September 14, 2018 2.05 pm This story is over 75 months old

Senior councillor ‘uncomfortable’ with LEPs shakeup

The government wants LEPs to ‘eradicate’ overlaps

Councillor Colin Davie addressing Lincolnshire County Council's full council meeting.

A senior county councillor said he is “very uncomfortable” with a government proposal to shakeup local enterprise partnerships.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government proposed a review into the country’s partnerships back in July.

Local enterprise partnerships are organisations made up of local authority members and businesses which promote economic growth.

The review will include asking LEPs to “eradicate” overlaps into other enterprise areas.

But Councillor Colin Davie, executive member for economy, said that this would affect the partnership’s relationship with the Humber region.

“I’m very uncomfortable with that request,” he said.

“The board works very closely with the Humber LEP and there are no problems at all with that relationship.

“Business goes where business needs to be.”

Councillor Davie said the LEP has a strong relationship with the Humber region.

He added that the partnership will ask the government to keep the geographical area of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP the same.

“It should not be altered and remain the same,” he said.

“We need to win that argument.”

Councillor Davie, who sits on the partnership’s directors board, said he will be writing to county councillors outlining the amount spent by the partnership in each area of the region.

The current LEP area covers Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.

However, the northern areas of the county also fall into the Humber partnership region.

The government wants to remove these overlaps in order to “boost performance”.

The communities secretary, James Brokenshire MP, said: “This publication of the Strengthened Local Enterprise Partnerships policy represents a step change in approach for LEPs.

“We will continue our work to strengthen these leading institutions to develop ambitious strategies for growth and build an economy which is fit for the future.”

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