Moving on from grants culture
Date published:
The Chamber’s latest column for The Journal by Rachel Anderson, assistant director of policy, LSIP project lead Tees Valley and North of Tyne.
There’s a lot of change in the world, so much that it makes you want to pull the duvet over your head and stay there until someone, anyone, sensible steps in, calms everyone down, hands out the tea and restores a bit of order.
Short of Mary Poppins making herself available to world leaders, we’ll just have to carry on and focus on the things we can control.
Not all change is bad. It can take some adjusting to, but ultimately, it has the potential to bring positive results. We are starting to see that come through as the juggernaut that is devolution shifts up a gear.
While the overall concept is exciting, the mechanics of it are unlikely to win awards for inspiring titles and razzmatazz, but they will bring meaningful change. One such mechanism is the Local Growth Plan.
Every region has to produce one, and our Combined Authorities are currently hard at work on theirs. The aim is exactly what it says on the tin: achieve local growth, ostensibly economic, but also driving progress in areas like poverty and skills.
A key component of growth is our small and medium-sized business (SME) base. If they grow, the economy grows.
This week, I was with a group of businesses discussing what they need from the Local Growth Plan, and their responses were telling. Twenty years ago, in similar conversations, the answer was usually a simple one: “grants”. But today, I was struck by how much the discussion has moved on. While finance was still mentioned, the SMEs around the table were much more focused on how the Local Growth Plan could unlock opportunities, particularly in supply chains.
Businesses today are thinking beyond grants. They are looking at how devolution can develop, support, and reinforce opportunities arising from inward investment and emerging industries.
The recognition that fabricators and electrical engineers have just as much of a role to play in our burgeoning space industry as scientists was a refreshing take. SMEs seem up for the challenge and aware of how devolution can help them.
Of course, finance and access to cash is still an issue, but it seems the North East’s addiction to grant culture may be over – and that is a welcome change.