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EXCLUSIVE: Peel to submit Atlantic Gateway LEP plan
Peel Holdings is about to throw open the whole structure of economic development in the North West with an audacious bid to the government next week for a local enterprise partnership (LEP) plan based on its Atlantic Gateway project, Insider understands.
So far, the Atlantic Gateway has been a long term idea - a framework, for collaboration between the Manchester and Liverpool city regions, to develop land along the Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. The scheme, formerly the Ocean Gateway project, has been described as a “£50bn investment strategy for the North West”.
Peel, as the major landowner, has driven the strategy which the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) supported and brokered a loose deal in March 2010 to back it from Greater Manchester and Merseyside authorities. Manchester City Council did not support the plan, with its chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein saying there was “no evidence” to support the Atlantic Gateway concept as a key priority driving the region forward over the next 20 years.
Insider understands the new plan to be submitted to government on Monday will include the wider shared hinterland of both city regions across Warrington, Halton, Chester and northern Cheshire under the banner of a local economic partnership.
In March, it was announced that a sustainable infrastructure commission is to be set up to oversee and manage a programme of projects focussing on innovation, transport infrastructure, waste and energy infrastructure, and attracting and retaining talent.
The new partnerships are set to replace the outgoing NWDA from March 2012. Lancashire is set to make three submissions with one each from Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cumbria, and Cheshire and Warrington.
Earlier this week the Federation of Small Businesses hit out at local authorities in the region for failing to involve business groups, while Len Collinson, the leader of Private Sector Partners, last week told Insider the concept of LEPs could be “fundamentally flawed” and lack any real credibility with businesses.
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