By Graham Wynn
This new magazine is an absolute celebration of business in our region.
You're reading the success stories of growing enterprises, about export orders being won; contracts and deals being signed and new appointments being made as workforces grow.
All this is down to the hard work of business owners and managers – but the conditions have to be right for that growth to happen.
In the wake of the economic downturn, the Government asked Lord Heseltine to investigate how wealth might be more effectively created in the UK. The result was No Stone Unturned – a report that set out how changes in Government organisation and funding could be beneficial to driving localised growth.
At its heart was a powerful case for decentralising economic powers from central government to local areas and business leaders, as those best placed to understand and to address the opportunities and obstacles to growth in their own communities.
This is where Local Enterprise Partnerships come in. And the key word for me isn’t 'local', or 'enterprise', it’s 'partnership'. The Marches LEP may be private sector-led but we are a Partnership.
We are businesses. We are housing, education and third sector champions. We are three local authorities. And we are working hard to create the conditions for economic growth and prosperity in our region. Together.
The councils of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin may well be separate entities but they are an integral part of the LEP. It is through their efforts that we are able to deliver on our promises. Over the last five years, the partnership has delivered 9,850 homes, created the conditions for more than 8,000 new jobs and secured £670m of private investment for the region.
Here’s another example for you. Driving through Telford, you will have seen work ongoing at a number of roundabouts and might have spotted the Marches LEP and Telford & Wrekin Council signs. This is the LEP in action.
The transport infrastructure work on the roundabouts is part of the £17.4m Telford Growth Point Package, upgrading junctions to open up development land in the town to create thousands of homes and jobs. The majority of the funding for these improvements is coming from the Marches LEP, via its Growth Deal negotiated with Government.
Similarly work is ongoing on the £12.1m Shrewsbury Integrated Transport Package – another Growth Deal project to unlock development land. Again, funded by the LEP. And as well as supporting the infrastructure work to create homes and jobs, we’re also behind the Marches Growth Hub, which is helping businesses to grow and create jobs too.
Keep up to date with what, and how, we're doing with our programme of work via the website at www.marcheslep.org.uk and importantly, let us know your views either via the contact form on the website, our LinkedIn group or via Twitter @Marcheslep.
