Counties call for realignment of LEP boundaries
0A survey has found that 84% of county council leaders believe Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) boundaries should be reshaped to align with county council borders, according to a new survey. The poll, carried out by Grant Thornton and County Council Network found that only six counties share a co-terminous boundary with their LEP. For the remaining 31 counties in England, this means working alongside several different LEPs, or working with an LEP that covers a whole region. County Councils Network, found that half of authorities believe LEPs are democratically unaccountable. Philip Atkins, vice-chairman of the CCN, said: “Reducing the complexity of LEP geographies will be good for business and good for local economies; simplifying overlapping boundaries which creates confusion, and in some cases, makes joint investment and targeted investment harder, with differing LEPs naturally having differing priorities and different needs.”
