By Gary Williamson, chief executive at Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce
The Conservative general election campaign was dominated by David Cameron’s notion of ‘Big Society’. Like marmite, people either loved or hated the idea, but now, less than ten weeks into Cameron-Clegg Administration it is clear that ‘Big Society’ is the direction our country is heading in. For better or worse, the era of Big Government is over.
Yorkshire Forward and the other eight regional development agencies were one of the first casualties of the new Government’s plans and we are now talking about Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs), which both Eric Pickles and Vince Cable believe will be less bureaucratic and more business friendly.
In keeping with Cameron’s ‘big society’, the Government issued a letter to business leaders and local authorities asking them put together proposals on their vision for Local Economic Partnerships. The Chamber is now working with other leading business groups such as the CBI, FSB and IOD to ensure that the Yorkshire business view is heard on this issue. Our aim is to make sure that LEPs are transparent, accountable and have a clear economic and business remit.
Building strong relationships between local government and business is crucial to the future success of LEPs. Some progress on this was made by the Leeds City Region (LCR) Partnership, which is a collaboration of local authorities across a functional economic area. LCR already has a number of strategies and work groups in place designed to promote innovation, enterprise and economic growth in our area. It would be foolish to waste these resources and break the strong ties between the local authorities and business community, which have been formed through the partnership.
The exact geography of the LEPs remains unclear and local authorities across Yorkshire are currently putting together a number of bids to form economic partnerships with their neighbouring councils. It is very early days and in local government a lot of undirected activity is happening. I know of one local authority that is currently in three separate bids to form three different geographical partnerships. But are local authorities getting too caught up in the geographical element of LEPs and forgetting about their purpose, efficiency and effectiveness? Postcodes should come after strategy and vision, function and deliverable benefits
In the letter from the Government it stated that some of RDA’s functions such as attracting and managing inward investment and business support will be led nationally. I would question whether managing inward investment nationally is what is best for Yorkshire. I believe local knowledge and expertise are vital to successfully promote Yorkshire. UKTI plays a vital role in attracting inward investment nationally, but has no accountability to Yorkshire. If a foreign investor is debating between opening up a business in Yorkshire or the North West, who will be there to push the case for our region?
Together with other business groups, the Chamber is working on exciting proposals to promote and protect ‘brand Yorkshire’. Our county needs to be heard in the corridors of power – we cannot afford to lose our voice. I will provide updates on our progress in the coming weeks. Watch this space as they say….