Member Article

Who will drive the regional economy forward?

As the impending closure of One North East looms, many of the region’s commentators are looking to the gap it will leave.

In the final part of our follow up series to the Bdaily ‘State of the Region’ debate, we look at one of the most prominent themes highlighted by our panel; that is, who will drive growth in the North East?

Many deem the regional development agencies to have done some great work in motoring the regional economy, and will be sorry to see the likes of One North East disappear.

Newcastle North MP, Catherine McKinnell, said: “It is being axed at a critical time, removing more than £30m from organisations across the region, leading to substantial job losses and taking away job opportunities that would have been created.”

Catherine went on to express her hope that the LEPs could be the answer to this, but in the absence of a clear mission statement, some of our debaters raised concerns over their effectiveness.

Eminent businessman Bill Midgley commented: “A new Agency is required in the region, for the region, learning from the mistakes of the past and particularly from One North East.

“Strategies must be given time to develop not dropped after a short period.”

One of the criticism of One North East was that its broad remit could hamper the need for focused efforts.

Conservative spokesperson Anne-Marie Trevelyan suggested that this could be remedied at a grass-roots level, and dismissed the need for an over-arching agency.

She said: “We need businesses to work together to build on their strengths.”

Martin Callanan MEP warned against the creation of further bureaucracy at the expense of the taxpayer, and businesses, and offered the LEPs as a viable means of support for local business.

He commented: “Getting funding to the front line, reducing red tape and keeping the tax and interest rate burden on businesses to a minimum will stimulate the growth we need.

“We have two Local Enterprise Partnerships which have been designed to support local companies all over the North East.

“They can, and will work closely with each other where that approach makes sense.”

This sentiment was echoed by Paul Callaghan of The Leighton Group, who added: “It may be nice to sit and remember the good work of One North East, but the fact is we have two bodies under the LEPs, and that is who we must support.”

James Ramsbotham, CEO of the NECC added his optimism that the LEPs could be part of a cohesive approach to drive the regional economy.

He said: “By working with our Local Enterprise Partnerships, councils, universities, health trusts and colleges business can have a major say on shaping regional priorities and policy.

“We have the opportunity to address the issues that have stifled regional growth, whether that be our transport infrastructure, tax issues or access to finance.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .