South Lanarkshire Council is leading the way in forging strong partnerships with the Local Enterprise Network and proving local authorities do have an important part to play in economic development.
At a Valentine's Day Business Breakfast, Councillor Chris Thompson, chair of the Council's Enterprise Resources, told the audience:
"We want to participate in the current debate about the future delivery of economic development services in Scotland and restate our commitment to working jointly with our partners in support of the local economy.
'The delivery of economic development services by local authorities has to be considered as part of the overall support provision to business by the public sector. 'A great deal of attention is currently being given to the delivery of these services by the Scottish Parliament's Committee on Enterprise & Lifelong Learning and this has generated a wide range of comments from various groups. This is a debate to which South Lanarkshire Council and its partners in Lanarkshire want to contribute.
"The Committee has produced an interim statement from its inquiry which contains many points that the partners in Lanarkshire broadly welcome. However, a number of the most significant interim conclusions bear very little comparison with the Lanarkshire experience over the past eight to ten years.
"Indeed, it is disappointing that the successful and output-focused model of partnership which has been established in Lanarkshire and acknowledged by many agencies across Scotland is not referred to in that interim paper."
Councillor Thompson said Lanarkshire was noted as being "worthy of further investigation" in the Committee's minutes and urged them to look more closely at the achievements of the Council, Lanarkshire Development Agency, the Local Enterprise Network and the business community.
"...local authorities, through their statutory functions, play a vital delivery role in the field of local economic development." Councillor Chris Thompson
"In Lanarkshire, clear progress has been made at both strategic and service delivery level to eliminate overlap and duplication of services. The depth of partnership working in this area is reflected in initiatives such as our jointly produced economic development strategy Changing Gear and formal joint service level agreements with the Local Enterprise Network to deliver small business support."
He continued: "Whichever model is ultimately agreed by the Minister and Parliament, we would argue that it should be flexible enough to allow for local interpretation of the National Economic Agenda, enabling the delivery of local solutions to service the local business community.
"The model should recognise the legitimate differences between organisations and what unites them to deliver shared aims. It should also recognise that local authorities, through their statutory functions, play a vital delivery role in the field of local economic development.
"In addition, if a reorganisation of the network removes the discretionary powers of councils to support economic development, it will result in a reduction in the level of resources available to local economic regeneration.
"Hopefully, our comments will be considered as the Committee proceeds through the next stages of its inquiry." The event, which was chaired by Brian Taylor, Political Editor of BBC Scotland, also included speeches by Chief Executive Michael Docherty and Bob Darracott, Head of Economic & Estates Services. They spoke about how economic development has evolved locally, the services the Council provides to business and the success of the strong partnership between the Council and the local enterprise network.
The event was well attended by local business people who were given the opportunity to ask questions or make comments to the panel. Representatives from Lanarkshire Development Agency and the Local Enterprise Network were also on hand to answer questions.