Local enterprise partnership explained
In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) are 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.[1] They carry out some of the functions previously carried out by the regional development agencies which were abolished in March 2012. In certain areas, funding is received from the UK government via growth deals.
After the March 2017 merger of Northamptonshire LEP into South East Midlands LEP, there were 38 local enterprise partnerships in operation.
The government plans to withdraw support for the partnerships in 2024.[2]
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.[3] 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.[4] On 7 September 2010, details were released of 56 proposals for local enterprise partnerships that had been received.[5] 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.[6] 24 bids were announced as successful on 28 October 2010.[7] [8]
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
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.[9]
Growth deals
Local growth deals, for projects that benefit the local area and economy, began to be made to some LEPs in 2014.[10]
List of LEPs
Local enterprise partnership areas are allowed to overlap, so a local authority is permitted to be part of more than one local enterprise partnership.[11] [12] Currently there are 38 local enterprise partnerships in operation:
| Partnership | Areas |
|---|
| Black Country https://www.blackcountrylep.co.uk | |
| Buckinghamshire https://www.buckslep.co.uk [13] | Buckinghamshire (all) |
| Cheshire and Warrington https://cheshireandwarrington.com/ | Cheshire East (unitary)
Cheshire West and Chester (unitary)
Warrington (unitary) |
| Coast to Capital https://www.coast2capital.org.uk/ | Brighton and Hove (unitary)
East Sussex (part): Lewes
Greater London (part): Croydon
Surrey (part): Epsom and Ewell, Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, Tandridge
West Sussex (all) |
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly https://www.cioslep.com/ | Cornwall (unitary)
Isles of Scilly (unitary) |
| Coventry and Warwickshire https://www.cwlep.com | Warwickshire (all)
West Midlands (part): Coventry |
| Cumbria https://www.thecumbrialep.co.uk/ | Cumbria (all) |
| D2N2 https://d2n2lep.org | Derby (unitary)
Derbyshire (all)
Nottingham (unitary)
Nottinghamshire (all) |
| Dorset https://www.dorsetlep.co.uk/ | Bournemouth (unitary)
Dorset (all)
Poole (unitary) |
| Enterprise M3 https://www.enterprisem3.org.uk/ | Hampshire (part): Basingstoke and Deane, East Hampshire, Hart, New Forest, Rushmoor, Test Valley, Winchester
Surrey (part): Elmbridge, Guildford, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Waverley, Woking |
| GFirst https://www.gfirstlep.com/ | Gloucestershire (all) |
| Greater Birmingham and Solihull https://gbslep.co.uk | Staffordshire (part): Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Tamworth
West Midlands (part): Birmingham, Solihull
Worcestershire (part): Bromsgrove, Redditch, Wyre Forest |
| Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Business Board (part of combined authority)https://cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/who-we-are/business-board/[14] |
Cambridgeshire (all)
Essex (part): Uttlesford
Hertfordshire (part): North Hertfordshire
Norfolk (part): King's Lynn and West Norfolk
Suffolk (part): Forest Heath, St Edmundsbury
Peterborough (unitary)
Previously: Rutland (unitary) |
| Greater Lincolnshire https://www.greaterlincolnshirelep.co.uk/ | Lincolnshire (all)
North Lincolnshire (unitary)
North East Lincolnshire (unitary)
Rutland (from May 2020)[15] |
| Greater Manchester Business Board (part of combined authority) https://gmlep.com/ | Greater Manchester (all) |
| Heart of the South West https://heartofswlep.co.uk/ | Devon (all)
Somerset (all) |
| Hertfordshire https://www.hertfordshirelep.com/ | Hertfordshire (all) |
| Humber https://www.humberlep.org/ | East Riding of Yorkshire (unitary)
Kingston upon Hull (unitary)
Previously: North East Lincolnshire (unitary)
Previously North Lincolnshire (unitary)[16] |
| Lancashire https://lancashirelep.co.uk/ | Lancashire (all)
Blackburn with Darwen (unitary)
Blackpool (unitary) |
| Leeds City Region (part of combined authority) https://www.the-lep.com/ | West Yorkshire (all)
North Yorkshire (part) |
| Leicester and Leicestershire https://www.llep.org.uk/ | Leicester (unitary)
Leicestershire (all) |
| Liverpool City Region (part of combined authority) https://www.liverpoollep.org/ | Halton (unitary)
Merseyside (all) |
| London Enterprise Panel (part of devolved authority)https://lep.london/[17] [18] | Greater London (all) |
| New Anglia https://newanglia.co.uk/ | Norfolk (all)
Suffolk (all) |
| North East https://www.northeastlep.co.uk/ | County Durham (unitary)
Northumberland (unitary)
Tyne and Wear (all) |
| Oxfordshire https://www.oxfordshirelep.com/ | Oxfordshire (all) |
| South Yorkshire https://southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk/who-we-are/local-enterprise-partnership[19] (part of combined authority) |
Derbyshire (part): Bolsover, Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, North East Derbyshire
Nottinghamshire (part): Bassetlaw
South Yorkshire (all) |
| Solent https://solentlep.org.uk/ | Hampshire (part): East Hampshire, Eastleigh, Fareham, Gosport, Havant, New Forest, Test Valley, Winchester
Isle of Wight (unitary)
Portsmouth (unitary)
Southampton (unitary) |
| South East https://www.southeastlep.com/ | East Sussex (all)
Essex (all)
Kent (all)
Medway (unitary)
Southend-on-Sea (unitary)
Thurrock (unitary) |
| South East Midlands https://www.semlep.com/ | Bedford (unitary)
Buckinghamshire (part): Aylesbury Vale
Central Bedfordshire (unitary)
Luton (unitary)
Milton Keynes (unitary)
Northamptonshire (all)
Oxfordshire (part): Cherwell |
| Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire https://www.stokestaffslep.org.uk/ | Staffordshire (all)
Stoke-on-Trent (unitary) |
| Swindon and Wiltshire https://www.swlep.co.uk/default.aspx | Swindon (unitary)
Wiltshire (unitary) |
| Tees Valley (part of combined authority) https://teesvalley-ca.gov.uk/lep/ | Darlington (unitary)
Hartlepool (unitary)
Middlesbrough (unitary)
Redcar and Cleveland (unitary)
Stockton-on-Tees (unitary) |
| Thames Valley Berkshire https://www.thamesvalleyberkshire.co.uk/ | Bracknell Forest (unitary)
Reading (unitary)
Slough (unitary)
West Berkshire (unitary)
Windsor and Maidenhead (unitary)
Wokingham (unitary) |
| The Marches https://www.marcheslep.org.uk/ | Herefordshire (unitary)
Shropshire (unitary)
Telford and Wrekin (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)
Bristol (unitary)
North Somerset (unitary)
South Gloucestershire (unitary) |
| Worcestershire https://www.wlep.co.uk/ | Worcestershire (all) |
| York and North Yorkshire https://www.ynylep.com/ | North Yorkshire (all)
York (unitary) | |
See also
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Enterprise Zones. GOV.UK. 24 April 2020.
- Web site: Government plans to abolish leps. 15 March 2023 . 8 May 2023.
- Book: Budget 2010 . 22 June 2010 . 7 October 2010 . HM Treasury . Mark Hoban . dead . http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121015000000/http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/%40dg/%40en/documents/digitalasset/dg_188581.pdf . 15 October 2012 .
- Web site: Local enterprise partnerships . Department of Communities and Local Government . 29 June 2010 . 7 October 2010 .
- News: New Local Enterprise Partnerships criss-cross the country . News Distribution Service . Department for Business, Innovation and Skills . 7 September 2010 . 7 October 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100913050625/http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=415344&NewsAreaID=2 . 13 September 2010 .
- News: LEPs: 22 bald men fighting over a comb? . Local Government Chronicle . Allister Hayman . 6 October 2010 . 7 October 2010 .
- Web site: Live blog: Sub-national economic growth white paper . 28 October 2010 . 28 October 2010 .
- News: The geography of LEPs: final list . Local Government Chronicle . Allister Hayman . 7 September 2010 . 7 October 2010 .
- Web site: Cities' economic power unlocked in radical power shift. GOV.UK.
- Web site: Local Growth Deals. 2021-01-02. GOV.UK. 9 March 2017 . en.
- The local authority areas taking part in two LEPs are 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.
- News: Array of LEP proposals emerge in Yorkshire . Regen.net . Colin Marrs . 27 August 2010 . 7 October 2010 .
- Overlaps with other LEPs
- Formerly Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough http://www.gcgp.co.uk/
- Web site: LEP Welcomes Rutland County Council . www.greaterlincolnshirelep.co.uk . Greater Lincolnshire LEP . 13 November 2021 . 11 May 2020.
- Web site: Ties Strengthened in LEP Reorganisation . www.greaterlincolnshirelep.co.uk . Greater Lincolnshire LEP. 22 May 2020 . 13 November 2021.
- Advisory role only; economic functions are the responsibility of the Mayor of London
- Web site: London Enterprise Panel | Greater London Authority . 2012-09-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120815171326/http://www.london.gov.uk/business-economy/working-partnership/lep . 2012-08-15 .
- Formerly Sheffield City Region https://sheffieldcityregion.org.uk/about/the-lep-board/
