Wanted: business brains to help Humber region go for growth

The LEP is a business-led partnership between local companies, councils and Hull University, with the task of leading economic growth in the Humber.

It was approved by the Government in June following months of political wrangling over its size.

Since then, the LEP has bid for one of the largest enterprise zones in the country, which will create around 5,000 jobs. It has also won £177,000 of Government funding towards its activities after local organisations pledged to contribute £57,500 of their own funds.

Over the coming months the LEP will develop a strategy to attract more major renewables companies to invest in the city region. This will include looking at how to raise skill levels, improve the area’s infrastructure and co-ordinate new marketing and promotional activity to increase awareness of the Humber brand overseas.

Since June, the LEP has been run by an interim board, but it is now looking to appoint a permanent chairman and private sector board members to drive the organisation’s work over the next few years.

Fifteen senior private sector representatives are being sought: eight for the LEP board, which operates across the Humber, and seven for the North Bank sub-board which addresses issues affecting Hull, the East Riding and Scarborough, including a chairman.

Interim chairman John Clugston said: “The Humber LEP has had two major successes in its first two months. We pushed the boundaries of what the Government said it had to offer LEPs and we got everything we asked for. We may have started later than most LEPs, but in the last two months, with the interim board’s guidance, we have caught up and now we are pressing ahead.

He added: “The LEP needs our most passionate and creative businesspeople to lead it through the next few years and ensure that the Humber rises to the challenge.”

Details on how to apply for the board places can be found at www.humberlep.org. The deadline is September 23.