South: Thames Valley Berkshire LEP submits economic plan

Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has submitted its Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) to government, which establishes an overarching priority to secure better access to talented people and bright ideas, and to use both more effectively. This will lead to a sustained average growth rate – in real terms – of around 3% per annum.

The development of the Plan has been enterprise-led with significant inputs from corporates and smaller companies. It has also been shaped by the education, public and community sectors in Thames Valley Berkshire, and been refined after both a professionally-managed survey of 1,000 local businesses and discussions with constituency MPs. It has been formally approved by all six of the unitary authorities in Thames Valley Berkshire. 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 with Whitehall.

The LEP is bidding for a portion of the government's Local Growth Fund in 2015-2016, in order to invest in improving the skills of the sub region’s current and future workforce, retaining and growing business through the ‘soft’ infrastructure, while securing more investment in connectivity and transport schemes that will enable the delivery of essential housing.

Through targeted programmes, the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP will look at improving transport and connectivity in order to unlock substantial housing sites, and in return deliver 10,700 new homes and over 21,000 new jobs; invest in ‘Solutions Labs’ to drive the skills development of the local workforce; and sustain the boost to private sector growth and innovation through the LEP's Business Growth Hub.

Further initiatives that the Plan supports include better western and southern rail access to Heathrow; semi-fast Crossrail services to Reading and electrification of the railway beyond Newbury. These, combined with a strategic approach to north-south bottlenecks such as a third Thames crossing and committed delivery of the M4 Smart Motorway Scheme, are all essential to sustain the UK’s ‘Tech Valley’ and position it for world-class business in the future.

Steve Lamb, chair of Thames Valley Berkshire LEP, commented: “The submission of our Plan marks the start of a negotiation process with Whitehall over what will be a major new investment opportunity for our sub region. 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.”

The minister for cities, the Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, said: “The Government welcomes the Strategic Economic Plan that Thames Valley Berkshire LEP has published today and looks forward to continued engagement with local civic and business leaders over the next few months on the negotiation of their Growth Deal.

“The Growth Deal provides a fantastic opportunity for Thames Valley Berkshire LEP to seek freedoms, flexibilities and influence over resources from government, and a share of the Local Growth Fund to put towards the growth priorities set out in this Strategic Economic Plan. This provides the opportunity to unleash the ambition and creativity of Thames Valley Berkshire's local leaders, by devolving resource and responsibility in return for compelling local economic leadership in pursuit of growth.”

Local Growth Deals will be announced in July 2014 and investment will begin in April 2015.