Who puts the great into Birmingham? It turns out that it’s Bromsgrove, East Staffordshire, Lichfield and Tamworth – but not Solihull, if the name of the region’s new local enterprise partnerships is anything to go by.
Businesses may still be in the dark about the powers local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) have, but at least the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP now has a snappy name to wield them under.
Agreeing on a name was one of the first points on the agenda at the LEP’s development board meeting this week, and one can only imagine the tense negotiations that preceded the final decision.
Since the Government announced it was scrapping regional development agencies last year, the race has been on to form replacement LEPs who will compete for a share of the reduced pot of money available to support economies outside of London.
Aside from thrashing out its new name, the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP has also made progress on putting in bids to support businesses in the area.
Working with local councils, the partnership has put in a proposal for money from the Regional Growth Fund to secure £15 million to kick-start Birmingham Airport’s runway extension.
It has asked the fund to meet almost half of the £32 million cost of diverting the A45 Coventry road to enable the 350-metre runway extension to be built.
Directors at the LEP are also requesting £22 million to set up development funds for small and medium-sized businesses in its area.
Meanwhile, the LEP has now started advertising for a permanent chairman as well as planning a series of workshops to help businesses and other organisations apply for money from the Regional Growth Fund.
And it has tweaked its set-up – the board proper will now consist of 17 members, two more than originally planned – an independent businessperson as chairman plus eight non-executive members from the business community, seven from local authorities and a representative from the education and university sectors.
Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP interim chairman Bridget Blow said: “The Government has empowered us to create our own way of doing this and we want to recruit creative and motivated business people who can make the LEP work.
“We have already had tremendous support from all of the councils, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Wragge & Co and Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group, all on a voluntary basis.
“We need as much help as possible to ensure we get everything right and I urge interested business people to contact me.
“The LEP is all about wealth creation through jobs and entrepreneurship in the Greater Birmingham and Solihull area. Support from the business community is vital.”
