Post Comment: Old Black Country and Birmingham rivalries stand in way of progress
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jerry Blackett is putting a brave face on the difficulties the West Midlands is facing in pressing ahead with forming Local Enterprise Partnerships.
A decision by the four Black Country councils not to join Birmingham in setting up what would have been a significant successor to the regional development agency was described as localism in action.
Well, so it is. But that doesn’t make the decision right. As Mr Blackett points out, a Birmingham and Black Country LEP would be a force to be reckoned with in a global marketplace where size and reputation does matter as far as attracting inward investment is concerned. As things stand, the conurbation will have two separate LEPs, and the West Midlands as a whole could have as many as six LEPs.
Does any of this matter? Should it be of great concern that, on the face of it, old rivalries between Birmingham and the Black Country appear to have surfaced yet again, with a consequent negative impact on the regional economy?
It is difficult to be certain at this stage since the Government’s plans for Local Enterprise Partnerships and the precise role they will play are far from clear.
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has moved quickly to abolish what he sees as useless quangos. The West Midlands Leaders’ Board, consisting of all the region’s council leaders, is to go along with Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency. Mr Pickles has even decreed that the West Midlands as a region no longer exists, although this would appear to be a meaningless piece of window dressing in an attempt to placate right-wing Tories who have always feared the English regions are a back-door attempt to bring the country under EU rule.
More seriously, how does Mr Pickles envisage that LEPs will be run? What powers will they enjoy? Just as importantly what budgets will they have?
All we know at the moment is that the LEPs will be a joint exercise between local councils and business leaders and will be chaired by an independent business representative. It remains far from clear though how far the Government’s apparent commitment to localism and the Big Society will go towards allowing LEPs the freedom to make decisions about economic regeneration, planning, transport and housing free of interference from Whitehall.
The fear is that in their determination to dismantle the bureaucracy of regionalism, ministers will leave the West Midlands without an adequate structure to take the really important strategic decisions necessary to bolster economic growth.
The prospect of six LEPs working together harmoniously on issues of mutual importance is not a prospect that fills us with any great confidence. It is about as likely as the seven West Midlands councils working closely together, which has not always happened in the past.
It is vital that the Government spells out in detail, without further delay, exactly how LEPs will perform. Failure to do so is bound to raise the suspicion that this whole exercise has not been thought through at all.
