LEPs may merge, says Hollis
West Midlands LEPs could merge to give themselves more scope, according to Steve Hollis, senior partner and chairman of KPMG in Birmingham. Talking to Insider, Hollis said: “The Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP needs to be a big and bold organisation. My idea about LEPs is that they should be as big as possible, and eventually I think that will mean merging with neighbouring organisations.”
Hollis said he thought the effectiveness of the LEPs would be driven by how much political clout they had. He added: “One of the LEP’s jobs it to establish trust with the local business community. The jury’s out and there’s no doubt that Bridget Blow has a tough job on her hands.”
Talking to Insider in January, Hollis said that the Birmingham and Solihull LEP was in danger of becoming “a talking shop.” When asked if he’d changed his mind, he said: “There’s been no change. We still don’t have a board in place. I want to encourage them to be bold and courageous. With the high employment rates in the West Midlands there really needs to be some leadership from the LEP and it needs to build better relationships with local employers to address this.”
Now, Hollis said he would miss parts of the RDAs, but not others. “It’s time to move on,” he said, “but I think we’ll miss the expertise and insight that was built up over the years at Advantage West Midlands.
“But the government has seemed to think we’ve needed to start with a clean sheet, and I don’t think that’s too healthy. There should have been a more orderly transition from the RDAs to the LEPs. It’s not been good, and it could’ve been handled a lot better.”
The Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP includes Birmingham, Solihull, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Tamworth, Bromsgrove and Cannock, Redditch and Wyre Forest.
