Sheffield City Region: Public-private partnership needed

COLLABORATION between the public and private sectors will be critical to the future of the Sheffield City Region. That was the conclusion of a round table discussion among leading figures hosted by TheBusinessDesk.com.

The debate focused on the changing landscape in regional economic development with both public and private sectors expected to take on new roles in the light of the demise of regional development agencies and the creation of new local enterprise partnershops.

The discussion was part of a new supplement on the future of the Sheffield City Region from TheBusinessDesk.com in association with DLA Piper and Sheffield Hallam University.

John Mothersole, chief executive of Sheffield City Council, said: “With the LEP, I think the local authorities have learnt how to let go and the private sector has learnt how to give leadership, although we are only just starting.”

Attracting inward investment is one of the City Region’s key goals, particularly with the development of a new enterprise zone on a series of sites along the M1 on the horizon.

DLA Piper’s Richard May made the point that over the last three years his firm had seen a “big increase” in interest from US and continental businesses looking to buy existing business within the City Region.

“There is a massive interest in buying into this region, so people from other countries obviously do feel we are worth investing in,” he said.

Lynda Hinxman, assistant dean for Sheffield Business School, emphasised the importance of the skills development of leaders at all levels within the City Region.

“We are doing the City Region Leadership programme to look at what we must do to meet the needs of leaders…in a very different world. We are the only LEP with a City Region leadership programme.”

She added that leaders have to think very differently and “to not think public sector and private sector or to think in silos but to think City Region”.

The attendees were Richard May, office managing partner in Sheffield, DLA Piper; Jon Kenworthy, partner, Sheffield Corporate Team, DLA Piper; Peter Wells, director of the centre for regional economic
and social research at Sheffield Hallam University; Lynda Hinxman, assistant dean of Sheffield Business School; Lee Strafford, founder of PlusNet; David Grey, group Managing Director, OSL Group; James Newman, chairman of the Sheffield City Region LEP; John Mothersole, chief executive of Sheffield City Council; Stephen Hodgson, head of UK regional offices, Knight Frank. The discussion was chaired by Ian Briggs, editor of TheBusinessDesk.com.

Click here to download the supplement and read the discussion in full.