Plans to divert billions of pounds from central government to the regions could be piloted in Birmingham and the surrounding area if the city’s business and civic leaders get heir way.
The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership is urging Ministers to allow it to bid for a share of a “single pot” of funding a year before the rest of the country.
It follows George Osborne’s announcement that he was accepting proposals drawn up by Lord Heseltine, a former Deputy Prime Minister, to scrap a range of policies overseen by Whitehall and make the cash available to England’s 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships, which are run by councils and business leaders, instead.
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Lord Heseltine suggested up to £70 billion over four years could be funnelled to local agencies this way, although the sum allocated by the Government could be much less, and the Chancellor will not name a figure until the Public Spending Review on June 26 at the earliest.
Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) will have to bid for funds rather than receiving them automatically, in a deliberate attempt to make them compete.
Speaking to The Birmingham Post, Andy Street, chairman of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP, said he had been urging the Government to run a pilot scheme.
He said: “There is absolutely no agreement. The current situation is everyone will go for 2015. My view is that the Government would be advised to see if a LEP could trial this for a year before.”
Mr Street said his three priorities for infrastructure in the region were HS2, the expansion of Birmingham Airport and improvements in digital connectivity.
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Meanwhile, Mr Street also revealed he would like the LEP to become known simply as the Greater Birmingham LEP – ditching Solihull from its name, although Solihull would remain a member.
He said: “The name isn’t important. The thing that really matters is we really have collaboration.
“Basically there has been squabbling in the past and we have brought it all together.
“For the long-term marketing I would like to move to Greater Birmingham.”
The LEP covers Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire. Lichfield, Redditch, Solihull, Tamworth and Wyre Forest.
Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, cast doubt on the LEP proposals when he spoke to regional newspaper journalists at Westminster, warning that the organisations lacked the capacity and democratic accountability required to manage billions of pounds of public money.
He suggested the Government would focus on providing cash through “city deals” instead, which are overseen by local authorities. Dr Cable also dismissed calls for the creation of a fixed pot of money for LEPs to bid from.
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But Lord Heseltine responded by warning the Chancellor, Mr Osborne, not to water down his proposals.
He said: “I don’t see how they can carry out what they’ve said they’re going to do without there being a figure. How can you get 39 LEPs to bid for an invisible pot? They don’t know the size of the pot; they don’t know how ambitious to be; and if they don’t know the composition of the pot they don’t know what to include in their bids.”
While a potential “Greater Birmingham” bid for funding is so far only theoretical, a bid would in practice be based on a blueprint to increase private sector jobs by 100,000 and boost the West Midlands economy by £8.2 billion by 2020, which was published last week.
The “Strategy For Growth” set out proposals, including increasing support and advice available to businesses; promoting research and development; improving skills in the region by encouraging employers to work closely with schools and colleges; improving road, rail and other transport networks, and providing better internet access.
There will be a particular focus on supporting sectors of the economy which are seen as particularly strong in the West Midlands, including advanced manufacturing, health, digital and creative industries, low carbon technology and financial services.
The aims include getting unemployment across the LEP area down to the national average level or lower by 2020, and increasing the percentage of the working-age population with a level 3 NVQ or equivalent, such as two A-levels, to the average for major cities by 2020 and above the national average by 2025.
In his Budget speech in March, Mr Osborne pledged “to give our great regional cities and other local areas much greater control over their economic destiny – and back sectors that are global successes.”