South East Forum For Sustainability

Archive for the ‘SE Economy’ Category

Of the original 14 bids put in from around the South East 6 have been approved to go to the next stage. The announcement (at the end of October) saw the LEPs tied in to the Local Growth White Paper.

The confirmed 6 were:

1) Coast to Capital
2) Kent, Greater Essex and East Sussex
3) Oxfordshire City Region
4) Solent
5) SE Midlands
6) Thames Valley Berkshire

Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are the planned replacements for Regional Development Agencies (RDA). LEPs’ role will be to provide the strategic leadership in their areas to set out local economic priorities. The partnerships, the Government claims, are central to realising the vision of an economy rebalanced towards the private sector. The Government expects LEPs to create the right environment for business and growth by tackling issues such as planning and housing, local transport and infrastructure priorities, employment and enterprise. The LEP’s will have access to the Regional Growth Fund and could have access to the land banks currently sitting with the RDA’s. They may also bring forward Accelerated Growth Zones within their areas.

For LEPs to be effective, Government has stressed that it is “vital” that business and civic leaders work together. The ministers said they believed there should be equal representation on the boards of LEPs, with a prominent business leader acting as chair. As yet there does not appear to be a formal role for the voluntary and community sector, with the LEPs being business-led, but we will keep an eye on any further developments to see if this changes.

The Government said it had been concerned that some RDA boundaries did not reflect economic areas and that it wanted LEPS to “better reflect the natural economic geography” of the areas they serve. “To be sufficiently strategic, we would expect that partnerships would include groups of upper tier authorities, but are flexible about how large they will be,” adding they would not object to LEPs being established that match an existing RDA’s area “if it is clearly the wish of business and civic leaders”. However in the South East the South East England Councils* have made it clear that they do not wish to see an LEP that covers the whole region.

Some Friends of the Earth local groups have been involved in their Local Strategic Partnerships, (LSP’s), which also face an uncertain future and as such might see LEP’s having an impact upon their work.

 Bids to form Local Economic Partnerships in the South East (links to the bid documents have been provided where possible)

1. Bexley, Dartford, and Gravesham
2. Brighton and Hove, Croydon, the Gatwick Diamond and West Sussex – Coast to Capital
3. East Sussex
4. Enterprise M3 – Covers parts of Hampshire and Surrey including Andover, Basingstoke, Aldershot, Farnborough, Fleet, Hook and Camberley
5. Gatwick Diamond
6. Hampshire
7. Kent and Medway
8. Kent-Essex
9. Oxfordshire City Region (link to draft submission)
10. Solent
11. Surrey Connects
12. Thames Valley Berkshire
13. Thames Valley Buckinghamshire
14. Visitor Economy Southern England

At the current time there is patchy detail about these bids as they have only recently been submitted to Government for consideration, however we expect more information to be announced which we imagine will either result in the Partnership developing its own website or linking to the relevant local authority websites. Details of the bids should appear on the Department for Business Innovation and Skills website:

A parliamentary briefing on LEPS can be found here and you can read an article which lists all 56 bids from potential LEPs, received by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills here:

* South East England Councils (SEEC) was established in April 2009 to promote the views and interests of local government in our area. It has near universal membership of the 74 unitary, county, district and borough councils across the South East. For more see: http://www.secouncils.gov.uk/

Information from the Treasury on the Budget impacts on the South East. These include:
- Support for business, including by extending the enhanced loss relief for an additional year and expanding HMRC’s Business Payment Support Service, increasing capital allowances for new investment to 40 per cent for one year, and establishing a £750 million Strategic Investment Fund to support advanced industrial projects of strategic importance.
- An additional £1.7 billion will be set aside for the Department for Work and Pensions over the next two years to ensure Jobcentre Plus and Flexible New Deal capacity is in place to respond effectively to rising unemployment and additional support for the long term unemployed, building on the extra support now available to those unemployed for over 6 months. The package will offer a guaranteed job, training or placement to 18-24 years olds who have been unemployed for 12 months. In February 2009, there were over 40,900 people aged 18-24 claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in the South East.
- An additional payment of £100 to households with someone aged 80 or over and £50 to households with someone aged 60 or over, to be paid alongside the Winter Fuel Payment in 2009-10. In the South East, this will benefit 1,230,000 households, of which 320,000 households contain someone aged 80 or over.
- A £600 million fund to unlock stalled housing sites and provide a kick-start to house-building to deliver up to an additional 10,000 homes in England.
As part of this, to stimulate housing development in the South East,funding will be made available to local authorities in the region for construction of new social homes to higher energy efficiency standards.
- £375 million over the next two years for energy and resource efficiency in business, public buildings and households. For the South East this package will mean that energy efficiency is improved in: 15000 homes; an estimated 500 public buildings, including schools and hospitals; and through an estimated 450 loans to businesses.
This April, the Government has also introduced changes to tax and benefits that mean that:
- 2,940,000 basic rate tax payers in the South East will be £145 better off;
- Increases to the child element of Child Tax Credit of £75 above indexation will benefit around 400,000 families in the South East;
- The introduction of the new £190 health in pregnancy grant will benefit the estimated 100,000 mothers to be in the South East this year; and
- The 5% increase in the basic State Pension, along with the £60 payment made at the beginning of the year, mean that the South East’s 1.5 million pensioners will be better off.
The Pre Budget report announced changes to help the economy. And these are now delivering. For the South East, 17,650 businesses have benefited from being able to spread payments of tax, and the enterprise finance guarantee scheme has ensured that viable SME’s continue to access finance they require in the South East.
The Pre Budget Report also announced that £3 billion of capital expenditure would be brought forward to 2008/9 and 2009/10. Already this has meant that in the South East:
o 3400 homes have received grants under the Warm Front programme to improve energy efficiency;
o 19 higher education institutions have benefited from further investment; and
o 400 homes have been improved under the decent homes programme.
Quotes:
Jonathan Shaw, Regional Minister for the South East, said “The 2009 Budget demonstrates the Government’s firm support for every business and individual across the South East region. This Budget sets out measures to continue to support the economy through these difficult times, and over the medium term, to ensure the sustainability of the public finances.”
Yvette Cooper, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said
“This Budget is about jobs in the South East region, helping people and businesses right now. It also prepares the South East for the recovery – encouraging business investment, developing a low carbon economy and promoting a fairer society. “