Insider Media Limited

The West Midlands LEPs must work together to ensure the region does not become an area of "segregated islands". That's the view of Peter Pawsey, newly appointed chairman of the Worcestershire LEP. He told Insider: "Of course there will be disadvantages to not having a regional body [such as Advantage West Midlands], but this is what we've got and we must make the most of it." Pawsey also discussed the LEP's enterprise zone proposal for South Kidderminster, which could create up to 5,000 jobs for the region.

Pawsey added that many of the local authorities' interests would overlap, and said the county had "historic ties" to the parishes which comprise The Marches LEP.

He added: "I can see an overlap with Bromsgrove and Redditch which have aligned with the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP and I think we can all pull together and make the new system work."

The shadow board of the Worcestershire LEP has already achieved "two major milestones" for the county, said Pawsey. The first of these was securing a £17.5m investment from the government's Regional Growth Fund (RFG) earlier this year, which will assist with the creation of Worcester Technology Park.

Last week, the shadow board announced it had submitted a bid to the government for the creation of an enterprise zone at the South Kidderminster Business Park. Businesses including Victoria Carpets, Lawrence Recycling and Vision Labs are based on the 200-hectare site (494 acres).

In addition to the park, an adjoining 40 hectare site (99 acres) has been cleared and made available for development.

"The site was picked from a shortlist of eight in the region," said Pawsey. "I believe the board has made a very strong case for the establishment of a zone on the site – the land is ready for development immediately, which is one of the things the government is looking for with enterprise zone proposals. We're on a time limit – I believe we have until 2015 to establish the zones once they've been selected."

He added that the site would create between 4,500 and 5,000 jobs.

"The area is one of the most deprived in the county- unemployment is higher and there is so much potential with the land in this area. We have a lot of transferable skills in the county, and have suffered from the decline of industries like carpeting – the creation of an enterprise zone would really boost our economy."

Pawsey said he took on the role of chairman as he had "for a long time, observed Worcestershire punching below its weight".

"The region has so much potential – and I have been critical in the past because that has not been put to use. I felt it was time to put up or shut up and I decided to put up. We have to put economic revitalisation and job creation to the top of the agenda for Worcestershire – hopefully the enterprise zone proposal will be accepted, and that will go along way to support that."