"Over the past few weeks there has been much positioning from a number of parties as to the best way forward on the development of the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the proposed successor to SEEDA.

It can be seen that there is a lack of direction from Central Government as to the make up of a LEP and also the core functions and a number of documents have come across my desk. The task of those who have written these documents is made difficult by the lack of direction on the size and the role of a LEP.

The key pointers seem to be:
A LEP must cover a "functioning economic area"
A Tier 1 Local Authority or Authorities should be included
A LEP may need to cover a population of over 1million
There must be support from the business community

In the first instance, we would look for a LEP that covers the Gatwick Diamond in it's entirety. The Diamond has never had rigid geographic boundaries so the scale of this LEP is hard to quantify.

With a suggested minimum population target, the Gatwick Diamond may not have sufficient scale to be a LEP. If that were the case, we could only support an expression of interest in a LEP that recognises the distinct identity of the Gatwick Diamond in its entirety. We can see that a larger LEP covering West Sussex, Surrey and Brighton & Hove could then recognise the 4 distinct sub-regions reflecting their economic and employment needs. These areas are:
The Gatwick Diamond
The Coastal strip
The Rural heartland
The Market towns (Centred on Guildford)

Aside from geography, there is the issue of what a LEP does. Whilst we wait for the White Paper, to my mind the focus should be on the following areas (listed in no particular order):
Connectivity
Entrepreneurship
Innovation and the Knowledge Economy
Low-carbon technologies
Skills
Transport

The overarching aim of the LEP must be to make that area a world-class business destination with a strong position on the International stage.

As always, I would welcome any comments or feedback and I trust that this note informs the debate."