LEPs replace the 'r' word

While the word ‘regions’ may have been banned in the CLG corridors of power it does not necessarily mean policy for the regions has ceased to be. Indeed CLG secretary and erstwhile Bradford leader, Eric Pickles, has pushed through his own agenda for the ‘r’ word with alacrity.
There is a powerful reason for such haste. Economic surveys continue to show regions heavily dependent on public sector jobs and as we know these are diminishing at speed. The BBC/Experian survey out today (Thursday) shows that all top ten most resilient local authority areas are in the south and all top ten least resilient are in the Midlands, North West and North East. These areas are the most likely to be hit hardest by cuts in public spending.
While it was clear the RDAs would not survive in their present form under this government, there was still a view back in May that some, principally those in the Midlands and North, would carry on albeit with different name and focus. Their abolition, while causing few tears in local government, nonetheless creates a vacuum. The new regional growth fund has been set up partly to fill it, but with half the budget of the outgoing RDAs. The main engine for regional growth therefore lies with the new local enterprise partnerships, whose first 56 bids were announced this week.
The LEPs in principle meet the new mantra of localism and must be welcomed for being locally sourced rather than being imposed. In some areas, especially the city regions and strong inter-county partnerships, they will fit easily on already established networks.
Many, however, are based on existing council boundaries which hardly suggests much strategic thought while there are also early fears that there will be so many LEPs they will still require a regional body to coordinate them.
Regional policy is littered with failed attempts to knit business, the public sector and skills more tightly together in order to attract inward private sector investment. What we do not need, as the regions face a downturn in public sector funding, is weak talking shops with neither focus nor funding. In short LEPs must have clout to work.
Michael Burton, Editor, The MJ