By Barbara Davies, chief executive, West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.
Our newly refreshed LEP board met for the first time on June 17. There are some new faces following the local elections and a business-led selection process.
Great news that Colin Skellett has been reappointed as chair of the board to continue to lead sustainable economic growth for this area. The leader of B&NES Council Cllr Tim Warren joins Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson and the leaders Cllr Ashton and Cllr Matthew Riddle. 
New business representatives Simon Bird, Nick Horne, Esther McMorris, John Pritchard and Neil Way – who bring experience from important industries including aerospace, shipping, housing, construction, the creative sector and small business – join Robert Sinclair, Kalpna Woolf and James Durie, who have been reappointed as business representatives. The four universities are represented by Steve West.
Last year the West of England LEP secured commitments to invest around £230m from the Government’s Growth Deals to bring forward key projects in transport, infrastructure and business support and create thousands of new jobs. This high quality board demonstrates the level of ambition and vision for the future of the West of England to build on our success.
The new board appointments coincide with a new government and we are working to make sure that all our MPs our aware of our priorities and can support us in our drive for economic growth and jobs.
Last week we were involved with staging Venturefest Bristol and Bath which helped to establish our region’s profile and credibility within key tech and digital sectors. There was a real buzz as over 1,200 people, including investors, saw first-hand the latest cutting-edge innovations coming out of the UK as well as 30 of the region’s most promising tech start-ups.
The event also brought together some of the most influential business leaders including IMDb’s founder Col Needham, Scott Wilcox, director of technology at SXSW, and David Underwood, deputy director of supercomputing at the Met Office.
Creating new jobs in the region is one our key priorities. Results for the past year show that Invest Bristol & Bath attracted 886 new jobs thanks to the arrival of 37 companies locating here – beating the region’s target for job creation of 850.
According to figures from UKTI, within this total, 552 new jobs were specifically as a result of foreign direct investment successes, namely 26 new companies attracted into the region from overseas. In fact, 347 of the 552 new jobs set to be created were secured by Invest Bristol & Bath alone. Examples include global software technology company Oracle, which has committed to investing in Bristol; American supercomputer giant Cray Inc, which earlier this month opened its European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters at the company’s new office in Bristol; and leading global provider of business process outsourcing services IBEX Global, which also has a base in Bristol.
Over the next few years there are many major infrastructure projects taking place, such as rail electrification, the Bristol Arena, Hinkley Point C, which provide huge opportunities for the construction industry but also have the potential to create large skills gaps in the workforce. We recently brought together industry leaders with our further education providers to understand the skills gaps and ensure we are ahead of game with an action plan in place to tackle current and future skills shortages.
The West of England Growth Fund continues to pay grant funding to its 375 beneficiary businesses. By the end of May £13m of grant had been paid out by the fund leading to the creation of more than 1,000 new jobs here.
To support all our jobs we are delivering a sustainable transport programme that will make it easier for people to get to work. Construction of the MetroBus has started and the consultation period for MetroWest phase 1 (Portishead Line) is underway. The board recognises the importance of place to delivering economic growth and welcomes the preparation of a Joint Spatial Plan and Transport Study by the four local authorities to secure sustainable growth in the West of England up to 2036.
The West of England has well-established business support services including access to finance targeted skills training and support for high-growth business are delivered by a range of partners including local universities, local councils and business organisations. Through the Government’s Local Growth Fund, we have invested in a “growth hub” which will bring them together to provide a single coherent package – and have recently appointed Business West to deliver this and hope it will be up and running later in the year.
Looking forward to an exciting year working with business, local authorities and all partners in the West of England as we raise our profile nationally as the home of knowledge, innovation and quality of life.
