LEP watch #5

Devon admits defeat ... Birmingham is popular ... and the situation in Yorkshire is somewhat muddled, but we think we've got to the bottom of it ...

The Government plans to replace regional development agencies with new local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) - described in the coalition agreement as "joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities themselves to promote economic development". Colin Marrs trawled the web (and regen.net) to bring you this week's developments on how plans to set up LEPs are progressing around the country.

Monday 23 August

With discussions going right down to the wire, trying to maintain a list of LEPs is a bit like trying to nail jelly to a wall. The picture is changing almost daily, but Local Government Improvement and Development has produced a pretty good stab at showing the state of play in the emerging LEP landscape. The map is published with the caveat that things have changed in a number of areas now. It also does not show the complex picture relating to district councils, some of which are joining LEPs that cover a county/unitary authority outside of their own upper tier authority.

Tuesday 24 August

The demise of regional development agencies and the advent of local enterprise partnerships is leaving some business leaders enthused and others confused, blogs the Daily Telegraph. It concludes that “inconsistencies, overlaps and uncertainties abound”.

Birmingham’s emerging partnership with Solihull is attracting business organisations and district councils from outside its area like bees to a honey pot. East Staffordshire Borough Council has announced that it will reject its own county’s Staffordshire and Stoke-On-Trent LEP to throw in its lot with Birmingham. Two chambers of commerce from outside the area are also getting on board. East Staffordshire council leader Richard Grosvenor was withering in his assessment Staffordshire’s LEP did not have the necessary commitment from the local business community.

Wednesday 25 August

Devon County Council admitted defeat in its attempts to form a powerful alliance with Cornwall County Council. During a dinner meeting, the county accepted that it would have to content itself with partnering unitary authorities in Plymouth and Torbay. Sources in Devon grumbled that the decision was politically-driven rather than economic.

Thursday 26 August

Former CBI chairman Digby Jones, never a shrinking flower at the best of times, put the boot into the Government’s LEP policy. Describing the work of some of the RDAs “brilliant”, he also added that LEPs were confused in their objectives, too small to work properly and already had a "local authority mentality". The latter view was backed up by business groups in a number of areas of England who voiced discontent about their lack of involvement in consultations about LEP formation.

Friday 27 August

Is the LEP programme set to breathe new life into the regeneration phrase “bureaucratic spaghetti”? Things are getting complicated in Yorkshire, with York and North Yorkshire announcing that they want to be part of two LEPs – one of their own and the Leeds city-region LEP. District councils in the area would choose between either of the two. The proposal comes hot on the heels of a separate plan by business groups to bid for a layer of regional coordination across all of Yorkshire’s LEPs.

Manchester’s city-region will speed the transition of powers from the North-West Regional Development Agency to its new LEP by forming a shadow board. Speaking at a meeting organised by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Manchester City Council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein (pictured above) said that the shadow LEP board could be up and running within weeks. Bernstein was also due to discuss a detailed plan for Manchester’s LEP that was published earlier this week.

• Look out for our final installment of LEP Watch next Friday. To flag up any LEP news that we might have missed - or to comment on how LEP plans are progressing in your area - please comment below.

Public consultation: the movie

"Planning," writes Peter Hetherington in the Guardian today, "seems to be a pejorative term" for this Government. The coalition would no doubt deny it of course - planning minister Bob Neill even admitted he liked those in the profession when he gave a speech at the RTPI's Planning Convention in June. But it's not just the likes of Hetherington who think the steps taken by Neill and his colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government have left a policy vacuum - over the abolition of regional spatial strategies, for example, or the dismantling of the Infrastructure Planning Commission - it's what we've been hearing from pracitioners, too.

If planners themselves are confused over the ramifications of such shifts in policy, where does that leave the general public?

Enter a jolly new short, animated film by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (watch it above), which aims to show how local residents can make their voices heard on planning issues and get involved in consultation activities. It also speaks the localist language of the coalition: "We want to hear what you have to say so that we can use your views to shape the way your area changes", says the narrator in phraseology eerily reminiscent of housing minister Grant Shapps.

Whatever the tone, we hope it achieves its goal of demystifying the planning process. "Planning" and "pejorative" shouldn't belong in the same sentence. As the Town and Country Planning Association think-tank recently told our sister magazine Planning, the sector used to be about "high ideals" - equality, quality housing redistribution of land.

Blog debate: the post-Bura regeneration sector

On Monday morning we broke the news that the British Urban Regeneration Association (Bura) had started proceedings to place itself into voluntary liquidation. In an email to Bura members, sent at the weekend, the association's chair Jackie Sadek said that Bura had concluded, following a review, that "the current model is no longer workable". "I know this will be disappointing news for you, but I am afraid there seems to be no option," Sadek said. Her email suggested that a new body could soon be formed to continue some of Bura's work.

The news has received a mixed response from the regeneration sector. Here are a selection of views:

"I was not entirely surprised to hear the news. I don’t think that the organisation has managed to define its role in terms of the service it was providing and to whom. One would expect that a body representing the sector would lead the regeneration debate but it seems that, increasingly, Bura has followed it." Jim Coleman, director of consultancy Regeneris

"The news [about Bura] is regrettable as it has done a lot of good work. However, there is no shortage of other membership bodies that can act as a voice for the regeneration sector. In any case, the sector is so disparate and wide-ranging – it covers everything from large-scale physical projects to small-scale community action – that it is perhaps unhelpful to have one body attempting to represent all of this." Neil McInroy, chief executive of think-tank the Centre for Local Economic Strategies

"Bura’s focus on physical regeneration has probably been to its detriment in recent months, as there has been a national shift away from large-scale physical projects to localised economic development and social regeneration initiatives." Rob Pearce, director of strategy at consultancy Renaisi

"Bura gave community-focused organisations such as Navca a unique opportunity to be involved in current regeneration issues. It will be sorely missed and we hope that a successor organisation can quickly be established to fill the hole left by Bura." Kevin Curley, chief executive of umbrella body the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action

We'd like to hear your views. Comment below, letting us know your thoughts on the following points:

• What will Bura's legacy be? What have been its greatest achievements?
• Does the regeneration sector still need a trade body to represent it?
• Which functions carried out by Bura would you like to see continued?
• Do we need to rethink what we mean by 'regeneration'?

LEP watch #4

Cambridge and Peterborough in LEP talks ... Rival LEP proposals emerge in East Anglia ... Three West Midlands councils agree LEP bid ... Hertfordshire submits LEP bid ... Burton bids to join Brum and Solihull LEP ... Yorkshire body to work with LEPs mooted

The Government plans to replace regional development agencies with new local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) - described in the coalition agreement as "joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities themselves to promote economic development". We've trawled the web to bring you this week's developments on how plans to set up LEPs are progressing around the country.
____________________________________________

LEP Watch #3
LEP Watch #2
LEP Watch #1
Big Issue: Local Enterprise Partnerships
LEPs: the emerging partnerships
____________________________________________

Friday 20 August

A second Staffordshire-based Chamber of Commerce has voted to join the proposed Birmingham and Solihull local enterprise partnership, reports the Birmingham Post. Burton and District Chamber of Commerce has joined its neighbours from Lichfield and Tamworth in backing the LEP, which will be one of a number set up to replace regional development agency Advantage West Midlands, according to the newspaper.

Thursday 19 August

Councils and businesses in Cambridge and Peterborough are in talks to set up a Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough partnership, reports the Evening Telegraph. The report says that city regeneration body Opportunity Peterborough believes Peterborough would benefit from more cash by being at the centre of a local partnership, rather than part of a large regional body.

Four rival LEP plans are being developed in East Anglia, reports the East Anglian Daily Times. It says that a proposal developed within Suffolk for an East Anglian LEP, based on the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, and possibly parts of north Essex and south Lincolnshire, has attracted support from across the region, including the Choose Suffolk partnership and CBI East of England. But it adds that local authorities and business groups in Norfolk have backed a go-it-alone bid for a county-based LEP, while the existing Greater Cambridge Partnership, which covers a 25-mile radius around the city, including Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Haverhill and Stansted, also has ambitions of gaining LEP status. Now, a proposal has also emerged for a coastal alliance which would stretch from King’s Lynn to Harwich, according to the newspaper.

Wednesday 18 August

Regeneration & Renewal reported on Wednesday that Hertfordshire has submitted a bid to form a local enterprise partnership to the Government. Hertfordshire’s proposal is supported by the county’s ten borough and district councils as well as nearly 30 private firms including property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton, business-consulting firm Mouchel and supermarket giant Tesco.

Tuesday 17 August

Three town halls in the West Midlands have agreed to join forces and bid to form a local enterprise partnership, Regeneration & Renewal reported on Tuesday. Leaders of Herefordshire Council, Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council have submitted a bid to form an LEP, we reported.

Yorkshire business chiefs have set out plans for a new regional body to work alongside local enterprise partnerships and take responsibility for inward investment and the management of European regional aid following the abolition of the area's regional development agency, Regeneration & Renewal reported. The plans for the Yorkshire Enterprise Partnership have been drawn up by a group of business leaders led by manufacturer Barry Dodd.

Look out for another installment of LEP Watch next Friday. To flag up any LEP news that we might have missed - or to comment on how LEP plans are progressing in your area - please comment below.

10 cost-cutting ideas submitted to the Treasury

Yesterday, the Treasury published the details of more than 44,000 cost-cutting schemes put forward by the public to save the coalition Government money. Some of the ideas, submitted after chancellor George Osborne asked voters to suggest how the Government could make savings, were pretty daft, including installing treadmills in prisons linked to the National Grid and a cull of the Queen's swans. Other members of the public, however, took the exercise more seriously. It remains to be seen whether any of the ideas are taken forward. We've trawled the suggestions, published on the Treasury's Spending Challenge website, to find 10 ideas put forward to make regeneration-related savings:

1. Abolish housing associations "My idea is to abolish housing associations and council housing departments. When there is grant funding or land available they act as public sector organisations and pull every heartstring going to get money or free land in order to carry on in their activities. Housing associations in Liverpool have taken literally billions of poundsworth of Housing Corporation grants and public assets from our councils and quangos which are now sitting in their portfolios where they are free from democratic or audit accountability and can act according to their own agenda and officer's ambitions and answerable to no-one."

2. Invest in urban renewal "The government should invest in bold, large capital programmes to renew the public realm in urban areas, create parks and plant trees, promote sustainable energy and food growing and public transport connections to key regeneration sites. This investment would reduce maintenance costs for years to come, encourage companies to relocate in regenerated sites thereby promoting inward investment, create jobs in all levels of the economy from trainees to planners to architects, to contrators, reduce carbon emmissions, promote healty living and reduce the burden on the NHS and generally capture people's imagination and generate a feel good factor which is good for the economy."

3. Axe high-speed rail plans "Scrap HS2. It is promoted by self-interested organisations who are distorting the arguments to promote their own interests. Let them take the risk on their own promotion and exploratory costs. HS2 is about as non-green as flying before you even take into account the land take and the loss of its productivity and O2 regeneration for ever. There's nothing novel or appealing about it. For a small fraction of the money you could further streamline the West Coast Main Line and get a much better return."

4. Centralise regeneration "Get rid of RDAs - central goverment must co-ordinate growth to achieve its goals so why pay local authorities to set up another layer which only serves that particular borough...centralise regeneration and you could also redistribute employment opportunities and possibly create new jobs with savings from RDA removal."

5. Abolish 'so-called' regeneration agencies "Abolish most quangos which claim to deal with business (with the possible exceptions of Business Link and UKTI) as well as every so called "Regeneration Agency". Instead put the money saved into a state owned bank account. This could be accessed by approved entrepreneurs, who fund businesses at "Dragon's Den" style sessions, held on a regular basis in town and city halls."

6. Do smaller projects "The way social housing is repaired is hugely wasteful. Buildings are neglected for many years and then a huge renovation or "regeneration" programme is started. Best for the careers of the people running it is to have a multi million project. Better for use of project money and for resident satisfaction is to do small projects which care for the building more frequently reducing wholesale replacement of elements."

7. Give control of renewal funds to councils "Make it easier to access other grant funding and ensure that match funding resources are not cut off. Remember that you need people to do this, it doesn't happen by magic. Give control over regeneration funding to local authorities. The national picture of need is made up of lots of local pictures, which can be very different. By imposing national answers you are wasting money as there will always be parts that don't reflect the locality and waste effort and money, so allow us to target funds where they will really address our problems, allow us to align funding locally as one size doesn't fit anyone."

8. Cut out the middle man "Cut out as many "middle men" from local government partnerships as possible e.g. in regeneration. After all, local government officers were perfectly capable of running schemes years ago so why have in effect another tier. The East Lancashire authorities work together and share resources so, to my mind, Elevate is surplus to requirements and just drains hundreds of thousands out of the regeneration budget."

9. Sell public land to regeneration specialists "Increase the level of affordable housing by by selling publicly owned land adjacent and within council estates to housing regeneration specialists on the basis that they will: pay a reasonable price for the land, given the context of the initiative; give priority purchase terms to surrounding council residents for a specified period; employ local tradespeople to build houses; provide building skills training courses for local people. The aim is to increase the amount of affordable housing by attracting neighbouring council residents to buy a new home, leaving their former home to be re-let to someone on the housing waiting list. By using this method of provision, the cost to Government is minimal, ie limited to the level of any reduction in land receipt required to make a scheme viable."

10. Make owners of derelict buildings refurbish them "Make the owners of derelict or badly maintained properties 'renew and regenerate' them. Concentrate funds in areas of real need on a scale that is meaningful as a 'one-off' grant. Use a 'mend and move on' policy. Require match-funding for such interventions from the local private sector interests that would benefit from the renewal/regeneration proposed."

What do you think? Comment below to let us know what you think of these money saving ideas, or to share with us your own thoughts on how savings can be made in regeneration.

Video: BMX tricks on a Boris Bike

It was only a matter of time before the first video appeared of someone attempting BMX tricks on a Boris Bike. You can watch footage of professional BMX rider Dan Lacey take a Boris Bike for a spin around the capital below. He found the going tougher than he expected, due to the weight of the bike, which he described as "built like a tank".


MPORA Action Sports >>

In Paris, bikes for hire through the city's Velib scheme have fallen victim to a craze known as "Velib extreme". Youtube videos show riders taking the bikes into metro stations and being tested on BMX courses - you can see how their efforts compare to Lacey's on our blog, here.

Poll: Will Shapps' New Homes Bonus lead to more homes being built?

Last week, housing minister Grant Shapps outlined his plans to "reward" councils that "give planning consent and support the construction of new homes" through a New Homes Bonus. In a letter to town halls, Shapps said that the incentive would be introduced "early" in the next three-year spending review period.

Shapps' letter said that councils that encourage new homes in their areas will receive "direct and substantial extra funding to spend as they wish" through the scheme. The initiative was mentioned in a Tory planning green paper published before the general election, which said that a Tory government would match the council tax raised on each new house for six years.

Reports have subsequently surfaced claiming that Shapps is locked in a battle with the Treasury over the affordability of his proposals. His letter to town halls made no mention of his previous commitment to match council tax revenues on every new home built for six years in grant payments to local authorities with up to 125 per cent for affordable homes.

We'd like to hear your views. Vote in our new poll (top right) - or comment below - to have your say on whether Shapps' proposed New Homes Bonus will lead to more homes being built.

Five regeneration summer reads

From the life story of a single Victorian mansion block to a 400-page dissection of why social inequality persists, there is plenty of regeneration-related reading material on offer this summer. Regeneration & Renewal editor Richard Garlick, deputy editor Jamie Carpenter and online editor David Hickey take us through their recommendations.

You've Got To Laugh – musings in sunlight and shadow by Laurence Demarco (available from Senscot, priced £10) Former Regeneration & Renewal columnist Demarco is the director of Senscot, the Scottish network of Social Entrepreneurs. Each week he sends a weekly bulletin about the social enterprise sector to his members, topped and tailed by personal reflections. A few years ago these musings were collected, edited and turned into a book. It works brilliantly. Demarco's life story is a vivid one. He was raised in an immigrant Italian family in Edinburgh, schooled as a boarder in England, trained for - then rejected - the priesthood, all before becoming a community activist and social entrepreneur in one of Edinburgh's poorest estates. The book's origin as a series of columns means that the narrative is episodic, and it's only as you get further into the book that the life story begins to knit together. Direct references to his working life are few, but it does paint a vivid portrait of the passions, fears and principles that motivate a prominent social entrepreneur. RG

Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists by Daniel Dorling (Policy Press, priced £19.99) In which the University of Sheffield's professor of human geography unravels the "nature of, and widespread harm caused by, injustice, of new social evils and of the rising inequality that both results from injustices and also underlies their rise". Dorling's "five faces" of social inequality that contribute to injustice are: Elitism (which suggests that" education divisions are natural") is efficient; exclusion is necessary; prejudice is natural; greed is good; and despair is inevitable. Academic but never dull, Dorling convincingly shoots down the ideologies propagated by institutions - the elites - that allow these five tenets to exist and thrive. And in the final chapter Dorling suggests growing inequalities may be coming to an end. "Everything it takes to defeat injustice lies in the mind," Dorling writes. This book is a grand education in that respect. I hope somebody sends a copy to Iain Duncan Smith. DH

Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, by Sam Savage This novel tells the story of Firmin, a rat who lives in a ramshackle bookstore on Boston’s Scollay Square in the 1960s. Firmin develops the ability to read and Savage’s book chronicles the rat’s musings as he attempts to make friends, firstly with the bookshop’s human owner Norman Shine, and then later on with the struggling and eccentric science fiction author Jerry Magoon. Firmin’s exploits take place against the backdrop of a huge urban regeneration project. As the story moves on, so too does the city council’s plans to redevelop the neighbourhood in which Scollay Square is located. As the regeneration project gathers pace, eviction notices are served on traders and residents, windows are boarded up and buildings burn. The project described by Firmin is based on a real scheme, an author's note at the end of the book reveals. Scollay square did really exist in downtown Boston until 1962, by which time the area had become an ageing and seedy district. You can read a longer review of the book on our blog here. JC

To Paradise by Way of Gospel Oak by Rosalind Bayley (published by the Camden History Society, priced £7.50 plus £2.50 post and packing) A fascinating life story of a single Victorian mansion block that doubles as a history of housing policy over the past 100 years. The birthplace of the poet John Betjeman, in the 1970s the block became one of the cradles of tenant empowerment, as the residents drove off an unpopular private landlord and persuaded Camden Council to take control. The book arrived at Regeneration & Renewal as an unsolicited review copy, and when I opened it I didn't really expect to get past the first few pages. But Bayley tells a compelling tale, and I soon found myself deeply absorbed. RG

View from the Foothills: the Diaries of Chris Mullin This entertaining book was my summer read: I read it on the beach last month in Greece. In it, former Labour minister Chris Mullin documents his time in government on the lowest rung of the ministerial ladder. It’s worth reading in particular for Mullin’s account of life at the former Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions working for John Prescott. Mullin dubs the department the “Ministry of Folding Deckchairs” and struggles to cope with an “avalanche of tedium”. His frustrations include feeling humiliated having to read a jargon-filled speech to housing professionals and having his plans for greater regulation of leylandii hedges blocked by Number 10. JC

Think we've missed any out? Please let us know your recommendations by commenting below or emailing regeneration@haymarket.com

LEP watch #3

Leicester opposes 'South Midlands' LEP ... Lancashire to bid for LEP trio ... Bid for county-wide Norfolk LEP ... North Hampshire LEP mooted ... Humber town halls on LEP collision course ... Plan for Yorkshire body to work with LEPs ... Devon and Cornwall LEP plans take shape

The Government plans to replace regional development agencies with new local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) - described in the coalition agreement as "joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities themselves to promote economic development". We've trawled the web to bring you this week's developments on how plans to set up LEPs are progressing around the country.

_____________________________________________

LEP Watch #2
LEP Watch #1
Big Issue: Local Enterprise Partnerships
LEPs: the emerging partnerships

_____________________________________________

Friday 13 August

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is to host a meeting next week to discuss with businesses the potential for establishing a local enterprise partnership covering North Hampshire, reports the Andover Advertiser. Council leader Andrew Finney said that the LEP could have a crucial role in funding important infrastructure improvements in the road network and ITC infrastructure.

Thursday 12 August

Businesses and local authorities in Norfolk have agreed to join forces and bid to form a county-wide local enterprise partnership, reports the Eastern Daily Press. It says that the Norfolk bid is supported by the county's eight local authorities, the Institute of Directors, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses and Shaping Norfolk's Future, the county's economic development partnership. But it is understood a rival, region-wide bid with backing from some major companies is also in the pipeline.

A group of Yorkshire businessmen have drawn up plans for a regional company to be responsible for functions such as inward investment, tourism, innovation, access to finance and economic intelligence, reports the Yorkshire Evening Post. The Yorkshire Enterprise Partnership would work alongside LEPs in the region, according to the newspaper.

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly will be served by two local enterprise partnerships under plans being worked up by local authorities, reports the Western Morning News. It says that councils in Torbay, Devon, Plymouth, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are working together on a bid to form a peninsula-based LEP. And Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are also working with businesses on a submission for a separate LEP, according to the newspaper.

Tuesday 10 August

Leicester city leaders have issued a stark warning to Leicestershire County Council: "We don't want to create a new region called the South Midlands," reports the Leicester Mercury. Leicester's business community and the city council is opposing moves to set up an LEP covering Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire, the newspaper says. Instead, the city leaders want an LEP to cover only Leicestershire, the report suggests.

Lancashire councils are set enter three bids to form local enterprise partnerships, the Lancashire Evening Post reports. It says that authority bosses across the county’s 12 districts and the county council, which met for showdown talks on Monday, could not agree on how many LEPs should be set up when the North-West Regional Development Agency is axed in 2012.

Hull City Council and East Riding Council have said they are in favour of forming a local enterprise partnership, putting them on collision course with town halls south of the Humber estuary that say they would like to form a pan-Humber body, reported Regeneration & Renewal.

Look out for another installment of LEP Watch next Friday. To flag up any LEP news that we might have missed - or to comment on how LEP plans are progressing in your area - please comment below.

Interactive timeline: Cuts - the story so far

Use our interactive timeline, below, to track the cuts to regeneration funding implemented by the new coalition government since May. For best results, click "View in Dipity", the click "Full screen" and select the one month view using the bar on the left. Grab the grey background to scroll back through time. Click an entry to read Regeneration & Renewal's coverage of each cuts story.

Jamie C. on Dipity.

You can also follow our coverage of the cuts using the interactive list below and over at our new Regeneration Cuts Tracker blog.

Jamie C. on Dipity.

Poll result: 55% say PM right to suggest end to lifetime tenancies

Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron signaled an end to lifetime tenancies for new social housing tenants. In a question and answer session with members of the public in Birmingham, Cameron said that it would make sense to look at a more "flexible system" of tenure.

We asked blog readers for their views. We received 18 comments and more than 200 votes in our poll which asked whether the PM was right to suggest an end to lifetime tenancies.

Fifty-five per cent of respondents to the poll agreed that Cameron was right to suggest an end to lifetime tenancies, while 40 per cent disagreed with the PM's comments. The remainder were undecided.

We'll be uploading a new poll shortly. In the meantime, you can listen to our team discuss the PM's plans to end lifetime tenancies in Regeneration & Renewal's latest Ten Minute Briefing podcast.

LEPs: the emerging partnerships

*** Updated 03 September ***

*** Click here to download LEP map (PDF) ***

Discussions over the formation of the new local authority-business partnerships with which the Government intends to replace the regional development agencies are taking place across England. Below is a list, gathered from experts in each region and press reports, of local authorities that are in talks over forming a local enterprise partnership (LEP). This is not an attempt to provide a definitive list. We welcome comments from readers on potential LEPs.

YORKSHIRE & HUMBER
- North Yorkshire
- East Yorkshire
- South Yorkshire (Sheffield city-region) *** Update 3 August Sheffield is bidding to become one of the first city-regions to launch an LEP. Business leaders from 11 local authorities across South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire have joined forces to submit a bid for LEP status
- West Yorkshire (Leeds city-region) *** Update 11 August Paul Stephens, chief economic development officer at Leeds City Council, tells us: "Please note that the proposed Leeds City-Region LEP encompasses a wider area than just the five West Yorkshire districts. It includes York, the districts of Harrogate, Selby and Craven in North Yorkshire, and Barnsley in South Yorkshire. It is the real economic footprint and is the most self contained of all the “city-regions” being talked about."

*** Update 12 August A group of Yorkshire businessmen have drawn up plans for a regional company to be responsible for functions such as inward investment, tourism, innovation, access to finance and economic intelligence, reports the Yorkshire Evening Post. The Yorkshire Enterprise Partnership would work alongside LEPs in the region. *** Update 17 August Yorkshire business chiefs have set out plans for a new regional body to work alongside local enterprise partnerships and take responsibility for inward investment and the management of European regional aid following the abolition of the area's regional development agency, Regeneration & Renewal reported.
*** Update 10 August Hull City Council and East Riding Council have said they are in favour of forming a local enterprise partnership, putting them on collision course with town halls south of the Humber estuary that say they would like to form a pan-Humber body, reported Regeneration & Renewal.

WEST MIDLANDS
- Birmingham *** Update 5 August Lichfield and Tamworth Chamber of Commerce has thrown its weight behind plans to set up a Birmingham and Solihull LEP, reports the Birmingham Post. *** Update 20 August A second Staffordshire-based Chamber of Commerce has voted to join the proposed Birmingham and Solihull local enterprise partnership, reports the Birmingham Post. Burton and District Chamber of Commerce has joined its neighbours from Lichfield and Tamworth in backing the LEP.
- Black Country *** Update 29 July Black Country local authorities have refused to join up with Birmingham to set up a powerful regional LEP, according to the Birmingham Post.
- Coventry, Solihull, Warwickshire
- Worcestershire
- Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent *** Update 6 August Plans to wind up a West Midlands renewal body and replace it with an LEP have been announced by Stoke-on-Trent City Council. Councillors voted yesterday to begin talks with Staffordshire County Council about setting up an LEP which would replace the North Staffordshire Renewal Partnership.
- Shropshire, Hereford and Telford & Wrekin *** Update 17 August Have submitted a joint bid to form a LEP

EAST MIDLANDS
- Northamptonshire is talking to Warwickshire and Milton Keynes
- Leicester and Leicestershire (currently an MAA) *** Update 10 August Leicester city leaders have issued a stark warning to Leicestershire County Council: "We don't want to create a new region called the South Midlands," reports the Leicester Mercury.
- Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire
- Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire (also talking to Staffordshire) *** Update 28 July Councils in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and East Staffordshire are to discuss plans to set up an LEP to replace the East Midlands Development Agency, reports the BBC website
- Rutland; having gained independence from Leicestershire, the county could be lukewarm about re-entering another form of union. One wag suggests that the tiny county might partner with Norway.
- Some districts in north Derbyshire have expressed a desire to join the Sheffield city-region.

NORTH-WEST
- *** Update 3 September Developer Peel Holdings has independently submitted a LEP bid based on the the Atlantic Gateway framework (which aims to boost the economies of a region spanning from Merseyside to north Cheshire, Chester, Halton, Warrington and into Greater Manchester) despite the fact that the Government has stipulated that they should be public-private partnerships. Liverpool City Council and the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities told Regeneration & Renewal that they were unaware of Peel's plans.
- Greater Manchester (Manchester city-region) *** Update 3 August Local authorities in Greater Manchester have announced proposals for an LEP that would focus on improving skills and employment levels, enhancing business growth and managing the transition to a low carbon economy
- Merseyside
- Cumbria
- Cheshire, Warrington
- Councils within the existing Pennine Lancashire MAA may decide to form a LEP - if permitted by central government. Pennine Lancashire has two upper-tier local authorities; in addition to Lancashire County Council, Blackburn with Darwen is a unitary authority. *** Update 10 August Lancashire councils are set to enter three bids to form local enterprise partnerships, the Lancashire Evening Post reports.
- Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Councils want to convert their economic development company to a LEP, but none is an upper-tier authority.

NORTH-EAST
This region was the most keen to retain its regional development agency, One North-East. It could still plump for an LEP covering the whole region, but Tees Valley may decide to go it alone. This could result in the following LEPs:
- Tyne and Wear
- Tees Valley *** Update 26 July A consortium from the Tees Valley will submit a bid to create one of the first LEPs, reports the Northern Echo
- Durham and Northumberland would join up with each other, or one of the others
*** Update 3 September Competing bids are now expected from Tees Valley, Durham, Sunderland and South Tyneside, with Newcastle and Gateshead set to form partnership that may take in North Tyneside or Northumberland, according to reports.

SOUTH-WEST
- Bristol/West England – four unitaries (Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire)
- Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset (currently an MAA)
- Cornwall and Devon – in talks after Cornwall originally wanted to go it alone but realised this might not be acceptable to central government. *** Update 29 July Cornwall Council's chief executive Kevin Lavery has outlined plans for a Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP. There is little appetite for a Devon and Cornwall LEP, according to reports. *** Update 12 AugustCornwall and the Isles of Scilly will be served by two local enterprise partnerships under plans being worked up by local authorities, reports the Western Morning News.
- Gloucestershire – appears to want to join with a LEP involving authorities currently in the West Midlands, but has talked to Swindon
- Swindon and Wiltshire
- Somerset – little progress appears to be made so far

LONDON
Here the situation is different to the rest of the country because the London mayor already possesses wide-ranging regeneration powers. The mayor’s office is considering allowing some authorities to join LEPs. The mayor’s planning adviser Simon Milton met with the Thames Gateway London Partnership to discuss the possibility of east London boroughs joining a LEP also comprising Kent and Essex, councils in the Thames Gateway region. There have also been suggestions that the existing Olympics MAA area could convert into a LEP.

SOUTH-EAST
- Partnership of Urban South Hampshire – currently an MAA and is in talks with the Isle of Wight
- Hastings and Brighton are in talks.
*** Update 5 August Oxfordshire is to submit a bid for LEP status, reports the Witney Gazette. The newspaper quotes county council leader Keith Mitchell, who says that, while the Government's thinking is that LEPs should represent "natural economic areas", he is intending to "pitch" Oxfordshire as an exceptional entity.
*** Update 13 August Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is to host a meeting next week to discuss with businesses the potential for establishing a local enterprise partnership covering North Hampshire, reports the Andover Advertiser.

EAST OF ENGLAND
Little progress appears to be made so far, but there are suggestions that delivery vehicle Cambridgeshire Horizons could take on LEP status. *** Update 19 August Councils and businesses in Cambridge and Peterborough are in talks to set up a Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough partnership, reports the Evening Telegraph.
*** Update 28 July Initial discussions have been held about creating a Norfolk-based LEP, reports the Eastern Daily Press.
*** Update 12 August Businesses and local authorities in Norfolk have agreed to join forces and bid to form a county-wide local enterprise partnership, reports the Eastern Daily Press. *** Update 19 August Four rival LEP plans are being developed in East Anglia, reports the East Anglian Daily Times.
*** Update 18 August Hertfordshire County Council has submitted a LEP proposal
that includes the county’s ten borough and district councils as well as nearly 30 private firms.

We'll be adding to this post using information from our weekly LEP Watch feature. But if you have any more information about potential LEPs - or want to point us in the direction of relevant press reports - please email regeneration@haymarket.com or comment below.

Our thanks to Local Government Improvement and Development for providing us with a PDF of a map of emerging LEPs around the country. Research commissioned by LGID suggests that there are around 40 emerging partnerships. You can download the map here.

Big Issue: Browse our continually updated archive of news on LEPs

LEP watch #2

Lichfield and Tamworth to join Birmingham and Solihull? ... Oxfordshire goes it alone ... Sheffield city-region to submit bid ... Greater Manchester outlines LEP plans ... North Staffs body to be replaced with LEP

The Government plans to replace regional development agencies with new local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) - described in the coalition agreement as "joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities themselves to promote economic development". We've trawled the web to bring you this week's developments on how plans to set up LEPs are progressing around the country.

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LEP Watch #1

Big Issue: Local Enterprise Partnerships

LEPs: the story so far

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6 August

Plans to wind up a beleaguered West Midlands renewal body and replace it with an LEP have been announced by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, we report today. Councillors voted yesterday to begin talks with Staffordshire County Council about setting up an LEP which would replace the North Staffordshire Renewal Partnership.

5 August

Lichfield and Tamworth Chamber of Commerce has thrown its weight behind plans to set up a Birmingham and Solihull LEP, reports the Birmingham Post. Neil Lancaster, president of Lichfield and Tamworth Chamber, told the newspaper that it made sense to link up with the largest city outside of London, as it would lead to more opportunities for job creation and inward investment.

Oxfordshire is to submit a bid for LEP status, reports the Witney Gazette. The newspaper quotes county council leader Keith Mitchell, who says that, while the Government's thinking is that LEPs should represent "natural economic areas", he is intending to "pitch" Oxfordshire as an exceptional entity. "We felt we could show that Oxfordshire is an identifiable, economically functional area in its own right," he says.

3 August

Sheffield is bidding to become one of the first city-regions to launch an LEP. Business leaders from 11 local authorities across South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire have joined forces to submit a bid for LEP status, according to The Star.

Local authorities in Greater Manchester have announced proposals for an LEP that would focus on improving skills and employment levels, enhancing business growth and managing the transition to a low carbon economy, Regeneration & Renewal reported on Tuesday.

Poll: Is the PM right to signal an end to lifetime tenancies?

Speaking today, Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that council houses should no longer granted “for life”. Conceding that any reform would cause a “big argument”, the PM said that it would make sense for tenants to be given fixed-term deals in future, so that they could be moved on should their circumstances change. You can watch Cameron making the comments in the video below - the council housing question is 27 minutes in.

In the run up to the general election, the Conservatives were repeatedly attacked by Labour over their housing policy, with Labour’s John Healey accusing the Tories of planning to end secure tenancies. At the time the claims were rejected by the Tories.

But here’s what Cameron said today: “At the moment, we have a system very much where, if you get a council house or an affordable house, it is yours forever and in some cases people actually hand them down to their children. And actually it ought to be about need.

“But there is a question mark about whether, in future, should we be asking, actually, when you are given a council home, is it for a fixed period, because maybe in five or 10 years you will be doing a different job and be better paid and you won’t need that home, you will be able to go into the private sector.”

Is the PM right to suggest that council houses should no longer be granted for life? Let us know by voting in our poll (top right), or by commenting below, including your name and organisation.

* In our previous poll, we asked whether it is time to move beyond the Asbo. Fifty per cent of respondents said no, while 39 per cent said yes. Ten per cent of those who voted were undecided.

Your verdict: Coalition government three months on

It's nearly three months ago since the strange (but compelling) events of early May 2010 which saw the UK's first coalition government for more than 60 years formed.

Since then, the pace of change has felt relentless. Key regeneration-related announcements have included the abolition of regional development agencies and regional spatial strategies, £6.25 billion of funding cuts in the current financial year, and the unveiling of a set of 'Big Society' measures including a National Citizen Service for school leavers.

We'd like to hear your verdict on the coalition's first three months. Let us know your views on the following points (or anything else):

- Does the Big Society represent power to the people, or is it a cover for spending cuts?

- Can private sector jobs replace the public sector jobs that are lost in regions outside of London and the South-East?

- Will the abolition of regional spatial strategies lead to fewer homes being built?

Please get involved by commenting below, leaving your name and organisation.