From RDAs to LEPs: A New Localism? Case Examples of West Midlands and Yorkshire

Abstract

The new Coalition Government formed in May 2010 in the UK is to abolish Regional Development Agencies and, in the name of a ‘new localism’, is to replace them with Local Enterprise Partnerships, ‘joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities to promote local economic development’. This article looks at the proposals for LEPs, in the light of theories of governance. It explores the case examples of the West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside, where there have been differing proposals for region-wide LEPs. It argues that far from localism, the move to set up LEPs is profoundly ant-regionalist and is re-centralisation in disguise, given that many economic development functions are being taken back to Whitehall. That problem of recentralisation, we suggest, risks being exacerbated by a fragmentation of LEPs into small territorial units, and a lack of resources.

Leadership and systems of governance: the constraints on the scope for leadership of place-based development in sub-national territories

“…Prior to their abolition in 2012, the role and function of the RDAs was prescribed in legislation, and they were subject to an onerous targetry regime, characteristic of a 'New Centralist' system of governance. In contrast LEPs, which are voluntary organizations -many of which possess no legal personality (as of December 2015) -were not conferred any statutory functions (BENTLEY et al, 2010). Ministers proclaimed that the absence of a statutory framework would provide LEPs with the freedom to act and keep them 'free' from bureaucratic practices; ostensibly reflecting a localist agenda.…”

“…AYRES and STAFFORD, 2014;HENDERSON, 2015) so will not be recounted here. LEPs are voluntary '[j]oint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities themselves to promote local economic development' (HM GOVERNMENT, 2010, p. 10), typically involving two or more contiguous principal local authorities (BENTLEY et al, 2010). Indeed, dual LEP membership of some local authorities has produced overlapping LEP geographies, as central government originally set the conditionality that LEP geographies ought to align with the theoretical principles of functional economic areas (PUGALIS and TOWNSEND, 2014).…”

Local industrial strategy and skills policy in England: Assessing the linkages and limitations – a case study of the Sheffield City Deal

“…Their introduction was simultaneously associated with a movement of some additional power and responsibilities to local areas but also the centralising of some functions previously held by the RDAs, including aspects of inward investment, innovation and SME development policies (Bentley et al, 2010;Hildreth and Bailey, 2010). More generally the closure of the RDAs has been associated with a significant reduction in resources for economic development activities, creating doubts about their ability to drive local growth (Hayman, 2012;Payne and Keep, 2011).…”

From Provider to Enabler of Care? Reconfiguring Local Authority Support for Older People and Carers in Leeds, 2008 to 2013

“…Local-regional economic and social planning and investment arrangements were also changed, via the Public Bodies Act 2011, which abolished the English Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), including Yorkshire Forward, based in Leeds. The new Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), which replaced RDAs (focused on the Leeds City Region in Leeds), had a stronger emphasis on economic than on social issues (Bentley, Bailey, & Shutt, 2010;Hildreth & Bailey, 2013).…”