The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) was launched in May 2011. Private sector-led, it is a partnership between the private and public sectors and is driving the economic strategy for the area, determining local priorities and undertaking activities to drive growth and the creation of local jobs.
The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP is one of 39 LEPs across England set up following the Coalition Government's new approach to economic development. This new approach puts businesses in the driving seat and empowers the private sector to determine their own priorities.
The vision of the LEP is a thriving and vibrant Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (C&IoS) economy, with greater local autonomy, benefiting from our vast local assets and innovating our way into global markets: A unique blend of 'people and place' where the environment is valued both as a business asset and an inspiration for life: Where businesses and individuals can work as communities and thrive to reach their full potential; confident, outward looking, connected to each other and to the world. A place where ideas are nurtured and have the opportunity to flourish - the value of knowledge is realised and applied with understanding: Home for competitive aspiring businesses, a natural magnet for the ambitious and creating sustainable rewards. Our Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) challenges government to share in that vision and, thereby, share in the benefits from progressing it over the 2014-20 period.
The C&IoS approach to our SEP is founded on growth reducing dependency, in preparation for graduation for less developed area designation in 2020. We C&IoSCornwall and Isles of ScillyLEP has set out our description and argument in support of this ambitious, deliverable C&IoS SEP. We consider our growth plan to be coherent and credible, with a number of confidence-building early wins; our LGF bid to be well-founded and deliverable over 2015/16 and 2016/17; and our 'Growth Deal' proposals to be game changing in importance if we are to achieve our ambitions for economic growth.
Attached to this page are all documents associated with our SEP (please note that due to file size some of the PDF documents may take some time to download). We include:
Strategic Economic Plan (Foreword and Executive Summary)
Please note the final version of the SEP and LGF are currently in the design stage but the text and content will not change.
Roads plans for Redruth, Falmouth and Truro at heart of £1 billion investment plan for Cornwall (West Brtion 3rd April 2014)
(The following is an extract from the Executive Summary of the Cornwall LEP's Strategic Economic Plan)
Today’s reality
Today’s economy is one of low wages, low productivity and low skills. Poor connectivity is one of the biggest barriers to growth in the LEP area and brings into sharp focus the need for IT and transport solutions to provide modern business support and connectivity to the rest of the country and the world.
We need to support our special kind of growth with a focus on the unskilled and those who will need to re skill to ensure our community takes most advantage of our Future Economy. Our communities will also need the right homes, with a salary which enables them to afford to live in the right place.
This situation is the elephant in the room and challenging perceptions is going to be tough and require some extraordinary thinking.
The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership and all our partners share an ambition to continue to transform our economy as we grow. Transformational growth in our terms is about the wealth of our community, but more importantly its well being and the environment so that our unique characteristics are not only adhered to but enhanced. Ours is a new economy. What we do today will be the global economy of tomorrow, where the community is central and enhancing our special environment and culture is a prerequisite to improve our economic well being. We emphasise this through our core strategic principle: The culture, communities and environment of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly will remain special and unique.
An important principle underpinning the governance arrangements for our SEP is to secure enhanced autonomy for decision making through a single investment programme covering all available funding sources. The case for greater local decision making is clear, is central to Government economic policy and is supported by the private sector. We have proved our credentials for more responsibilities and we are confident we will earn the right for more autonomy.
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have already started this journey to a Future Economy. This Strategic Economic Plan will get us there. There has been a spirit of innovation and inventiveness that has thrived here for centuries; and this plan will set out how we can reinvigorate that spirit to unlock economic potential. Perhaps more than at any time in our history, technology and global trends are conspiring to make our natural assets a source of real competitive advantage.
