Andrew Hebden - The Voice of nebusiness
CONSIDERING the heated debates and the fall-outs that proceeded it, the announcement that the North East had been granted its second Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) passed relatively unheralded last week.
For those who missed it, the seven remaining local authorities in the region who were not part of the original Tees Valley LEP have now come together to form their own partnership.
And, as the second largest in the country – representing a population of some two million people – it should have the power to be more than a talking shop.
Gradually, the new structures on which the future of the North East economy will to some extent depend are beginning to take shape.
With two LEPs and a North East Economic Partnership (NEEP) in our armoury, we are certainly well-blessed with new acronyms to get our heads around.
There is a clear distinction between the responsibilities of the LEPs – concerned with regeneration and local economic affairs – and the NEEP, which will provide a strategic regional voice on issues which are now nationally led.
And yet, many questions remain, particularly when it comes to how seriously the Government will treat these bodies and what resources they will be given. The fate of One North East’s £150m worth of property assets, for example, still needs to be resolved.
The revelation, reported by this newspaper yesterday, that this process is being accelerated has prompted fresh concerns that these important regional resources face being lost to the North East.
This must not be allowed to happen. Many of the resources at stake have been owned and operated from within the region – for the good of the region – for many years, long before the regional development agencies were created.
They are a valuable legacy of the fact that there has long been a recognition that the North East as a region has its own unique characteristics and challenges, which mean it often requires a different treatment to other parts of the country.
In giving its support to two LEPs and a NEEP, the Government seems to have acknowledged this. Now these new organisations need to be given the powers and the resources to work together effectively.
