4 September 2011

News of LEPs in Yorkshire and Humber No. II

I see to my horror that I have not updated this blog since 27 July 2011 though I did publish IP Yorkshire, the Yorkshire and Humber newsletter, on Yorkshire Day which falls on 1 August. A lot has happened since then.

Humber LEP
First a proposal by a consortium of local authorities and local businesses and business organizations for a local enterprise partnership for the Humber has been accepted. You can see the press release on Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce website. According to its proposal the LEP will:
  • "Co-ordinate public and private sector activity that is targeted at growing our three key growth sectors (renewable energy, ports and logistics, and chemicals), with the aim of developing an international-scale super cluster around the Humber.
  • Lead on 16-19 and adult skills strategy, particularly in relation to the key sectors listed above, to ensure that as many of the jobs created as possible can go to local people, businesses can recruit the workforces they need to expand, the aspirations of young people are raised and graduate retention is improved.
  • Take responsibility for the “Humber brand”, co-ordinating and promoting our offer for international trade and as a location for investment.
  • Lead on international trade issues to help more companies export their goods and services.
  • Lead on co-ordinating and identifying strategic transport and infrastructure priorities that will support economic growth.
  • Co-ordinate activity that supports innovation and enterprise.
  • Bring together partners where appropriate to bid for public and private sector contracts and funding.
  • Submit a bid for an Enterprise Zone in the Humber and explore any other opportunities that arise from new Government policy."
According to Lorna Gibbons, Senior Economic Development Officer at Poole Borough Council who keeps the superb Economic Development blog, the contact for the Humber LEP is Mr. Richard Kendall Tel 01484 324 976 Email r.kendall@hull-humber-chamber.co.uk (see "Everything you need to know about each LEP ..... contact and priorities (where available)"). I have also found a website for the LEP at http://humberlep.org/. Their postal address is 34/38 Beverley Road, Hull, HU3 1YE and their twitter feed is @humberlep.

Enterprise Zones
The last of the bullet points on the Humber LEP's to do list was to submit a bid for an enterprise zone in the Humber and that seems to have been approved within a week of being submitted (see the press release of 17 Aug 2011 on the chamber website and the announcement on the LEP site). The site will cover 375 hectares on 3 sites: Green Port (Alexandra Dock) and Queen Elizabeth Dock in Hull and the Able Marine Energy Park in North Lincolnshire. The sector focus will be on offshore wind OEM and it is hoped to generate 4,850 jobs in the zone by 2015. There will be £7.9 million is business rates savings.

There will also be enterprise zones in Leeds (142 hectares in the Lower Aire Valley) where it is hoped to 4,000 new jobs in low carbon industries and modern manufacturing (see "Leeds Enterprise Zone: Full Details" in Real Business) and Sheffield in the "Modern Manufacturing and Technology Growth Area" where it is hoped to create 12,600 jobs (see "Sheffield Enterprise Zone: Full Details" in Real Business).

For updates see Lorna's post "Enterprise Zones Update" of 15 Aug 2011 and the Communities Department's LEP and enterprise zones map.

Leeds LEP Summit
Leeds LEP will hold a one day summit to shape the Leeds City Region economy at the Royal Armouries on 9 Sept 2011. I have registered the course and will blog about it next week. The programme looks very interesting.

Other Articles
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,