LEP calls for input to help shape Leeds City Region Local Industrial Strategy
This new strategy will focus on helping businesses grow and become more productive, reducing carbon emissions and enabling everyone in the region to benefit from a strong economy.
30 July 2019
The Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (the LEP) is asking for feedback from businesses, other organisations and individuals to help shape the region’s Local Industrial Strategy.
This new strategy will focus on helping businesses grow and become more productive, while also reducing carbon emissions and enabling everyone in the region to feel the benefits of a strong economy through inclusive growth.
In order to develop this strategy, the LEP has brought together evidence on the City Region’s economic performance. This evidence examines the City Region’s business environment, how innovative the region’s business are, the make-up of skills across our workforce, and the state of the region’s infrastructure.
To make sure the Local Industrial Strategy is addressing the issues that matter most to the region’s businesses, employers and residents, the LEP is now calling for feedback on its evidence.
Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of the LEP and of the influential NP11 group of local enterprise partnerships across the North, said:
“Leeds City Region is a near £70 billion regional economy and we have the size and scale to play a leading role in the UK’s future competitiveness and prosperity.
“Our region nevertheless faces challenges, with too many people still struggling to make ends meet.
“If we could boost the region’s productivity to the national average, that would represent an extra £11 billion a year to the region, bringing with it more better paid jobs. This Local Industrial Strategy is our region’s opportunity to reshape our economy for the future and ensure everyone feels the benefits of a stronger, cleaner, more productive economy.”
The LEP has developed an online survey, giving respondents the potential to directly influence the findings and priorities of the Local Industrial Strategy. The survey is available at: yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/LIS. The LEP is also holding a series of town hall events with councils across the region, where local partners can discuss what the Local Industrial Strategy will mean in their area.
There will be a second opportunity for people to have a say on the draft Local Industrial Strategy in the autumn, with the final strategy expected to be submitted to Government by the end of the year.
In developing the Local Industrial Strategy the LEP is working closely with the neighbouring York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Enterprise Partnership to maximise opportunities across the whole of North and West Yorkshire.
All local enterprise partnerships in England have been asked to produce a local industrial strategy for their area, setting out how they will boost productivity and respond to four ‘grand challenges’ identified in the Government’s national Industrial Strategy White Paper. These are the effects of data and AI, adapting to the needs of an ageing society, clean growth, and the future of mobility through zero emission and autonomous vehicles.