It promises to put a mind-boggling £5.3 billion into the Black Country. Local Government Editor DANIEL WAINWRIGHT explains how a Local Enterprise Partnership would work.

More than 160,000 jobs could be created if a plan to get businesses and councils in the Black Country working together succeeds, it was claimed today.

A bid to transform the fortunes of businesses has been launched after the four Black Country councils sent a joint 29-page document to the Government.

The Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is being set up to replace the £300million-a-year Advantage West Midlands, which was meant to boost the region’s economy but is being scrapped amid government cuts.

The Black Country LEP aims to build 61,000 homes within 30 years and bring an extra £5.3billion into the economy.

The Government believes that quangos such as AWM are wasteful and not providing value for money.

Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell and Dudley councils’ leaders have turned their backs on Birmingham City Council, which had wanted to create a partnership that would take in the entire region.

Staffordshire is joining with Stoke-On-Trent but Lichfield is looking to be part of two, by working with Birmingham as well.

How would it work?

Spending £300 million a year, unelected and encompassing rural and urban areas, Advantage West Midlands was held up as a symbol of public sector excess.

The regional development agency was too big, had too much power and was costing too much, according to the coalition government that is set to abolish it.

Powers on planning and access to finance will return to London, but something will have to be put in its place to oversee the joint policies of different councils and ensure businesses can grow.

That is where the Local Enterprise Partnership comes in – with the aim of getting £5.3 billion into the economy by 2040.

Control will be by the private sector with councils’ involvement to produce policies to boost business across the region, rather than just in their own boroughs.

Someone also needs to pick up major developments such as the £67 million i54 business park in Wolverhampton, which is currently a landscaped field with new roads leading to nowhere because no firm has opted to develop the flagship business park.

So far £17.4m has been spent on it.

Smaller

There will be smaller groups of councils involved – rather than the 33 districts, counties, and cities in AWM’s patch.

What may work for a rural area such as Shropshire may not be the best for somewhere as heavily industrialised as Sandwell.

At the start of summer there was much debate about which councils would join Birmingham City Council to keep as much of the region together as possible.

Black Country leaders, instead decided to go it alone as much of Staffordshire joins Stoke-On-Trent to create its own.

They sent a letter to the government saying they want to set up an LEP and use the Black Country Consortium as the base.

That will be good news for the consortium, which employs 24 people on projects where four councils co-operate. It made nine people redundant this year after funding was cut and may well have been in the firing line as councils look to save millions.

The future of AWM’s base at Birmingham Science Park, Aston, is unclear.

Black Country Chamber of Commerce president Mike Dell says the LEP is a “blank piece of paper” the region can use for a fresh start. “It won’t be a talking shop. For a start there won’t be enough people around the table for it to be a talking shop.

“It will be the four council leaders, someone in education and at least five businesses, chaired by a someone from the private sector. We want to drive up skills in the area and set the joint priorities for the Black Country. We will make sure it does that.

“There isn’t a budget at the moment but the LEP would be able to apply for the government’s £1bn regional development fund.” A question hangs over £100 million of property AWM owns, including 21 plots in Birmingham and the Black Country.

AWM owns land which is part of the planned £76m Bilston Urban Village, Walsall Waterfront, the old Sandwell College, the former Corus site, Dudley, and Pebble Mill, Birmingham.

Councillor Les Jones, Dudley Council deputy leader, said: “We’ve asked for a number of things. We’ve asked that the assets of AWM in the Black Country be transferred to the councils so we can work on further investment.

“If the government takes them under its control it leaves us little to work with.

“We also want to see funding provided to education because it’s something that has been taken back to the centre by the government. Another thing we have asked for is to be involved regional funding from Europe and make sure it keeps coming to promote economic growth.”

Attract

It is likely to be April 2011 before the LEP is in place and council and business leaders now have to work to attract interested firms to join forces with them.

While the chamber of commerce is having an input everyone involved is aware that it only represents interested parties and that the LEP will need more than just its members filling the chairs of the private sector.

Lichfield Council is joining with Birmingham in its LEP as well as being part of the Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on- Trent LEP. Staffordshire County Council Leader Phillip Atkins welcomed the move.

“We are delighted to be able to refocus the development agenda through the people that matter — local businesses” he said.

“The organisation will be chaired by a private sector leader. The views of our private sector partners will direct future policy.”

At Cannock Chase spokeswoman Sandra Richards said: “Cannock Chase Council are currently considering the opportunities which the LEPs may bring and are in discussions with other authorities to agree an appropriate way forward.”

Not meeting the Monday deadline is not the end of the world for any would-be LEP however. Nor is rejection, which would cut the organisation off from the regional growth fund.

Mike Dell says: “We don’t see the government saying no to the Black Country.

“But business is so enthused about this that even if it did we would still carry on and work with the local authorities to make sure we got what we wanted.”