Businesses call for LEP support mechanism
The West Midlands business community has told ministers that coordinated action across the region is needed to tackle the economic downturn.
The call came as Business Voice WM presented business secretary Vince Cable and local government secretary Eric Pickles with its submission to form a Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
The 29-page dossier includes a call to the government to set up an overarching mechanism that would support LEPs in Birmingham and Solihull, Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire.
According to Business Voice WM, the mechanism would deliver strategic business support in the Midlands, such as the Manufacturing Advisory Service. The government had indicated such services would be run from London.
Business Voice WM chairman, Barrie Williams, said: “Our plans reflect the ambitions of the new government. Ministers rightly state that the legacy of wasting of public money must end and that, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer has correctly said, we are all in this together to sort out our economy.
“This mechanism also means that when it comes to supply chains in sectors such as automotive, aerospace and food and drink – which cross the whole of the Midlands and not just a handful of council areas – we can supply strategic business support services that are sensitive to the needs of the Midlands and move away from the London-knows-best approach of the past.”
