new ‘plan’. Director-general Richard Lambert told me last week.
In a review earlier this year of all RDAs by the government spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, Advantage West Midlands was rated as performing ‘strongly’ in all areas, one of only two in the country to achieve the maximum rating.
This came after recent independent evaluations showed that the agency’s return on investment had gone up 9% in the past year to £8.14 in economic benefits for the region for every £1 invested.
Despite a reduced budget, the agency created or safeguarded more than 17,000 jobs for the region and supported nearly 29,000 businesses.
It also nearly doubled its target of attracting private investment at a time when money was extremely tight.
And what do we get in return? We appear set for a conjuror’s bagful of LEP applications.
LEPs will be too small to work properly, with little joined up thinking, and a local authority mentality.
All the old enmities are out in the open with Birmingham, the Black Country and Coventry at each other’s throats.
Not well done Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles! Business and all the country north of Watford deserves better than this.
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