local enterprise partnership
{{Short description|Former economic development board in England}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Politics of England}}
In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) were voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses, set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local economic priorities and lead economic growth and job creation within the local area.{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/business/local-enterprise-partnerships-leps-and-enterprise-zones|title=Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Enterprise Zones|website=GOV.UK|access-date=24 April 2020}} They carried out some of the functions previously carried out by the regional development agencies which were abolished in March 2012. In certain areas, funding was received from the UK government via growth deals. Funding for LEPs was withdrawn by the Rishi Sunak Conservative government in April 2024 and their functions were assumed by local authorities, some of whom have formed Business Boards as replacements.
History
The abolition of regional development agencies and the creation of local enterprise partnerships were announced as part of the June 2010 United Kingdom budget.{{ cite book|url=http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_188581.pdf |date=22 June 2010 |access-date=7 October 2010 |publisher=HM Treasury |author=Mark Hoban |title=Budget 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121015000000/http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/%40dg/%40en/documents/digitalasset/dg_188581.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2012 }} On 29 June 2010, a letter was sent from the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to local authority and business leaders, inviting proposals to replace regional development agencies in their areas by 6 September 2010.{{ cite web | url= http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/local/localenterprisepartnerships/ | title= Local enterprise partnerships | publisher=Department of Communities and Local Government | date=29 June 2010 | access-date=7 October 2010 }} On 7 September 2010, details were released of 56 proposals for local enterprise partnerships that had been received.{{cite news | url=http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=415344&NewsAreaID=2 | title=New Local Enterprise Partnerships criss-cross the country | publisher=News Distribution Service | author=Department for Business, Innovation and Skills | date=7 September 2010 | access-date=7 October 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100913050625/http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=415344&NewsAreaID=2 | archive-date=13 September 2010 }} On 6 October 2010, during the Conservative Party Conference, it was revealed that 22 had been given the provisional 'green light' to proceed and others might later be accepted with amendments.{{ cite news | url=http://www.lgcplus.com/leps-22-bald-men-fighting-over-a-comb/5020212.blog | title=LEPs: 22 bald men fighting over a comb? | publisher=Local Government Chronicle | author=Allister Hayman | date=6 October 2010 | access-date=7 October 2010 }} 24 bids were announced as successful on 28 October 2010.{{cite web | url=http://regenandrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/10/live-blog-sub-national-economic-growth.html | title=Live blog: Sub-national economic growth white paper | date=28 October 2010 | access-date=28 October 2010 }}{{ cite news | url=http://www.lgcplus.com/5018558.blog | title=The geography of LEPs: final list | publisher=Local Government Chronicle | author=Allister Hayman | date=7 September 2010 | access-date=7 October 2010 }}
LEPs were set up on a voluntary basis without any public funding and struggled to make progress. A report by Michael Heseltine in October 2012, No Stone Unturned, was largely accepted by Government, and proposed delegating certain funds from central government to LEPs. Changes included:
- allocating a share of a £1,400m Local Growth Fund to generate growth, through competitive bidding;
- getting LEPs to draw up plans for local growth as the basis for negotiation on the money in the Fund
- realigning the management of the EU Structural and Investment Funds in England to follow the plans made by LEPs.
=City deals=
{{main|City Deal}}
The LEP areas of Greater Birmingham and Solihull, Greater Manchester, Leeds City Region, North Eastern, Sheffield City Region, and West of England were included in the first wave of 'city deals' in 2012.{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cities-economic-power-unlocked-in-radical-power-shift|title=Cities' economic power unlocked in radical power shift|website=GOV.UK}}
= Growth deals =
Local growth deals, for projects that benefit the local area and economy, began to be made to some LEPs in 2014.{{Cite web|title=Local Growth Deals|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-growth-deals|access-date=2021-01-02|website=GOV.UK|date=9 March 2017 |language=en}}
= Abolition and successor bodies =
The Rishi Sunak Conservative government withdrew funding for the partnerships in April 2024 and transferred their functions to the Greater London Authority, combined authorities and upper-tier local authorities (i.e. county councils or unitary authorities).{{cite web |last=Boakye |first=Kwame |date=15 March 2023 |title=Government plans to abolish leps |url=https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/devolution-and-economic-growth/government-plans-to-abolish-leps-15-03-2023/?eea=*EEA* |access-date=8 May 2023 |website=Local Government Chronicle}}
In the months after funding was withdrawn from LEPs in April 2024, many local authorities and combined authorities formed Business Boards to assume the functions previously carried out by LEPs.{{Cite web |title=Business Boards |url=https://www.businessboardnetwork.co.uk/about-business-boards/business-boards/ |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=www.businessboardnetwork.co.uk |language=en}}
List of LEPs
Local enterprise partnership areas were allowed to overlap, so a local authority was permitted to be part of more than one local enterprise partnership.The local authority areas taking part in two LEPs were Aylesbury Vale, Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, Cherwell, Chesterfield, Croydon, Derbyshire Dales, East Hampshire, East Staffordshire, Forest Heath, Harrogate, King's Lynn and West Norfolk, Lewes, Lichfield, New Forest, North East Derbyshire, North East Lincolnshire, North Hertfordshire, North Lincolnshire, Redditch, St Edmundsbury, Tamworth, Test Valley, Uttlesford, Winchester, Wyre Forest and York. {{ cite news | url=http://www.regen.net/news/ByDiscipline/Business/1024681/Array-LEP-proposals-emerge-Yorkshire/ | title=Array of LEP proposals emerge in Yorkshire | publisher=Regen.net | author=Colin Marrs | date=27 August 2010 | access-date=7 October 2010 }} After the March 2017 merger of Northamptonshire LEP into South East Midlands LEP, there were 38 local enterprise partnerships in operation.
| class="wikitable"
! Partnership ! Areas |
| Black Country [https://www.blackcountrylep.co.uk]
| West Midlands (part): Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton |
| Buckinghamshire [https://www.buckslep.co.uk] Overlaps with other LEPs
| Buckinghamshire (all) |
| Cheshire and Warrington [https://cheshireandwarrington.com/]
| Cheshire East (unitary) |
| Coast to Capital [https://www.coast2capital.org.uk/]
| Brighton and Hove (unitary) |
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly [https://www.cioslep.com/]
| Cornwall (unitary) |
| Coventry and Warwickshire [https://www.cwlep.com]
| Warwickshire (all) |
| Cumbria [https://www.thecumbrialep.co.uk/]
| Cumberland (unitary) |
| Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership [https://d2n2lep.org]
| Derby (unitary) |
| Dorset [https://www.dorsetlep.co.uk/]
| Bournemouth (unitary) |
| Enterprise M3 [https://www.enterprisem3.org.uk/]
| Hampshire (part): Basingstoke and Deane, East Hampshire, Hart, New Forest, Rushmoor, Test Valley, Winchester |
| GFirst [https://www.gfirstlep.com/]
| Gloucestershire (all) |
| Greater Birmingham and Solihull [https://gbslep.co.uk]
| Staffordshire (part): Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Tamworth |
| Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Business Board (part of combined authority)[https://cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/who-we-are/business-board/]Formerly Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough [http://www.gcgp.co.uk/]
|{{update inline|reason=What area does this now cover?|date=November 2021}} |
| Greater Lincolnshire [https://www.greaterlincolnshirelep.co.uk/]
| Lincolnshire (all) |
| Greater Manchester Business Board (part of combined authority) [https://gmlep.com/]
| Greater Manchester (all) |
| Heart of the South West [https://heartofswlep.co.uk/] |
| Hertfordshire [https://www.hertfordshirelep.com/]
| Hertfordshire (all) |
| Humber [https://www.humberlep.org/]
| East Riding of Yorkshire (unitary) |
| Lancashire [https://lancashirelep.co.uk/]
| Lancashire (all) |
| Leeds City Region (part of combined authority) [https://www.the-lep.com/]
| {{update inline|reason=What area does this now cover?|date=November 2021}} West Yorkshire (all) |
| Leicester and Leicestershire [https://www.llep.org.uk/]
| Leicester (unitary) |
| Liverpool City Region (part of combined authority) [https://www.liverpoollep.org/]
| Halton (unitary) |
| London Enterprise Panel (part of devolved authority)[https://lep.london/]Advisory role only; economic functions are the responsibility of the Mayor of London{{cite web |url=http://www.london.gov.uk/business-economy/working-partnership/lep |title=London Enterprise Panel | Greater London Authority |access-date=2012-09-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815171326/http://www.london.gov.uk/business-economy/working-partnership/lep |archive-date=2012-08-15 }}
| Greater London (all) |
| New Anglia [https://newanglia.co.uk/] |
| North East [https://www.northeastlep.co.uk/]
| County Durham (unitary) |
| Oxfordshire [https://www.oxfordshirelep.com/]
| Oxfordshire (all) |
| South Yorkshire [https://southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk/who-we-are/local-enterprise-partnership]Formerly Sheffield City Region [https://sheffieldcityregion.org.uk/about/the-lep-board/] (part of combined authority)
| {{update inline|reason=What area does this now cover?|date=November 2021}} |
| Solent [https://solentlep.org.uk/]
| Hampshire (part): East Hampshire, Eastleigh, Fareham, Gosport, Havant, New Forest, Test Valley, Winchester |
| South East [https://www.southeastlep.com/]
| East Sussex (all) |
| South East Midlands [https://www.semlep.com/]
| Bedford (unitary) |
| Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire [https://www.stokestaffslep.org.uk/]
| Staffordshire (all) |
| Swindon and Wiltshire [https://www.swlep.co.uk/default.aspx] |
| Tees Valley (part of combined authority) [https://teesvalley-ca.gov.uk/lep/]
| Darlington (unitary) |
| Thames Valley Berkshire [https://www.thamesvalleyberkshire.co.uk/]
| Bracknell Forest (unitary) |
| The Marches [https://www.marcheslep.org.uk/]
| Herefordshire (unitary) |
| West of England (part of combined authority) [https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/about-us/local-enterprise-partnership/]
| Bath and North East Somerset (unitary) |
| Worcestershire [https://www.wlep.co.uk/]
| Worcestershire (all) |
| York and North Yorkshire [https://www.ynylep.com/]
| North Yorkshire (all) |
See also
Notes
{{Reflist|group=note}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.lepnetwork.net/ The LEP Network]
- [https://www.businessboardnetwork.co.uk/ Business Board Network]
- [https://www.google.com/fusiontables/embedviz?q=select+col2+from+1c-XkTOvwc77vZdy8NgqoFgVryFHniLsDRpbZDNMg&viz=MAP&h=false&lat=52.61524554553033&lng=-1.842074407012888&t=1&z=6&l=col2&y=2&tmplt=2 Embeddable map of all the LEPs]
{{Economic development in England}}
Category:Local government in England