Last ditch battle to save Business Voice LEP proposal

SUPPORTERS of an ‘over-arching’ structure to coordinate the work of the six Local Enterprise Partnerships bidding to replace AWM are fighting a rearguard action to keep their proposal alive.

Yesterday, Business Secretary Vince Cable repeated his position that responsibility for strategic leadership of key industrial sectors and business support would reside in Whitehall, with a minimum of local management. This seemed to rule out a proposal from Business Voice WM and local authority body West Midlands Councils, who want to see another tier of co-ordination to oversee cross-regional issues that affect all the LEPs in the West Midlands.

Now proponents of the idea say the West Midlands economy is in such a poor state that it should be treated as a special case by the Government.

John Rider, regional chairman of the Institute of Directors, who helped draft the BVM submission, warned there was no confidence that local enterprise partnerships would work properly without some cross region umbrella body capable of playing a co-ordinating role.

It was vital that a “well thought- through approach” emerged, capable of making a long-term difference, he said.

Mr Rider said: “Our ‘competitors’ in The North –  that’s what they are in the race for inward investment and economic success – the North-east and Manchester, for instance, have long recognised the benefits of genuinely working together. Arguably, our region must play ‘catch-up’ and quickly.

“Interestingly, most people recognise that ‘Greater Birmingham’ is the natural economic geography of the West Midlands and our ‘travel to work’ and supply chain patterns easily demonstrate this point. People criss-cross the region daily as they go about their work and we have members whose businesses straddle local authority areas (sometimes more than one) – and many hospitals and schools operate with porous boundaries.

“This region is a special case and must be treated as such. The only region to suffer a loss of private sector jobs in the recent ‘good times’ – minus 60,000 in 10 years –  deserves a structured, well thought- through approach that will make a long-term difference.”

His comments came after a split emerged between chambers of commerce in the region and other business groups such as the IoD and the CBI. Some bodies believe the chambers have tried to dominate the LEP process in order to secure any funding streams that come with the new structures, and nationally, the CBI and IoD as well as the Federation of Small Businesses have either walked away from chamber-dominated LEP proposals, or offered only lukewarm support.

Mr Rider said: “There are many who believe that the LEP process in our area has effectively excluded the collective wisdom of many major players such as the universities, voluntary sector and charities, most business organisations and major businesses plus leading well- known academics.

“The IoD with Business Voice WM has mobilised such a ‘Coalition of Interests’ that would be willing to work with the Government and other partners on such a project.

“Arguably, whatever replaces RDAs must be at least as effective and we have no real confidence that this will be the case without a formal mechanism to make this happen.”