Focus on Tees Valley Unlimited

Aug 3 2010 by Evening Gazette

TEESSIDE has overwhelmingly been supported as the key brand to drive our region forward, and the Tees Valley name has been rejected almost unanimously. The results follow the Evening Gazette’s identity survey, which showed just 3% of the 2,000 people taking part would use the phrase to describe the place where they live. The survey has also seen Tees Valley Unlimited - the organisation charged with leading regeneration in the region - come in for much criticism. Almost two-thirds of people had no idea what the organisation did and just 6% said it had had a positive impact on the local area. As TVU submitted its bid for a Local Enterprise Partnership last week, it was also criticised for its lack of consultation with local business. Today Sandy Anderson, chairman of TVU, gives his view.

THE recent discussion initiated by the Evening Gazette about our local identity has brought a number of issues to the fore that Tees Valley Unlimited will consider.

The findings and feedback from business are important and we have to recognise and respond to that.

We must not, however, confuse this debate with the overriding need to ensure that this part of the region attracts the necessary support and commitment to help business to invest, create jobs and to continue regeneration in what are going to be extremely difficult times ahead.

Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU) is the public and private sector partnership that has been formed to provide a focus for shared activities, resources and efforts.

It relies heavily on the involvement of the business community.

That’s why, when we were given the opportunity by Government to develop a proposal to become a Local Enterprise Partnership, TVU, on behalf of the area, acted quickly to declare our initial interest.

We wanted to be quick off the mark because we know there is a collective willingness and confidence to make it work here.

Local business groups and other key figures from local firms have been involved in developing this initial submission - sitting on the TVU board and its sub-boards.

Our clear intention is to firm up our ideas - acknowledging that the Government wants us to work extremely rapidly - by early September.

We will develop our proposal throughout the summer by talking to as many local organisations and businesses as we can.

We accept that we need to improve people’s understanding of TVU and we see the bid to secure the LEP as a real reason to do this in a better way.

To start with, a few facts:

:: The organisation set up to drive the economic success of this part of the region - which is called Tees Valley Unlimited because it best describes the area covered by the five councils - has put together an initial proposal to government to secure investment, a proposal to be a Local Enterprise Partnership.

This is in line with the Coalition Government’s desire to provide funding directly to discrete economic regions; that is to say, places that are recognised as real functional economic areas.

We have now done that on behalf of the five local authorities whose leaders are firmly committed to working together because they recognise that economic success in one area brings benefits to all their communities.

:: We have consulted with business very widely in developing our strategy, which is simple and is focused around two key things:

1. Fully supporting the industrial sectors in which we are currently strong or could grow - things like petrochemicals, new forms of power generation, the port, bio-technology, engineering, steel and digital innovation. In parallel we have to ensure that the necessary skills are available to meet the needs of these sectors.

2. Ensuring we create a more diverse economy by developing industries such as the service, health and financial sectors. In doing, so, we want to provide more career and job opportunities for local people across a wider range of businesses.

:: We have also very clearly given our support to the regional proposal put forward by ANEC (Association of North East Councils) and the Northern Business Forum. We believe that this is complementary to what we intend to do. Together we have always been clear that some things are best done at a regional level and others, more locally.

:: We have also received some criticism that we have expressed an interest in becoming an LEP too early.

The fact is that the area enjoys a long-standing commitment to working together as five local councils and business to improve our economy - so we believed we had the framework in place to seize this opportunity. We are passionate about this region and want to ensure we don’t miss out on investment and therefore we make no apologies for having expressed an interest earlier than much of the rest of the region.

:: Finally, we accept that TVU is not well recognised and we know there’s a job to do here. Part of the issue has been the way TVU works - often it’s behind the scenes to progress projects over the longer term. A good example of this is the work we have done to attract the significant investment required to upgrade our transport infrastructure.

The Metro has been significantly advanced by TVU’s work following decades of theoretical debate. TVU is also responsible for key regeneration sites such as Central Park in Darlington, North Shore in Stockton, Victoria Harbour in Hartlepool and Middlehaven in Middlesbrough and also the emerging plans for the north and south Tees area.

We know the Gazette through its campaigns such as Tees Pride is passionate about ensuring the area makes progress.

The paper has opened up a debate on regional identity and the TVU board will be reflecting on this as we develop our thinking around the LEP.

We accept that we haven’t always got our message across and we want to put that right. But what is clear is that all those involved in TVU share that passion and we welcome a healthy debate if it improves eventually the plans we put forward, the resources we attract and most importantly the jobs and new business we create.

THE Evening Gazette is launching a major survey aimed at Teesside’s business community. Later this week, we will be asking local firms about not only the region’s identity, but the economic climate, barriers to business and their opinions on a Local Enterprise Partnership and Tees Valley Unlimited. To be sent a link to the survey email business@eveninggazette.co.uk.