Northamptonshire LEP bid 'could be accepted'
Northamptonshire’s rejected LEP proposal may be offered a lifeline, Insider has learnt. A Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) spokesman said that the country’s 56 unapproved bids “are not being put on the scrap heap”.
The spokesperson said that the local authorities that were unsuccessful were scheduled to meet with government officials shortly and each would resubmit an application “in due course”.
In the East Midlands, Northamptonshire’s bid was the only one to be refused. Proposals from Leicester and Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and their city councils, Lincolnshire and the South East Midlands were all accepted.
The BIS spokesperson said she expected that the next batch of LEP submissions to receive approvals “would cover larger geographical areas”.
The LEP bids had to meet four criteria se by the BIS. These included business support, local authority support, geography, and added value and ambition.
The BIS department spokesperson said that the unsuccessful bids might have to re-focus on meeting certain aspects of the four criteria.
They said: “The bids the government has not approved are not being put on the scrap heap. It’s just that the 24 LEP bids the government announced on Wednesday were ready to go.”
