Stoke and Staffs Strategic Economic Plan and Funding Strategy

Question: What package of interventions might secure most local economic growth?

Each local enterprise partnership (LEP) needed to develop a strategic plan for growth to unlock local growth and European structural funding. Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP needed a robust evidence base and set of agreed strategic priorities to support their growth deal negotiations with government.

Solution: A strategic economic plan and European funding strategy

Regeneris was appointed to help the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP develop its European funding (2014-20) strategy, strategic economic plan, and an implementation plan for 2015-16 local growth funding. We worked closely with the LEP team, alongside Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire County Council to establish an overarching framework for growth and then a detailed project pipeline to work towards their ambitions. Our team addressed a diverse range of priorities, including business support and innovation, transport and connectivity enhancements, housing, employment sites, further and higher education, and social inclusion and well-being.

Impacts: A clear framework for delivery to secure investment

Following negotiation with government, the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP secured local growth investment of £82m, alongside its allocation of £134m European Structural funding for the 2014-20 period. The Strategic Economic Plan and European Funding Strategy are being used to guide the LEP’s delivery activities and have under-pinned two further rounds of growth deal investment.