Supplementary memorandum by Leeds City
Region (RG 68(a))
IS THERE
A FUTURE
FOR REGIONAL
GOVERNMENT?
I write in response to your letter of 17 July
2006, requesting further information on the views of the Leeds
city region in relation to the Select Committee investigation
of the "future of regional government."
Thank you for the opportunity to provide further
details, which elaborate on the points that we made to the Communities
and Local Government Committee at its hearing on 12 June 2006.
I have addressed each of your specific questions, as requested,
and trust that these help clarify the significant progress being
made in developing the Leeds City Region Partnership and the future
direction of travel in relation to driving forward enhanced economic
competitiveness and growth in the city region.
Furthermore, I hope this highlights the increasing
importance that city region partners attach to the city region
as the optimum level at which to develop interventions aimed at
increasing economic competitiveness.
1. How did you define the extent of your
city region?
The Leeds city region is geographically the
largest of the eight Northern Way City Regions. The extent of
the city region has emerged from empirical evidence of travel
to work, leisure and other indicators of a functional economic
space.
The Leeds city region has a total population
of 2.8 million people, which is over half the population of the
whole Yorkshire and Humber Region. It has a labour force of 1.4
million and is home to over 70,000 businesses. The city region
accounts for 20% of the population; 21% of the business stock
and 21% of the GVA of the three northern regions which make up
the Northern Way.
Whilst accepting the truism that any boundary
line on a map is to a degree arbitrary, the work we and others
have undertaken over several years has demonstrated unequivocally
that the "functional Leeds city region" economy extends
well beyond the boundaries of Leeds itself and beyond the boundaries
of the West Yorkshire sub region.
Research into the extent and functionality of
Leeds city region started in 1999 with the publication of "The
Economic Links between Leeds and the Yorkshire and Humber Region"
by CURDS of the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. This initial
study suggested that labour market and travel to work patterns
indicated that that there was a strong level of labour market
containment across the 10 local authority districts which make
up the city region[18].
Within these 10 districts, 95% of people both live and work within
the combined area, demonstrating the close interaction and self
containment that exists.
A key indicator of the city region's extent
and linkages are commuting patterns. The city region is characterised
by a three level labour market; strong local catchments based
on the traditional urban centres; the pull of the three cities
of Leeds, Bradford and York, which are net importers of daily
labour; and within and over the latter, the city region wide draw
of Leeds. Results from the 2001 Census show nearly 88,000 commuters
travelling into Leeds to work each day. However, more recent research
to support the review of the Leeds City Region Development Plan
shows that commuting levels are now closer to 110,000.
This initial study by CURDS stimulated our thinking
and also led to further detailed studies including; a "Leeds
and Environs Spatial Scoping Study" by Llewelyn-Davies
(2002); "The State of the City Region: An Economic, Social
and Environmental Audit of the Leeds City Region" by
the Local Futures Group (2004);and a "City Region Diagnostic"
produced by the ODPM (2004) as part of preliminary research conducted
to inform the Northern Way Growth Strategy. All these studies
further confirmed the strong economic rationale and interrelationships
within the defined Leeds city region.
Work undertaken more recently for the ODPM "A
Framework for City Regions," which explored the economic
rationale behind city region thinking and the benefits of that
level of analysis, was broadly supportive of the work we have
undertaken to arrive at our definition of the functional economic
space of the Leeds city region.
The Leeds city region therefore represents the
"true geography" of our functional economy, based on
extensive research on a range of indicators of a city's economic
footprint, including travel to work, housing and leisure patterns
as well as the realities of business supply chains and other forms
of economic interaction. The city region consists of ten local
authority districts and cuts across three existing sub regions.
The identified extent of the Leeds city region provides a practical,
accountable and functional boundary for interventions aimed at
enhancing economic growth.
2. What does the private sector bring to
the table?
The private sector brings a unique and valuable
contribution to the process of policy development and delivery.
Their extensive experience of how the "market" operates,
including financial, business and labour markets, and how businesses
and private sector investment and decisions contribute to economic
growth and development in an area, is invaluable. They provide
a "hands-on" understanding of the issues to be resolved
and the implications of policy decisions on business competitiveness
and growth covering, for example, financial regimes, incentive
regimes, labour market and skills, and spatial and transport policy.
This understanding is essential if policy makers are to both identify
the key assets for economic competitiveness and growth that need
to be supported, and the key inhibitors to growth that need to
be tackled.
The private sector is being increasingly engaged
in work on the Leeds city region. Representatives of the private
sector have been involved in various workstreams tasked with developing
the evidence base for the Leeds City Region Development Programme
(CRDP). In particular, a number of senior executives of major
private sector companies in the city region were interviewed and
contributed to a major piece of research on the potential for
the growth and development of financial and business services
in the city region. Their input was invaluable in developing a
better understanding of the growth potential of this key sector,
which is a primary driver of business competitiveness in the Leeds
city region. As city region governance arrangements are further
developed, we envisage that the private sector will play a fuller
role in the Leeds city region agenda as we move forward.
2a What are the private sector's concerns
about working at the regional level?
Discussions with the private sector in the Leeds
city region has highlighted that their main concerns relates to
the need for any form of public policy and delivery to encompass
appropriate mechanisms at the appropriate scale, which will improve
service delivery and minimise bureaucracy.
Interviews with senior executives of major private
sector companies undertaken as part of the financial and business
services research indicated that there was overwhelming support
for the city region concept. They recognised that there was a
strong economic and business rationale for looking at issues such
as economic competitiveness, labour markets and skills, transport
and commuting, and business support at the city region level.
The Leeds city region was the area at which their business and
supply chains tended to primarily operate, and from which their
labour pool was drawn. As such, they considered that coordinating
strategic activity at the Leeds city region level would help streamline
processes such as business support and incentive regimes, which
would therefore help reduce "red tape" and inefficiencies
in service delivery.
The Leeds city region spatial level therefore
has strong support as the appropriate scale for policy and delivery
to maximise economies of scale and meet the specific needs of
the private sector within the Leeds city region.
2b Are there ways in which it could be made
easier for you to work in partnership with the private sector?
What would need to change?
The current Leeds City Region Partnership is
developing ideas on how best to involve and engage with the private
sector in the city region agenda. There exist a range of business
representative groups, such as the Chambers of Commerce, Business
Links and professional networks, which tend to be either theme
specific or locality specific, and which therefore have limits
in their membership and interest. This has led to some concerns
that there are too many bodies with overlapping roles and remits.
Therefore, it is considered that there may be
benefit in transforming existing bodies or creating new bodies
that represent business, to be aligned with the Leeds city region
spatial area. These new arrangements would help both ensure that
we have a clear representative "voice(s)" of business
at the city region level, and a more robust and inclusive mechanism
for engagement with the private sector across the city region
on policy development and delivery.
The Partnership is currently working up new
structures based around the Joint Committee governance model and
has agreed the establishment of a City Region Leaders' Board with
supporting theme based Panels. The Partnership considers it imperative
that the private sector is fully incorporated within these new
structures.
3. What delivery mechanisms are already in
place, and what others are needed in order to deliver your city
region strategies effectively?
The current Partnership arrangements at the
Leeds city region level comprise the local authorities of the
10 districts along with North Yorkshire County Council, whom is
a member of the Partnership by virtue of its strategic role in
transport planning and economic development over the non-unitary
authorities involved.
The local authority Leaders formed a Partnership
in 2004 and signed up to a Concordat with a Vision to "work
together differently: to develop an internationally recognised
city region; to raise economic performance; to spread prosperity
across the whole of the city region, and to promote a better quality
of life for all of those who live and work here." The Partnership
has experienced considerable success over the past 18 months including
agreeing the Concordat, holding a Leeds City Region Summit; and
agreeing the City Region Development Programme.
At a recent meeting of the Partnership in September,
Leaders also decided to move towards more formalised governance
arrangements. In considering the nature of such governance arrangements,
the Leaders agreed that the developing proposals should focus
on identifying what can be done better at the city region level
and not duplicate the existing roles and responsibilities of constituent
local authorities; that proposals should also be complementary
to the roles of Yorkshire Forward (the Regional Development Agency)
and the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly; and that any new partnership
body should be capable of engaging effectively with Government
and regional bodies on issues such as on Regional Funding Allocations
and the Comprehensive Spending Reviews.
Accordingly, what is proposed initially is the
creation of a City Region Leaders Board (constituted as a joint
committee) supported by a number of theme based Panels covering
strategic agendas around, for example, transport, skills and economic
development. The City Region Leaders Board will have the remit
of promoting the economic well being of the city region area and
will provide the political accountability and "voice"
for the Leeds city region. Decisions on city region positions
will be taken upon the basis of one authority, one vote but participation
in the City Region Leaders' Board's deliberations would be without
prejudice to the right of any authority to take such decisions
locally as it considered appropriate in the interests of that
authority's area.
These new more formal arrangements will enable
the Partnership to provide stronger leadership and accountability
to the city region, and deliver the economic competitiveness agenda
more effectively. These new arrangements will continue to encompass
private sector and other stakeholder interests, and will be built
upon stronger partnership working and a shared understanding and
ownership of the actions that need to be implemented to deliver
sustained economic growth. A central aim will be to align strategies,
plans and spending programmes of Partner authorities and other
stakeholders, including Government.
3a Who will decide what constitutes success
in delivery, and how will it be measured?
In addition to the proposed new governance arrangements
for the Leeds City Region, Leaders also agreed that to underpin
the city region agenda, the Board should seek to enter into one
or more Economic Area Agreements (EAA) with Government. It is
envisaged that these would follow similar principles to those
applying to Local Area Agreements. Thoughts behind the EAA(s),
are that they would seek to identify a series of outcomes and
align the actions and spend of partner agencies and constituent
authorities, in order to develop and deliver shared outcomes.
It would address the involvement of all partners and other agencies
in contributing to the delivery of the city region's priorities
and key outputs.
The City Region Leaders' Board would "own"
the EAA(s) and be responsible and accountable for delivering them.
One of the Board's responsibilities would therefore be to monitor
the implementation of the EAA(s) and review success in delivering
the agreed outputs and outcomes. These reviews will be open and
inclusive processes, with the Board considering wider views and
comments. Therefore, determining what constitutes success in delivery,
will also involve wider city region stakeholders.
There could also be a separate scrutiny function
set up as part of the new structures to provide a further level
of accountability.
4. Why, when the London experience has generally
been seen as successful, are you not seeking an elected mayor?
The Leeds city region is at a very different
stage in its development to London. London has a much longer history
of combined working at the Greater London area and, therefore,
has much more knowledge and experience of tried and tested mechanisms
for policy and delivery alignment. Through this experience, they
have concluded that a mayoral system is the appropriate and most
effective mechanism for policy and delivery at the Greater London
level. Also, as a result of historical and cultural developments,
people living in all parts of the Greater London area tend to
have a strong identity as a "Londoner," which demonstrates
their association with London wherever they reside and work within
the wider conurbation.
However, the Leeds City Region Partnership is
still generally in its infancy. The Partnership has only been
working together for around 18 months since it was established
in 2004. As a result there is a long and challenging journey to
be undertaken before we will develop such a strong identify within
the whole of the Leeds city region, and people residing in places
such as Halifax, Selby, and Skipton fully associate themselves
with being part of the Leeds city region. This journey will require
changing "hearts and minds" and will require testing
new mechanisms and new ways of working and governance arrangements
before we can conclude what works best for the Leeds city region
in addressing the economic competitiveness and growth agenda.
4a What makes the alternative models you have
proposed better suited to the circumstances of your city region?
The existing City Region Partnership, which
is predicated on consensus building and collective decision making,
has already proven effective in driving forward the Leeds city
region agenda, and taking difficult decisions on the Vision, objectives
and priorities for the future. Furthermore, the Partnership is
evolving in response to changing circumstances and needs, by creating
new formal governance structures and mechanisms to address the
evolving City Region agenda.
The creation of a Board structure based on a
Joint Committee approach, underpinned by an Economic Area Agreement(s)
(EAA) will both further improve accountability at the city region
level, and improve the effectiveness of policy development and
delivery. These new arrangements have the commitment and shared
support all key city region Partners, whom all recognise the potential
benefits of joint city region working. The increased involvement
of the private sector and other stakeholders within the new Board
governance structures will help ensure "buy in" and
complementary action by all stakeholders.
By concentrating on the economic competitiveness
agenda, the Board will remain focussed on the key strategic issues
for economic growth and success, rather than seeking to replicate
activity that is best undertaken at a more local level by local
authorities, or at a regional level by, for example, the Regional
Development Agency. The development of an EAA(s) will formalise
agreements with Government on what the Leeds city region aims
to achieve, including by identifying specific outputs and outcomes
that the Board will own and be accountable for delivery.
A mayoral approach would be a distraction and
divert attention and effort, probably for many years, away from
the key important issue of enabling a stronger, more competitive
and inclusive Leeds city region economy. This is a priority now
and needs to be addressed now if the City Region is to remain
an internationally prosperous and competitive economy. Partners
are all agreed that this shared ownership and shared commitment
model of working has, and will continue to be, successful in addressing
economic competitiveness, and presents the best opportunity of
achieving a better, stronger and more inclusive city region economy.
Therefore, our proposals offer inclusive and
"agreed" governance arrangements, which are built on
a strong Partnership that has already demonstrated success in
working together to achieve shared objectives and outcomes over
a wide geographical area. It will develop organically in response
to identified needs and requirements of the Leeds city region,
some of which will change over time. This offers a much more appropriate
and responsive governance model as opposed to a `big-bang' mayoral
system approach, which would be wholly inappropriate for the Leeds
city region and does not have any support within key Partners.
5. What assurances can you give that communities
from outside the city region will benefit from the approach that
you advocate?
The second iteration of the CRDP, which will
be submitted to Government and the Northern Way at the end of
September, recognises that although the Leeds city region is largely
self contained, there are important linkages with communities
and areas outside the city region. These areas include the three
adjacent city regions based around Manchester, Sheffield, and
Hull and Humber.
However, importantly it also recognises that
there are specific links, albeit at a much smaller scale, with
the more rural parts of North Yorkshire. These include transport
and labour market links, as a proportion of people who work within
the Leeds city region live in these more rural areas of North
Yorkshire. Furthermore, there are also business supply links and
clients that generate cross boundary interaction and contribute
to the economic success and social inclusion of both the Leeds
city region and the wider North Yorkshire area.
By recognising these interactions and ensuring
that these are also taken into account in developing and delivering
city region policy, will help ensure that the joint benefits of
growth in the Leeds and other adjacent city regions is maximised
for the benefit of all communities in the North.
5a How will this happen in practice?
The CRDP emphasises the integration and inter-dependency
of both urban and rural areas within the Leeds city region, as
well as with areas outside the city region boundary, particularly
elsewhere in North Yorkshire which are primarily rural in character.
Obviously, the influence of the Leeds city region does not stop
at the city region boundary. These interdependencies are clearly
demonstrated by the high levels of daily in-commuting from surrounding
areas into the city of Leeds itself, as noted previously. The
CRDP is therefore a plan for the whole city region and not just
a strategy for the main urban areas, and the inclusion of a range
of Partners and stakeholders within city region working arrangements
have ensured that the complementary needs and implications for
both urban and rural areas have informed city region policy development.
In particular, the inclusion of North Yorkshire
County Council within the Partnership has ensured that the Partnership
is made aware of, and takes account of, any implications of city
region policy and delivery on communities in North Yorkshire which
lie outside the Leeds city region boundary. This unique arrangement
will continue to ensure that these communities benefit from the
approaches we advocate. Furthermore, discussions are ongoing with
the County Council and North Yorkshire district authorities on
the wider links of these communities with the Leeds city region,
and these discussions will inform future city region work.
Elsewhere, outside the Leeds city region, the
Partnership's continued dialogue and joint working with the Manchester,
Sheffield and Hull and Humber city regions, also helps ensure
that the joints benefits of growth in each of the city regions
is maximised for the benefit of all communities in the North,
as advocated by the Northern Way Growth Initiative. One such output
of this joint working is reflected in the City Region Development
Plans of Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester city regions, to be submitted
at the end of September, where shared positions on key northern
priorities have been supported in each Plan.
I trust that the above responses clarify the
position and views of Leeds city region on the questions that
you raise, but if you require any further clarification, please
do not hesitate to contact me.
18 Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate,
Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield, and York. Back
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