In Focus: Clarity begins at home
LEPs – the word that is causing much consternation across the Midlands. Even the sound of it makes you think of an embarrassing teenage disease you catch on a package holiday with your mates, and now, back home, it’s causing nearly as much anguish.
Cast your mind back to June, in the aftermath of the coalition government’s victory. There was much frothing at the mouth about the downfall of the evil regional development agency empire, and the so-called “waste” that they brought with them.
Fast-forward a couple of months, and things appear to have changed dramatically. I attended a “summit” meeting held by Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce last week in Derby. On the surface it was quite an impressive do; there were over a hundred people there (in a building funded by Emda, ironically), there was a general feeling of optimism in the room.
However, that all seemed to disappear as the event went on. As much as the speakers tried to push the idea that it wanted to get the private sector involved as much as possible, the entire panel, bar the Chamber representatives, was made up of representatives from the public sector. Something of a faux pas, perhaps.
What’s more, if you saw the report on East Midlands Today later that night, then the talking heads they interviewed after the event seemed to think that the proposed Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire LEP would be nothing more than a talking shop.
You have to have some sympathy for those pushing forward the LEPs. Eric Pickles, for reasons it’s hard to fathom, has only given them until 6 September to submit their bid. George Cowcher said at the summit that he’d only seen a very rough outline version of the bid over his breakfast this morning.
The story is the same in the West Midlands, it seems. “Don’t talk to me about LEPs!” was the reaction from one well-known professional who has worked in both the public and the private sector. Confusion reigns, it seems, and that confusion is leading to apathy and cynicism – not, you’d think, something that the new government was banking on.
This leads on, then, to a matter of presentation, image, and getting the message across, and that’s difficult enough when those in charge of the local LEP bids admit quite openly that they have no clue how the new organisations will work, what powers they will have, how much money they’ll be given, and what geographical boundaries they’ll work within.
The closing of the local government offices seems to me to give the lie to the fact that the new government wants to devolve power. As Ron Lynch of the East Midlands Institute of Directors said at a recent Insider breakfast, the people in Whitehall really don’t have any idea of the challenges the East Midlands face, and they’ll have even less without their representatives on the ground. This is a message that is repeated to me over and over again by the private sector in the region. It’s one that the LEPs can’t even begin to address until they’re given some clarity. Over to you messrs Pickles and Cable.
Sam Metcalf, deputy editor, Midlands Business Insider
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