In October 2010, the coalition's White Paper on local growth promised that its first priority would be 'shifting power to local communities and businesses' through the creation of new Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). The deputy prime minister told us this would 'foster prosperity in all parts of the country'. Three years on, these claims ring hollow. LEPs lack both resources and capabilities, with negligible budgets and no real powers to lead economic development in their areas. They risk being written off as 'talking shops' as a result and a recent CBI survey found that half of businesses expected LEPs to have little or no impact on growth. The latest high rhetoric on economic localism was set out by Lord Heseltine in his report No Stone Unturned. It had bold plans to boost the resources and responsibility that both local authorities and LEPS have over economic policy. It received wide support. But, in this summer's Spending Review the Chancellor only earmarked an extra £2bn for LEPs - this is barely 4% of what Lord Heseltine recommended. It will only be available from 2015/16 and the money has been top-sliced from local government funding.
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