Shropshire Council's "accountable body" status within Marches LEP to be reviewed

Shropshire Council’s key role within a regional economic partnership will be reviewed and could be given to another authority, after a legal change was enacted last year.

The council is currently designated “accountable body” for the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership, with aims to grow the economy of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin.

In 2019 the LEP registered as a company and, at a recent board meeting, chairman Mandy Thorn praised the “outstanding job” Shropshire Council had done, but said, since the switchover, “it needed to review best value and what was right for the organisation now”.

The chief executives of Telford and Wrekin and Herefordshire councils will be asked if they want Shropshire to continue in the role. If  not, all three authorities could be invited to bid again for the position.

A guidance note, prepared by law firm Pinsent Masons LLP, explained that the Marches LEP was previously an “unincorporated association”, governed by the member authorities together. Shropshire Council was named as accountable body in a memorandum of understanding and its responsibilities include providing legal advice to the LEP and employing staff on its behalf.

A report for the LEP’s last board meeting said Shropshire Council had reviewed the note and recommended a new agreement be drawn up clarifying the new arrangement. Feedback from the local authority said this should include the extent to which its finance director could act the LEP’s behalf, how disputes should be resolved when that director and the LEP board disagree, and how government grant money for the partnership is managed.

Draft minutes of the meeting say the board approved drafting a new agreement. Ms Thorne, the document says, “noted that Shropshire Council had done an outstanding job in supporting the LEP as the accountable body, but the demands of the LEP were now very different and it needed to review best value and what was right for the organisation now, as an incorporated body”.

The minutes add that LEP chief executive Gill Hamer was seeking the views of Herefordshire Council chief executive Alistair Neill and David Sidaway, his opposite number at Telford and Wrekin Council, “on whether they were content for Shropshire Council to continue” as accountable body.

“If they confirmed that they were content, the new SLA [service level agreement] would be drawn up between the LEP CLG [company limited by guarantee] and Shropshire Council,” the minutes continue.

“If not, a tender for the work would be issued to all three local authorities.”

The board agreed that a value-for-money estimate should be provided to the board at its next meeting on Tuesday, May 26, and a new agreement with Shropshire Council should be drafted for the board to review.

That meeting, like the last one, is due to be held virtually in order to comply with government guidance on “social distancing” in response to the coronavirus outbreak.