The business of cities: the private sector, local enterprise partnerships and growth

The Coalition government has placed business at the heart of economic development. Shortly after the Coalition came into power, they established Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPS), private-sector led organisations designed to incorporate business in the leadership of cities. Collaboration between different private, public and third sector bodies is important for economic development and the need for business involvement in economic development has become an unchallenged consensus. Yet, there are concerns about the new arrangements. We know very little about exactly how and why businesses are interacting with LEPs. Drawing on anonymous interviews with business leaders involved in LEPs, and a review of the history of business involvement in similar initiatives, this paper considers a range of issues around business engagement in LEPs.