This afternoon our LEP Board made the decision to comply with the Government guidelines around LEP geographies as laid out in the 2018 white paper, ‘Strengthening Local Enterprise Partnerships’. The Government guidelines state that LEPs will not retain any overlapping boundaries with other LEPs. With Humber LEP and Leeds City Region LEP also agreeing to meet with these guidelines, the new geographic footprint of the LEP will be York and North Yorkshire. From 1 April 2020, the York, North Yorkshire & East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership will become the York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership. The preference of the YNYER LEP Board had been to retain overlapping boundaries with our partners in Leeds City Region and the Humber. We have had many years of successful partnership and collaboration that have bought benefits to the people in all three areas. However, with Yorkshire Devolution ambitions progressing, the complexity of merger and the timescales available, it makes pragmatic sense to align LEP geographies with the potential devolution geographies. Our focus now is to ensure that we continue the successful collaboration we have enjoyed over many years, so that we can all benefit from the economies of scale available with a pan-regional approach. We want every place across our region to benefit, and for those people and businesses in areas with links to the west, east – and indeed south and north, of our region to be able to take full advantage of the opportunities that close ties with our neighbours will afford. We will work flat out to ensure that our Local Industrial Strategy is approved by Government and that our strong commitment to local partnership delivers a significant contribution to a re-levelling of the North and a balancing of urban and rural economies. We are aware of the uncertainty that may come with an announcement such as this. We are hugely committed to working closely with all of you to ensure that your perspectives are heard and represented in future strategy and investment plans. We have prepared below some information around some key areas of enquiry. We will be in close communication will all of our partners over the coming weeks, however, we warmly invite you to contact us directly should you have any immediate questions or concerns. What is the timeline of activity between now and April 1^st? YNYER and LCR LEPs have Board meetings in March, which will be their last under the current geographies. Between now and March, work will be completed on the collaboration agreements with both Leeds City Region and Humber LEP, which will set out plans for future working and investments. See point below. What does continued collaboration and partnership look like? We are currently developing proposals for collaboration – partners in currently overlapping areas are part of these discussions. The key principles will be:

• Ensuring existing investments are unaffected
• Creating a joint board to develop investment plans to reflect the links between the LCR region and York & North Yorkshire LEP areas.
• Identifying where scale is beneficial and a work programme across those areas
• Ensuring a clear, simple message to business around growth and business support.

What happens to existing LCR and Humber projects for those in the overlap area? As part of our strong partnership working we can confirm that existing investments will not be affected by the change. This means;

• Capital investments funded through Leeds City Region, but located in York, Harrogate, Selby and Leeds;  and
• Capital investments in East riding of Yorkshire but funded through York, Yorkshire & East Riding LEP will continue as planned.
• Business Support will continue as currently delivered through to the end of the contracts in March 2021.
• EU Funded projects, whether business or skills will continue unaffected to their expiry.

Beyond 2021 we are working to increase and improve the joint working to ensure business across all areas receive a consistent, high quality offer. What will happen at MIPIM next year? Northern Powerhouse is increasing its partnership and collaboration at MIPIM in 2020 to capitalise on the strength of the North. This will be integrated alongside the presence of the core cities including Leeds City Region. We are working with Northern Powerhouse to further increase the collaboration for next year and to ensure the whole of the North can benefit from exposure. Fundamental to success at MIPIM is the availability of investible sites at the required scale. Where these sites exist, we will work with local partners, Northern Powerhouse and our neighbouring City LEPs of Leeds, Humber and Tees Valley to identify how best to work together for the benefit of our sites.

Local Industrial Strategy

We’ve had a great response to our Local Industrial Strategy so far. Thanks to all those who have provided their feedback. You still have a chance to shape the future of the region. Complete our consultation by 31st January 2020.