South: Thames Valley Berkshire LEP submits ambitious Strategic Economic Plan for growth
Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has submitted its draft Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) to Government.
The SEP is the first of its kind in that it has been developed by a truly multi-sector partnership and thus represents a broad view of the sub regional economy, its potential and the associated risks the economy faces, including global competition.
Not only is the plan widely endorsed by a comprehensive group of multi-sector partners, but it is also the first time that an organisation will be able to negotiate a deal - a share of the Government’s £2 billion Single Local Growth Fund - with Whitehall over the future investment needs of Thames Valley Berkshire.
SEPs are multi-year plans through which the new landscape of 39 LEPs will compete with each other, while combining to drive economic growth nationally. In this regard Thames Valley Berkshire is uniquely placed to send a compelling message to central government about the return that the sub regional economy makes to the Exchequer year on year.
Consultation on the draft Thames Valley Berkshire SEP is now open until February 7, and the plan can be viewed at: thamesvalleyberkshire.co.uk/Strategic_Economic_Plan.
The draft Thames Valley Berkshire SEP establishes an overarching priority to secure better access to talented people and bright ideas, and to use both more effectively. It asserts that this can be achieved by improving the skills of the current and future workforce; retaining the businesses in Thames Valley Berkshire and growing new ones through the best ‘soft’ infrastructure in the UK; while securing more investment in the ‘hard’ infrastructure that is so critical for an economy second only in output to the whole of London.
The draft plan aims to:
- Inspire the next generation and build aspirations and ambition
- Ensure that economic potential is not restricted by labour supply issues
- Ensure that knowledge is effectively commercialised and grown within Thames Valley Berkshire
- Make Thames Valley Berkshire’s towns genuine hubs in the ideas economy
Steve Lamb, chairman of the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP, commented: “The submission of our draft plan marks the start of a negotiation process with Whitehall over what will be a major new investment opportunity for our sub region.
“Thames Valley Berkshire generates an economic output of around £30b, which accounts for just over 2% of the national economy. The aim of the SEP is to seek a significant proportion of the ‘pot’ to enable us to drive our economy to even greater heights. We are committing – through our SEP – to deliver an uplift of around £700 million by 2020, so our Gross Value Added (GVA) will be £32.4b, £700m higher than our baseline projection for 2020 of £31.7b.
“We need our businesses to reinvest confidently in Thames Valley Berkshire and we want government to support us in our commitment to boost the local economy and further increase the scale of the net contribution we already make to the UK Exchequer.”
Thames Valley Berkshire’s draft plan drives other funding streams bids, such as the EU Structural and Investment Funds, Growing Places Fund, future rounds of the Regional Growth Fund and the Thames Valley Berkshire City Deal.
The Thames Valley Berkshire SEP is underpinned by evidence commissioned from Cambridge Econometrics and has been developed after extensive consultation that is continuing into 2014; to date over 50 stakeholder meetings have been held to get the plan to its current, advanced state.
The LEP will submit its final SEP in March 2014 with a Local Growth Deal announced in July 2014 and investment to begin in April 2015.
