Councils consider backing Yorkshire Enterprise Partnership
COUNCIL leaders are expected to decide later this week whether to support a Yorkshire-wide enterprise partnership after meeting the plan’s backers last night.
The group behind Yorkshire Enterprise Partnership set out their ideas to a meeting of council leaders and chief executives from across Yorkshire hosted by Local Government Yorkshire and Humber.
Barry Dodd, chairman of GSM Group and one of the leading figures behind the YEP, said: “It was an interesting meeting where we had a really good helpful discussion with leaders and chief executives and they are now fully briefed to make a decision based on all the facts.
“We hope that they will be in a position to support what we are suggesting.”
Ministers have asked business leaders and local authorities to join together to form new local economic partnerships to drive regional economic development when regional development agencies are abolished.
A series of local enterprise partnerships are being developed across Yorkshire but supporters behind the YEP idea argue that an additional county-wide partnership is needed because some functions, such as promoting the Yorkshire brand, are best carried out at a regional level.
Paul Sewell, managing director at Hull-based Sewell Group, and Master Cutler James Newman joined Mr Dodd to pitch the idea to council representatives at the meeting in Rotherham last night.
Mr Dodd said it would be “helpful” if the YEP was supported by all Yorkshire councils but did not make progressing the idea conditional on their support.
