September 2010

A great deal of change has happened over the course of this recession, not least the scrapping of Yorkshire Forward and potentially as a result, Business Link Yorkshire. September’s Summit focuses on Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP’s), something that will have a big say on how Kirklees and the wider Yorkshire will fare in the coming years.

LEP’s are the replacement for the recently abolished Regional Development Agencies (RDA’s) that will further support our region’s economy. It is clear that Yorkshire Forward will not continue in its current form after March 2012 and is currently making cuts of £40.27million in this financial year. In cases where local politicians like their existing RDA’s these bodies may simply be rebranded as LEP’s. The Coalition Programme revealed that Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) would be created, putting local business on an ‘equal footing’ with local authorities. It stated:

“We will support the creation of Local Enterprise Partnerships – joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities themselves to promote local economic development – to replace Regional Development Agencies (RDAs).”

Local Enterprise Partnerships are an attempt to allow local authorities to create partnerships with business on their own terms. They ensure that authorities can retain their RDA if they wish but are free to abolish it if they so wish.Much of the detail remains to be confirmed and it is not clear if the Government reserves the right to veto LEP proposals.

How are Local Enterprise Partnerships shaping up?
Within Yorkshire and Humber, four City regions are likely to be formed, they include Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Humber ports and the North Yorkshire region. Barnsley’s intentions are yet unknown.

The aim of this Summit was to debate the LEP’s and throw forward ideas on how Kirklees and it’s businesses can profit from this new structured ‘public body’.

The panel for 16/09/10 was:

Paul Joyce
Managing Partner – Ramsdens Solicitors

Paul has been with the firm since 1985 and became the firm’s Managing Partner in 1999.

He deals with the day to day running of the firm and maintains an active involvement in client projects for a diverse range of clients. During his time as Managing Partner the turnover of the firm has quadrupled and Ramsdens are now one of the largest firms in the area. Paul has made significant contributions to the firm and is a strong leader within the business.

Greg Jennings
Assistant Director for Regeneration & Economic Development – Kirklees Council

Greg Jennings is currently the Assistant Director for Regeneration & Economic Development with Kirklees Council, responsible for driving the Council’s regeneration and economic development activities.  Prior to this he has held a number of posts for Kirklees including leading the Council’s Private Finance Team and helping to set up Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing where he was their first Investment Manager.  Before working for Kirklees he worked in Housing development in London.

Helen West
Chief Executive – Business Link Yorkshire

Helen is the Chief Executive for Business Link Yorkshire.  Helen was the Chief Executive of Business Link York and North Yorkshire, from its beginning in 1995 through to April 2008, and was instrumental in leading it to become one of the top performing Business Links in the country.

Born in Harrogate, Helen graduated from the University of Bristol with a BSc in Psychology.  Returning to Yorkshire, Helen worked in a variety of roles in occupational psychology, personnel and training, including working as a Careers Officer in Bradford with the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative and as a Senior Psychologist for the MSC in Sheffield.  Before her work with Business Link, Helen spent five years with North Yorkshire Training and Enterprise Council (TEC) as Head of Strategy and Development.

Andrew Hobson
Managing Director – Fantastic Media

Andrew began his career with Tarmac Facilities Management in London looking after such brands as the arrows F1 Racing Team and the national food chain prêt a manger. As a design manager he was responsible for the successful implementation and fulfillment of all marketing and design strategies while helping to establish new brands within the market place.

In 1993 Andrew was invited to join TSA (now SFX) to assist, develop and manage existing accounts predominantly within the sports industry. Working directly within the football division Andrew worked with such brands as David Beckham, Michael Owen and Alan Shearer, working with all aspects of personality management. Still with TSA Andrews previous experience within facilities promotions led him to be assigned to Sampdoria Football Club in Genoa to begin working on increasing revenue streams within the stadium. During his time in Italy Andrew gained valuable experience of the international commercialism within sport and was asked to join Bolton Wanderers helping manage the building of the £38m Reebok Stadium. Andrew was responsible for pulling together the build and launch of the stadium for opening on the 1st September 1997.

Carl Hopkins
Managing Director – kloog

Carl Hopkins is many things to many people – he is one of Yorkshire’s leading entrepreneurs and an individual who has achieved ‘guru status’ in the marketing world. In 2010, others voted Carl as being in the top 70 of the UK’s most influential marketers outside of London. To many people he is perhaps best known for his appearance on Channel 4’s ‘The Secret Millionaire’. Those closest to him know him as a marketer and agency owner with over 25 years’ experience.

In 2007, Carl sold his marketing agency JDA and instead of ‘retiring’, he set up kloog, a business development service to share some of the experiences garnered in his career. In addition to launching kloog, Carl turned his hand to serial entrepreneurship, becoming involved with a variety of businesses that range from training people to return to the workplace to selling sporting supplements. Carl can regularly be found taking to the podium, whether it is delivering keynote speeches at high profile business events or inspiring young people into enterprise as well as the odd TV appearance where time permits.

PANEL CHAIR: Danny Matharu
Managing Director – Hillrich

Danny is the MD of Hillrich. He brought the Summit together after a meeting with Bill Macbeth of The Textile Centre of Excellence. Bill mentioned that there wasn’t a forum for Kirklees business to discuss and debate business issues on a regular basis. The format of BBC’s Question Time works for politics so why not Kirklees businesses?