We are pleased to share details of the direction the South East Local Enterprise Partnership will be taking in the coming years and how our Strategy Network will support this.
Our Strategy – Our Network – Our
Delivery
Our Directors agreed SELEP’s future areas of focus at our Strategic Board meeting on 24th June 2022. Our future actions will boost the economy of the South East by encouraging collaboration and investment. Building on our existing strengths, knowledge of the area and well-established relationships after 10 years of activity, the South East LEP’s approach will be focussed on three areas – Strategy, Network and Delivery.
Our Network is Your Network
The South East LEP has a key role to play in convening
and collaborating with key players in the South East economy, and enabling the
voice of business to influence future plans and the strategic direction for our
area. Our Strategy Network is key to us playing this role. It is
comprised of businesses, representative bodies, local authorities, groups and
organisations with an interest and stake in economic growth in the South East.
We have launched a new Strategy Network section on our website, which provides a comprehensive overview of our partners and the power of how we work together. Find out more about our work and get in touch if you wish to play a more active role in this crucial partnership.
South East Local Enterprise Partnership: 2022 and beyond
The South East economy is moving forward and so are we
The South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) has set out and agreed our areas of focus for the year ahead at its latest board meeting on 24th June 2022.
Our Focus
We are setting out our actions to help boost the economy of the South East by encouraging collaboration and investment. Building on our existing strengths, knowledge of the area and well-established relationships after 10 years of activity, the South East LEP’s approach will be focussed on three areas.
Our Strategy
The provision of strategic planning and intelligence to provide a clear regional strategy for growth, underpinned by a robust evidence base.
The role of SELEP is to set the strategic direction for the future of the South East economy. In order to do this effectively, we have established data and intelligence to understand our current economy and future trends. We have the established relationships and expertise to understand the opportunities for the future, the economic landscape, our strengths and areas for investment.
Our Network
Communicating, collaborating, and convening across our network of businesses, academia, and the public sector to provide a business voice and joint activity around key strategic objectives.
To be an effective voice for business and to represent the interests of the South East economy, we need to come together and bring partners together. We identify and facilitate opportunities for collaboration—adding value to local activities and where working together in a coordinated way delivers collective greater impact and/or investment than would otherwise be achieved.
Our Delivery
Delivering strategic economic projects to seize opportunities to accelerate growth.
The South East LEP has delivered the largest capital programme in the past 10 years and our work is not yet done. We have projects which are still active and in progress, and some great milestones and achievements expected in the coming months. We will continue to deliver against this. We also have a role to evaluate the programme and understand the real impact these investments have made over the past 10 years.
We are continuing to offer local business support across the South East LEP area through our Growth Hub, simplifying the landscape for businesses and using our intelligence to help shape new schemes. We will also conclude delivery and build upon the findings of our Covid-19 Recovery Funding projects for skills and business support.
Our Approach
We are focusing our activities on the area’s economic priorities and sectoral strengths. Our Economic Recovery and Renewal Strategy—Working Together for a Faster, Smarter and More Sustainable Economic Recovery—laid the groundwork for this, highlighting our key strategic priorities for the coming years, as:
- Business Resilience and Growth
- UK’s Global Gateway
- Communities for the Future
- Coastal Catalyst
The SELEP Delivery Plan for 2022-23 sets out our activities to move forward with these priorities in the coming year, supported by the cross-cutting themes of skills, inclusion and net-zero. Follow the link below to view our delivery plan for more detail on what we will be doing and where you could get involved.
The Delivery Plan sets out in more detail the areas of work where SELEP is already making a difference, particularly the work of the South East Major Projects Group, which brings together significant projects of scale planned for the area to ensure that the full range of benefits from proposed major projects are realised, and to proactively support a local supply chain and workforce that will underpin the successful delivery of these strategically important projects.
There is also our work on supplying credible data and intelligence and supporting sector-based interventions. We continue to provide a one-stop-shop for businesses seeking support through the South East Business Hub, as well as driving forward the skills agenda and other pan-area projects.
Read our Delivery Plan for 2022-23
Your Role
As part of our work for the next year, we are also seeking to continually expand our levels of engagement. Expanding the SELEP Strategy Network gives us greater collective strength and a true voice for business and collaboration. You can make Our Network – Your Network.
We publish regular data and intelligence and share news of activity in our area. We bring together organisations and projects across the area. We can make it easy for you to collaborate and convene on key issues. We invite you to use the LEP to make your voice stronger.
Our Network is Your Network. Your involvement is essential to the success of this work, and to continue building this strong community who want to help the South East economy to move forward and make a difference.
Our Strategy Network is made up of partnerships, groups and organisations that have an interest and stake in economic growth in the South East.
With responsibility for strategic economic growth, SELEP facilitates a valuable and active network that engages in thematic, sectoral and policy matters from across businesses, public sector and academia.
This strategy network is crucial to enable SELEP to fulfil our role as the voice of business and to effectively drive growth through collaboration and strategic economic planning.
Find out more and register your interest to be a part of the South East LEP's Strategy Network