Insider Media Limited

Local enterprise partnerships will only take off if they have good business leadership, Sir Peter Rigby has told Insider. Yet, the chairman of Patriot Aerospace Group and Coventry Airport alleges Birmingham City Council has not got much of a record of working with business, putting a question mark over whether the greater Birmingham LEP can succeed.

Sir Peter is the founder, chairman and chief executive of £2.24bn-turnover Specialist Computer Holdings, and chairman of the Eden Hotel Collection, Patriot Aerospace Group and Coventry Airport.

His comments came in an exclusive interview with Insider as he announced the completion of a £20m data centre investment beside SCH’s headquarters in the Cole Valley at Tyseley.

He said: “LEPs have to have good business leadership and get business investment in the future development needs of the city and region.

“Will they achieve that? I don’t know.

“The remit for that leadership is totally vague. The government is not allocating resources. Hence I would question whether they will get somebody of the right calibre to take the role on.”

In addition, issues sich as transport had to be approached on a regional basis.

If there was no real communication between LEPs, then a “difficult situation” would arise.

And he charged: “I started in Birmingham - not exactly the centre of high technology industry - but Birmingham does not seem to respond to a business unless it is in trouble and usually in automotive.

“The government is talking about wanting to see enterprise. Birmingham was an enterprising city. But think of all the companies that used to be here - how few there now are. And, of those that are left, many are headquartered elsewhere.

“What Birmingham needs to do is what this country needs to do - get moving, embrace new ideas and enterprising people, and create an environment where these businesses can be supported.

“Yet Birmingham has not got a particularly good record of working with business. Local government has not been a supporter of business.

“I want LEPs to succeed because I have a big investment in Birmingham. Just like I want to see the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP succeed because I have a big investment there.

“There is a lot to do in Birmingham and there needs to be a real change in the relationship with business if business is to support LEPs and achieve what government is looking to achieve.”

Although Rigby was instrumental in turning Millennium Point into reality, and is an Advantage West Midlands ambassador for the region, Birmingham City Council is not an SCH customer. It contracts its information and communications technology through Service Birmingham, a partnership with national group Capita.