Birmingham City Council leading bid to take over AWM budget
Birmingham City Council is spearheading a bid to take over the functions and budgets of regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.
City chief executive Stephen Hughes has written to Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Dudley councils as well as business leaders inviting them to join Birmingham in setting up one of the government’s new Local Enterprise Partnerships.
The offer is also open to South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire district councils to form what would be the country’s largest LEP.
The body would take over AWM’s duties to create economic regeneration and bring jobs to the region.
It would also have powers to oversee planning, housing, local transport and employment policies.
Business input into the LEP will be led by Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
AWM’s assets, including a multi-million pound land bank for potential industrial and commercial development, would transfer to the LEP if the initiative gets government approval.
The councils are also asking for powers to set up Accelerated Development Zones – where councils are permitted to borrow money to fund inward investment and finance the repayments by using income streams from business rates.
In a report to the Birmingham cabinet, Mr Hughes said the intention was to bring together council leaders and the “highest calibre of business people” to provide the strategic leadership necessary to create a globally competitive economy.
At the moment the difference between the value of the West Midlands economy compared to the English average is at least £20 billion.
The LEP board would consist of an equal number of council leaders and business representatives and would be chaired by a business leader.
Mr Hughes added: “The economic benefits of such an approach are significant.”
Long term outcomes should include an increase in private sector jobs and an improved quality of life, he added.
Mr Hughes said: “These are ambitious aims but they are vital if economic renewal is to be achieved. They are also possible through a joint undertaking between business and local authorities.”
He believes an LEP would end “unproductive competition” and put paid to old rivalries between Birmingham and the Black Country.
Mr Hughes added: “The big prize for working together is the genuine opportunity for local business and local government to take control of its own destiny and deliver real and balanced growth.”
The bid to set up an LEP comes shortly after Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles announced the abolition of regional development agencies.
Last week, all 326 staff at Advantage West Midlands received formal invitations to apply for voluntary redundancy.
AWM is currently carrying out a review of 600 projects, having been told by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills that it must save £37.1 million, or 18.6 per cent, of its budget in the current financial year. It has also imposed a freeze on new spending.
