The local authority leaders of the Leeds City Region have agreed to establish a Local Enterprise Partnership for the city region.
At their annual general meeting yesterday, the eleven leaders voted in favour of submitting a statement of intent to Government in response its invitation to local authorities to form partnerships that will take on certain roles and responsibilities currently undertaken by regional development agencies.
The proposed Local Enterprise Partnership will draw on the existing Leeds City Region partnership arrangements but will provide for greater collaboration with business.
Leaders agreed that further detailed work would be undertaken to develop the proposal, which will identify opportunities for taking on greater powers and further responsibilities.
It was also agreed at the meeting that Councillor Stephen Houghton, leader of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, would become chair of the existing partnership and be interim chair of the new Local Enterprise Partnership until such time as an independent chair can be appointed.
Councillor Houghton said:
“City region leaders have taken the decision to develop a local enterprise partnership for the city region on the basis that this is the level at which our businesses operate and communities live their day to day lives.
"We have a strong track record of working together across boundaries over the past six years and we look forward to working with business in the coming months to develop a joint approach to driving growth and rebalancing our economy”.