Government, Essex County Council and the city, district and borough councils are all saying that they want business to be at the heart of decision making and planning for economic growth and prosperity. Some may feel that they’ve heard this before, but, says David Rayner, commercial real estate partner at Birkett Long, this time there is real action and intent behind those words.

David is the new chair of the re-constituted Chelmsford Business Board (CBB) and, through that, sits on the Greater Essex Business Board (GEBB). He is also one of five business representatives from Essex on the Strategy Board of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP). Indeed, Birkett Long’s commitment to the communities it serves means that it has supported David’s involvement with all three organisations for the past four years.

Strategic Economic Plans for the SELEP region, Essex and for the individual local government areas within Essex, are living documents which constantly evolve. They are undergoing a review at present and business has a vital role to play in shaping those plans and ensuring that business priorities are kept at the forefront of the political agenda. What do you and your business want to see being delivered as part of future growth deals?  David comments that over the past few years business demands have majored on infrastructure improvements – transport, utilities and broadband – skills, and training and housing. Those have been the focus of the bids to government for Local Growth Fund monies over the first two rounds of bidding – where SELEP competes with the other 38 LEP’s across the country.  

SELEP is currently delivering a £482m LGF capital investment programme, which will create up to 45,000 new jobs to boost employment opportunities in the South East and deliver 23,000 new homes to support our growing population. Already we’ve seen LGF expenditure of £55.7m in 2015/16 – some of this in Colchester, Basildon and Chelmsford. SELEP has been recognised by the Housing and Finance Institute as the first Housing Business Ready LEP in the country. It also has an existing EU funding programme to deliver.

A £229M bid has just been submitted for LGF Round 3, with projects being priority ranked by GEBB and then SELEP. Because of the size of the SELEP region, the whole of Essex (including the two unitary authorities) is, effectively, one combined area and GEBB is the delivery board for that federated area. That means that Essex businesses lead the way, not only in influencing which projects go forward and how they are prioritised, but also holding the relevant authority to account for delivery of approved schemes.

But business voices are not just being heard on specific projects. SELEP has, for example, delivered a growth hub and led the way in delivering the business response to the consultation from Highways England on the Lower Thames crossing. Locally, businesses are feeding into Chelmsford and other local authority plans, helping prioritise schemes for the next bidding rounds, and Essex County Council is engaging with businesses for their views on anything from business rates to skills and training.

Now is a very exciting time to participate and ensure that the voice of business is heard loud and strong.  

If you would like to get involved or contribute to the shaping of Essex’s future, please contact David Rayner or Dominic Collins at dominic.collins@essex.gov.uk.