The LEP Network

Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership is a business-led ‘partnership of equals’ between local government and the private sector, building the conditions for sustainable economic growth in Buckinghamshire. Productivity levels in Buckinghamshire are amongst the highest in the country, we react to new ideas and opportunities to support and grow our business community.

The LEP led a bid with the University of Warwick, Coventry City Council and the West Midlands Mayor, to secure Coventry as home to the £80m UK Battery Industrialisation Centre that will help the UK become a global leader in battery technology.

The LEP is supporting the UK’s first dedicated Centre for Cancer Immunology. The £25m worldleading facility will drive innovation in immunology research, strengthen the life science cluster and secure Solent as a global centre of excellence for new therapies that will cure cancer.

The LEP worked with employers and FE colleges to create a VE Passport Scheme which guarantees students work experience, a job interview or a full time job in the visitor economy. Over 200 students are benefitting from this level of support.

By transforming 6.9m sqft of commercial development within the Royal Docks, LEAP is realising a gross development value of £5.2bn. This includes an investment of £380m of LEAP funds in strategic infrastructure and connectivity, supporting a diverse and competitive economy.

The LEP backed its new Centre of Vocational Excellence with a £950K investment. The training facilities will create 20 new jobs and provide training for several hundred learners each year. Worcestershire has achieved the UK’s strongest growth in higher-level workforce skills (Joseph Rowntree Foundation).

The LEP invested £9.8m (LGF) in rail infrastructure at Ashford International Station, maintaining it as part of Europe’s high speed network. The move will safeguard approximately 1,000 jobs; catalyse massive economic and housing growth; and send strong investment signals to relocating businesses.

The LEP invested £3.9m from the LGF in the National Composites Centre for advanced production equipment. A vital part of the West of England’s economy and key to the UK Aerospace Technology Institute’s strategy to maintain and develop the UK’s £30bn aerospace industry.

The LEP’s partnership with the European Space Agency is investing £8.4m of Local Growth Fund into Goonhilly Earth Station. It will create the world’s first commercial deep-space communications station, capable of tracking future missions to Mars and the Moon.

The LEP has launched a new Marches and Mid-Wales freight strategy with the Welsh Government and partners on both sides of the English/Welsh border which aims to improve transport routes, resulting in a potential £149m boost to the regional economy.

The LEP helped drive two visionary skills projects for the region. The National College for High Speed Rail is training highly skilled engineers for the railways of the future including HS2, and Rotherham University Centre will provide higher level qualifications aligned to employers’ requirements.

Kirkstall Forge, in Leeds, received support from the LEP and Combined Authority to develop brownfield land into a sustainable urban village, with a new railway station and thriving businesses. One company, Zenith, is reinvesting in the region, sponsoring our MIPIM delegation and creating jobs.

The LEP has invested £12.88m in Space Park Leicester to develop a global hub for space research, learning and innovation that will create 200 high tech jobs and 10 new businesses in Phase One.

The LEP’s new Enterprise Zone is a vital stimulus for employment, aimed at facilitating 2,000 new jobs and attracting dozens of new businesses. It’s been developed in partnership with Dorset County Council, and Purbeck District Council, to rejuvenate the previously stalled site.

This LEP-backed £20m strategy with LA partners combines seven Nottinghamshire town centre investment projects, set to create an estimated 612 jobs and improve communities. The initiative was only made possible by a £7.6m investment via D2N2’s Local Growth Fund allocation.

The LEP has invested in advanced engineering robotics training facilities to meet the future demand for engineers. It is part of the HEAD into engineering partnership creating an educational pathway between schools, colleges, employers and training associations for prospective engineers

The LEP worked with business and local authority partners to establish a single economic strategy, underpinned by a £1bn growth programme, which will deliver over 10,000 new jobs by 2020.

The LEP led a consortium to raise £32m for a permanent structure to host the Farnborough Airshow. This strengthens the show’s impact on the UK Aerospace sector, with orders worth $124bn – £12 billion of which flows through the UK’s SME supply chain.

The LEP is the first in the country to achieve Licensed Awarding Body status for the Quality in Careers Standard. One of 12 holders nationally, the licence gives 21 local providers national validation, with a further 43 working towards validation

The LEP invested £2m of growth deal funding in advanced manufacturing centres at local colleges. The centres feature new technologies including simulated production lines. One of the centres will cater for 450 students and 1,150 apprentices on STEM apprenticeships, HNC and degree programmes.

The Business Board of the Combined Authority focuses on the future economic growth of the area, and is the custodian of the Local Industrial Strategy, along with the strategies and plans that directly support it.

The LEP worked to secure commitment from over 150 schools, colleges and organisations to deliver a new LEP-led careers education strategy. This has achieved regional impact, improved outcomes for young people, and gained national recognition from careers policy makers

The LEP committed £15.2m to five unique private sector-led projects to cement the South East Midlands’ critical position at the cutting edge of automotive testing and in shaping the future design and development of next generation transport.

The LEP reviewed its Growing Places Infrastructure Fund to increase its risk profile to make loans more attractive to businesses in Swindon & Wiltshire. The LEP has loaned £1.2m to safeguard and support 200 jobs and has a loan target of £8m for 2018/19.

Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP joint-funded a project with the Intellectual Property Office to embed intellectual property in the LEP’s innovation and business growth offering to GBS-based companies, focused on realising the value of their intellectual property as a catalyst for innovation and growth.

The LEP spearheaded the development of a key site within the Cheshire Science Corridor by facilitating a £120m investment from Europe’s largest cardboard manufacturer, Progroup. By committing £500K the LEP will also unlock five Enterprise Sites in the area.

This is a joint public/private sector initiative to create the UK’s first dedicated hub to support the growth of new cyber security businesses. The park is a key strand of economic growth for the region thanks to Growth Deal Funding of £22m.

The LEP initiated plans for a Ceramic Park in partnership with the British Ceramic Confederation based in its Enterprise Zone. This will help develop globally competitive products in a UK sector worth £2bn in annual sales and will boost exports, currently worth £550m.

The LEP has invested £4.5m Growth Deal and EU funding to initiate a pioneering partnership with the University of Hertfordshire to grow the dynamic life sciences sector in Hertfordshire. It will leverage the University’s facilities and expertise to ensure that world-class academic research is brought to market.

The LEP has invested over £1.7m of LGF money into a smart city communications and data platform to boost economic development. It will support the growing Internet of Things market for transportation, environmental monitoring, waste management, and improve the lives of those with mobility challenges.

The LEP helped to secure a nationally-significant growth deal for Oxfordshire through £215m worth of Government funding. The deal supports the delivery of around 100,000 new homes between 2011 and 2031, and commits ongoing Government support to strengthen Oxfordshire’s productive knowledge-intensive economy.

GMLEP led the Science and Innovation Audit which identified the region’s core strengths in health innovation and advanced materials, along with its fast growth opportunities which focus on the future potential of digital, energy, and industrial biotechnology

The LEP is driving investment in housing to support the biggest challenge in its region – affordable homes. Better housing is key to improving local infrastructure and vital to economic success. The latest Housing Infrastructure Fund investment of £58m into the area underpins the LEP’s approach.

The BC LEP aims to create the conditions for enterprise to flourish, resulting in greater economic prosperity across the Black Country. The area is an economic sub-region, housing over 1.19 million people, hosting 463,000 jobs and generating £21.7bn GVA per annum.

The LEP is leading a cross-LEP and business partnership, Nuclear South West, to maximise the development of Hinkley Point C and generate £55bn of nuclear opportunities for the area over the next decade.