Member Article

North East needs to size up the competition

The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) published its strategy for growth last week. What has this got to do with us, I hear you ask?

Well, along with the country’s other city regions, Greater Birmingham and Solihull will be our main competitors over the next few years and this document sets out their local economic development plan.

It brings together a consensus of private and public sectors with the third sector, universities and colleges as partners. GBSLEP has gained a reputation as one of the country’s most forward-thinking LEPs and their key strategic ‘enablers’ sound very familiar:

Growing the number of successful businesses.

Building sectors strengths and opportunities.

Stimulating innovation in products, services and businesses.

Improving skills pool talent.

Improving physical and digital connectivity.

Optimising physical, cultural and environmental assets.

In my opinion, there is not a great deal of difference between that and the strategy of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP). Which is a concern, especially during what I heard described recently as a period of economic growth going at a glacial pace. The problem is that it seems there will be little to differentiate our region from the competition like Birmingham and the other city regions striving to achieve growth. So how do we place the North East in a position where it can achieve fast-pace economic growth?

It is the words ‘consensus’ and ‘partnership’ in the Birmingham LEP strategy that caught my attention. These are also words that have been synonymous with Greater Manchester and the success they have enjoyed over the past 20 or so years. It is a period in which we as a region have been more concerned with political rivalry and micro issues, rather than considering what is in the best interests us all.

This may seem unfair in the light of the announcement to establish a North East combined authority, but apart from warm words that the members of the NELEP are working well together and there is consensus, we have not yet seen any tangible delivery. I called last week for the establishment of a regional marketing group that can help pave the way for the marketing tasks of the combined authority when established. This has a resonance with the business community.

The chartered surveying firms in the region, despite being strong competitors with each other, have formed a consensus and are committed to working together to help the region.

For example, they have called for and offered support to set up a database of strategic sites and premises with seven councils and the NELEP. How can you market the region to potential inward investors without knowing the quality and availability of the stock? They have also called for a combined marketing effort for the whole region which can be mounted nationally and abroad.

Of course, it’s not just chartered surveyors; other organisations which made submissions to the North East Economic Commission (the Adonis Report) have called for such a combined approach. It is this consensus and partnership that is needed to push on with our drive for economic growth.

A threat to all of these plans emerged in the form of Vince Cable last week, who questioned the viability of LEPs and called for the delivery of economic growth and jobs through each council. This will set us back years. We need stability whatever the organisation that exists until we have the luxury of seeking further change. I ended last week’s column with a question about leadership – this week I will add a call to drive forward without delay and to differentiate us from our competition.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kevan Carrick .