Member Article

MP hears Warrington and Cheshire plan for growth

Conservative MP Brandon Lewis met with Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) last week to discuss the area’s economic growth plans.

Mr Lewis is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

He heard from LEP representatives last Thursday about their ambitious plans for faster and more extensive economic growth in the region.

DCLG will play a key role in reviewing the LEP’s plans to ensure they can deliver the end result, and the MP found out about how Cheshire and Warrington is preparing itself for growth.

Mr Lewis said: “The Cheshire and Warrington LEP are getting investment into our communities and are playing a key role in the government’s programme to get sustainable business investment across their area.

“Not only will this drive growth and jobs but their economic ambitions will be a great support and example to other enterprise initiatives.”

Aidan Manley, the LEP’s chief executive, commented: “This was an important opportunity to demonstrate to the Minister that the LEP can be trusted with significant Government and European funding to deliver economic growth.”

Christine Gaskell MBE, LEP chair, outlined her goals to turn Cheshire and Warrington into one of England’s top three economies.

She said: “Currently, Cheshire and Warrington has the strongest performing economy in the North, based on our economic contribution per head, but that is not good enough for us, we want to be competing with the strongest economies within the UK and internationally.”

Aidan Manley added: we are focusing our growth plans on those things that we feel are most important to unlock economic growth in Cheshire and Warrington.

“For example, our businesses told us that lending remains a problem, so we have prioritised access to finance to help them to get the money that they need to grow.

“We are aware that we need to keep our goods moving which is why transport remains a priority for us.

“We also recognise that there needs to be support for our businesses in areas such as exporting, training and development of staff and expansion, which is why we are developing our strong support offer available to businesses in the sub-region.”

He went on to say: “We know that we have to develop high quality plans to grow our economy, but we also need to make things happen at a very practical level.

“This is why it was important for the Minister to hear first-hand from developers Morris Homes and Square One Lifestyle Homes Limited, who are looking to receive support from the LEP to build new homes, through our Growing Places Fund.”

Alan Barton, director of Square One Lifestyle Homes Ltd, said: “It was excellent for us, as a new business, to have the opportunity to explain to the Minister the challenges that we’ve faced in getting our business moving.

“The banks didn’t want to know us, as a new business looking to deliver new homes at a genuinely affordable price. The LEP has stepped in through Growing Places Fund and we are hopeful that we will soon secure the funding we need to get on site and start building.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .