Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership
Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s (LEP) business-led partnership of private, public and academic partners aims to ensure that local expertise and experience are instrumental in supporting local growth.
Its wide remit allow key partners to work together to develop all aspects of economic development: setting overall priorities for local growth, negotiating significant investment for infrastructure, coordinating support for business, encouraging outside businesses to invest and trade in the area, and supporting skills development.
The LEP’s business growth agenda is based on recognised strengths in key areas of advanced manufacturing, as well as a small number of other complementary sectors in which our economy performs well or has significant potential for growth. Key areas include energy generation, applied materials, auto-aero, medical technologies and agri-tech.
As an active partner, Keele University supports the LEP in a number of ways, including:
- Providing technical assistance, alongside Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire County Council, for the 2014-2020 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme, and is a member of the local European Structural and Investment Fund Committee to establish investment priorities for structural funds, set against the strategic economic plan for the area.
- Providing support and expertise in the delivery of the LEP’s City and Growth Deal programmes, via membership of the Growth and City Deal Board, and to enable the LEP to partner with other LEPs in the development and delivery of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund.
- Being involved in the establishment of the LEP’s Education Trust to ensure that the young people of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire have the education, skills and attitude that local employers need to develop and grow their businesses.