Ron Crank, Chief Executive of Coast to Capital LEP reflects on the power of local decision-making to bring about a new period of investment and growth across its region.
As I look back on the achievements of Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership during the past year, I cannot help but feel a strong sense of pride. As many readers will be aware, each of the 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across the UK was tasked by Government to develop a long-term growth plan to improve its local economy. Importantly, the growth plan provided a platform for each LEP to bid for funding from Whitehall.
Personally, I always believed this plan should be locally led and therefore my Board and team have worked very closely with local councils, businesses and community stakeholders to produce a strategy to ensure our economy continues to grow. Throughout the process, we sought to undertake an open consultation which was proportional in scope and scale to the potential impacts of the decisions being taken. Collaboration with our local partners led to improved decisions.
Having submitted the plan to Whitehall last spring, we were delighted when Government announced our allocation of funding, a £202m Growth Deal, in July last year.
