Partnerships hope to continue enterprise across region

Leaders in the Leeds City Region – the local authorities in and around Yorkshire's biggest city – have decided to form a local enterprise partnership, while councils in and around Sheffield have agreed to form another one.

The partnerships – which will be led by boards of councillors and business leaders – will be set up in place of regional development agencies and charged with bridging the North-South divide amid a coalition Government onslaught against quangos and regional institutions. Further partnerships are expected to be set up for the Humber area and North Yorkshire.

Chief executive of Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce Gary Williamson said: "Many strategies for economic development have already been introduced as part of the Leeds City Region partnership, but above all it is a functional economic area, which for business is most important.

"Businesses very rarely limit their sales and aspirations to the tightly drawn local authority boundaries. It is a good day for sensible decision making and the chamber will play a full role in what should be a business-led partnership."

The first agreements to set up local enterprise partnerships come amid continuing pressure to set up a powerful pan-Yorkshire business-focused organisation to operate as well after Yorkshire Forward is abolished.

Detailed proposals for both a regional organisation and the local enterprise partnerships – which could request more powers from Ministers – will be drawn up over the summer and presented to the Government.

A White Paper is set to be published in September setting out in more detail how the Government thinks the partnerships will work, and councils have been given a deadline of September for their proposals. Ministers have not yet revealed how much of Yorkshire Forward's 230m funding will be available to local enterprise partnerships.

Barnsley Council leader Steve Houghton, whose authority is set to be part of both the Leeds and Sheffield City Region partnerships, which will have economic powers and responsibilities previously done by Yorkshire Forward, welcomed the agreements to develop more local organisations but warned there must be a region-wide organisation as well. He said: "We support a regional body because we do think there are functions that need to be carried out – things like business support, tourism – at regional level."