11. Our Journey - June to Dec 2010 29 June August 6 Sept 28 Oct 10 Nov 24 Nov Government invites LEPs proposals Business events to Identify priorities LEP Submission Made LEP approved Cannock Chase Joins 1st Meeting Development Board Bromsgrove Joins
12. January to March 2011 18 Jan 31 Jan 10 Feb 24 Feb 28 Mar 31 Mar Greater Birmingham & Solihull name agreed LEP “endorses” RGF1 bids Closing Date for Board Recruitment Redditch and Wyre Forest Join Bid submitted to LEP Capacity Fund Communications strategy agreed Planning and Business Support working groups established Decision to establish LEP as a Company limited by guarantee Decision to create an integrated employment & skills structure
13. April 2011 onwards 7 April 12 April 18 April 21 April April - May May Andy Street Chair of LEP Board RGF Round 2 launched Decision to submit Expression of Interest for Enterprise Belt LEP Board Members announced LEP RGF Round 2 briefings LEP Website launch Successful RGF Round 1 bids announced Decision to locate Enterprise Zone in Birmingham
14. Regional Growth Fund and Enterprise Zones Jerry Blackett Chief Executive of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group
Professor David Eastwood, Vice-Chancellor, University of Birmingham has agreed to be the University and Colleges representative
Andy will be Chair from 1 st May First Board meeting will be in June The Business Board Members will be joined by the Leaders of Birmingham, Bromsgrove (representing the three North Worcestershire LAs), Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Solihull and Tamworth and David Eastwood from University of Birmingham
29 June 2010 Government invites all areas across England (except London) to submit proposals for LEPs based on “functional economic geography” August 2010 Business events held across the Birmingham, Solihull and southern Staffordshire to help to identify priorities for inclusion in a LEP submission 6 Sept 2010 Submission made for a Birmingham, Solihull, East Staffordshire, Lichfield and Tamworth LEP 28 Oct 2010 Government approves the LEP 10 Nov 2010 Cannock Chase joins the LEP 24 Nov 2010 First meeting of Development Board 24 Nov 2010 Bromsgrove joins the LEP
18 Jan 2011 LEP agrees the name Greater Birmingham and Solihull 18 Jan 2011 LEP communications strategy agreed 31 Jan 2011 LEP “strongly endorses” two RGF1 bids – JLR and National FA Centre in Burton and supports 10 others including A45 24 Feb 2011 Redditch and Wyre Forest join the LEP Feb 2011 Working groups established to create integrated, business friendly planning arrangements across the LEP and to design business support services for the LEP 28 March 2011 Decision to create an integrated employment and skills structure across the LEP 28 March 2011 Decision to establish the LEP as a company limited by guarantee 31 March 2011 Bid submitted to LEP Capacity Fund for funding research into high growth sectors and to strengthen business engagement
7 April 2011 Andy Street appointed the Chair of the LEP’s Board proper, to take up position on 1 May 12 April 2011 Government announces two successful RGF Round 1 bids relevant to the LEP – a £70m proposal by JLR for engineering skills and a £16m proposal to remodel the A45 to enable the runway extension to take place 18 April 2011 Decision to locate an Enterprise Zone in Birmingham and to submit an expression of interest for an Enterprise Belt in the remainder of the LEP Decision to use revenues from the Zone and Belt to fund investment in projects across the LEP 21 April 2011 LEP Board Members announced April / May LEP RGF Briefings May LEP Website launched June First LEP Board Meeting
Process. Still unclear how decisions made. Not infrastructure-led but see A45 success but Longbridge not agreed. Expected a good % will not pass due diligence phase. Over-allocated at £450 million. Expecting only £300 million will survive. West Mids bids in addition to ours agreed were: -Alstom Grid UK, Staffs - £4 million -Bosch Thermotechnology Ltd. £17.8 million -Prince’s Regeneration Trust – Stoke.
Main bidding round. Opened on 12th April and closes 1st July. A 3rd round may follow but will be very small and aim to mop-up any funds uncommitted from Rounds 1 and 2. Criteria. LEP's expected both to bid into fund and to co-ordinate bids. LEP endorsement of bids will be welcomed. Issue for the LEP will be how it handles any bids it wishes to make in its own name if these bids then compete with bids from elsewhere. Criteria on web site attempts to learn lessons from Round 1. Projects etc. bids will be accepted from private sector bodies and public sector partnerships. Funding will support a mixture of direct support for private sector investments and support for some basic infrastructure that removes barriers to private sector growth. An example in the guidance relates to joining-up a series of activities to increase impact e.g. skills development alongside housing supply alongside infrastructure. Main point is that the infrastructure needs tom open the potential of the site to create jobs in RGF timescale. So not speculative developments. Bids must be able to demonstrate funds will create long-term growth/jobs/investment. It won’t support speculative developments. Projects need to unlock private sector jobs growth, particularly where there has been over-dependence upon public sector jobs. Programmes that demonstrate meeting objectives of RGF and LEP strategic priorities. For example, a prog bid could include new jobs and skills; support housing growth and deliver transport needs all under one bid. Application process . New Expression of Interest phase – bidders may submit a project outline and seek a meeting with BIS to clarify aspects of the proposal. EOI’s need to be submitted to BIS by 1st June.
Dates confirmed so far include 5th May in Burton and 9th May in Cannock.
The essential features of Enterprise Zones are: 1. FINANCIAL/PLANNING INCENTIVES: A 100 per cent business rate discount worth up to £275,000 over a five year period for businesses moving in to an EZ Government and local authorities to develop radically simplified planning approaches in the EZ Possibility of enhanced capital allowances for plant and machinery where there is a strong focus on manufacturing 2. SUPERFAST BROADBAND Government support to ensure that superfast broadband is rolled out throughout the EZ, with a suggestion that this may include Government funding 3. FINANCIAL AND OTHER INCENTIVES FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES All business rates growth within the zone for a period of at least 25 years will be retained by the local authorities to enable the LEP to deliver its economic priorities Ability to use Tax Increment Finance to fund major infrastructure investment Possibility of UKTI support for inward investment or trade opportunities in the zone 4. INFORMED BY LESSONS FROM THE 1980s EZS 1980s Enterprise Zones did regenerate some areas of dereliction. However, the extent of derelict land today is much smaller, and capital expenditure to improve derelict land is too expensive in an age of austerity 1980s Enterprise Zones did not deliver a high number of additional new jobs – most jobs in them were existing jobs displaced from other areas 1980s Enterprise Zones were expensive due to upfront costs on land and infrastructure and forgone tax revenues 1980s Enterprise Zones pushed demand around the economy by incentivising firms to move to lagging areas. In doing so, the government ignored “agglomeration economies” arising in the major cities and city regions Many of the benefits of the 1980s Enterprise Zones were captured by property owners rather than by local areas. Capital allowances and business rate allowances were the major mechanisms for attracting firms, and went to many landowners and developers for constructing commercial property 1980s Enterprise Zones were often created in areas which offered only a limited chance of long-term success In the 1980s, urban and accessible zones created more jobs than rural zones. 5. FOCUS ON OPPORTUNITY The current Government has learnt from these lessons. Its proposals Focus the initial zones on the major cities and city regions as drivers of growth Focus on areas of genuine economic opportunity Aim to minimise business and job displacement Aim at a high level of “clean land” with limited regeneration costs Do not include capital allowance on land and buildings, but focus financial incentives (business rates relief) on the businesses occupying the land and buildings
EZ AS PART OF A WIDER STRATEGY The Enterprise Zone / Enterprise Belt proposal is part of a wider economic and spatial strategy for the LEP that comprises * GROWTH AREAS Generating economic growth across the whole LEP by exploiting the distinctive economic strengths of each area through the Enterprise Zone / Enterprise Belt proposal * CONNECTED TO THE LEP AND TO NATIONAL AND WORLD MARKETS Creating world class LEP connectivity to national, European and global markets through the New Street station redevelopment, the airport runway extension, HS2 and accelerated roll out of superfast broadband; A local transport package that will connect the towns of southern Staffordshire and northern Worcestershire to the LEP’s key transport hubs in Birmingham and Solihull, will support development in the Enterprise Zone and Enterprise Belt, and will improve connectivity generally within the LEP; * WITH A COMPREHENSIVE BUSINESS SUPPORT SERVICE A comprehensive business support service including simplified planning systems, access to finance, and support for innovation and exporting. 2. BIRMINGHAM CHOSEN BECAUSE OF INVESTMENT AND JOBS POTENTIAL The LEP’s partners unanimously selected Birmingham for the EZ for a number of reasons: The enormous potential for growth in private sector investment and jobs 1.5 million sq metres of floorspace including over 500,000 sq metres of office space with an economic value of £2.1 billion per year, and generating 50,000 jobs The city centre already has well advanced plans for the areas in the EZ, and much of the potential development already has planning permission The areas proposed by the City Council are the five, including the Science Park, identified by the Parkinson study as having growth potential There is significant supporting infrastructure already under construction or proposed - the High Speed 2 rail terminus, New Street Station redevelopment, the City Centre Midland Metro Line 1 Extension from Snow Hill to New Street, the Library of Birmingham, the City Park and multi-storey car park, Birmingham City University campus adjacent to Millennium Point in Eastside, and Digital District (the roll out of next generation broadband) 3. AND ITS REVENUE CONTRIBUTION TO THE LEP’S WIDER STRATEGY The EZ will generate Up-lift in business rates of up to £70m per annum, to be retained by the LEP for at least 25 years for investment in growth across the LEP 4. TO BE FOLLOWED BY A BID FOR AN ENTERPRISE BELT The LEP is fortunate in that all of its local authorities have areas within them that can generate private investment and business and jobs growth The LEP Development Board has agreed to exploit this potential by following the identification of the Birmingham Enterprise Zone with a submission to the Government for an Enterprise Belt covering the remainder of the LEP The proposals developed by the local authorities indicate that this Belt could generate as much economic and jobs growth as the Birmingham EZ, and similar amounts of revenue for investment in further growth across the LEP
NEXT STEPS 26/04/2011 – SUBMISSION OF BIRMINGHAM EZ PROPOSAL TO GOVERNMENT The Government will need to agree the LEP’s choice of the Birmingham EZ. No deadline has been given, but Government officials have indicated that it should not be delayed until the LEP Board proper is in place, suggesting that they want to move forward quickly in developing the EZ in detail 30/04/2011 - SUBMISSION OF BID FOR ENTERPRISE BELT The LEP will prepare, by the end of April deadline, a submission to the Government for a second EZ – the Enterprise Belt The EZ and E belt are regarded as a single package for growth across the LEP, and part of the wider strategy referred to earlier 31/03/2012 - DEVELOP SIMPLIFIED PLANNING ARRANGEMENTS By the end of march 2012 the LEP needs to have developed simplified planning arrangements for the EZ and E Belt through the preparation of Local Development Orders Birmingham City Council has drafted some initial proposals for simplifying the planning process in the Zone and Belt, and the LEP has a working group looking at developing a business friendly planning system across the whole LEP 31/03/2012 – FRAMEWORK FOR DISCOUNTED BUSINESS RATES Agreement on a LEP wide framework for discounted business rates in the EZ / E Belt This framework will specify how the discounted rate system will work, and which businesses will be eligible 31/03/2012 – DETAILED PLANS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE There will be a need to develop detailed plans for the individual projects and sites included within the Zone and Belt, although much of this work has already been undertaken The LEP’s working groups on local transport infrastructure and business support will also need to develop detailed proposals that link into the Enterprise Zone and Belt proposals, so that the whole forms an integrated strategy for growth and connectivity 31/03/2012 – FINANCIAL MECHANISM FOR LEP TO HOLD ALL REVENUES Finally, by the time the Zone (and hopefully the Belt as well) go live in April 2013, the LEP will need to have in place financial arrangements so that the revenue from the EZ and E Belt can be retained and managed by the LEP Work is currently underway to prepare an economic strategy - incorporating the Zone, Belt and local transport infrastructure projects – and this will be the basis for the location and phasing of infrastructure investment using the revenues from the Zone and Belt
A summary of the headline survey results has been provided in your packs Respondents were asked to indicate the level of importance for each of the LEP’s agreed priorities in relation to the LEPs two missions: Creating an Enterprise Culture Top 5 activities: skills; access to funding; innovation; regulatory burdens; business support Investing in Infrastructure Top 4 activities: inward investment; investment in key areas (e.g. Longbridge / Eastside); digital connectivity; transport (Number 5 was low carbon economy but that was much lower down the scale) The majority of the respondents said that they would be happy to support the LEP Involvement in a LEP Business Forum; participation in a consultative forum to develop and/or test ideas; and providing expertise on specific issues were the highest ranked
Having listened to feedback from the business events in the summer, the Stakeholder Survey and other engagement work, 5 priority areas have been identified to help deliver our vision: Supporting our businesses (business support; reducing regulation- through developing a flagship working relationship with the Local Better Regulation Office; pro-business planning regimes; access to finance). Supporting innovation and high growth companies (targeted support to include mentoring and coaching; smart use of public procurement; green innovation). Skills (Demand (employer) led-skills approach; apprenticeships) Connecting the LEP internally and to the world (Airport Runway Extension; integrated transport planning; Next Generation Broadband). Infrastructure (Development of key assets to include National FA Centre; unlock investment through Enterprise Zones).
Business Support to date has amounted to over £150k. Examples include: hosting meetings at business premises e.g. Development Board Meetings at Unimerco in Lichfield; Birmingham Airport; Wragge and Co providing expert advice , e.g. PwC’s pro-bono consultancy to create the LEP’s Communications Strategy contributing staff time and other pro-bono resources , e.g. KPMG seconding staff to assisting in the drafting of the original LEP submission working with the LEP to develop key programmes, e.g. JLR’s successful RGF submission to boost skilled employees
2 Key Questions to answer Facilitator on each table who will lead the discussion
