Bassetlaw: Talks held over region’s future

Business and council leaders from across the Sheffield City Region have been discussing what is needed to stimulate economic growth and create jobs over the next decade.
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Guardian News

The Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) invited business and council leaders from Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, Doncaster, North East Derbyshire, Rotherham and Sheffield to identify the key future priorities for the Sheffield City Region.

James Newman, LEP chairman, said, “This was an incredibly positive event which shows the significant scale of ambition of leaders in the Sheffield City Region.”

“It is clear that leaders from the public and private sector are keenly committed to working together to create economic growth and jobs for our City Region.”

The meeting identified the areas on which a growth plan would need to focus. These included how to better promote and sell the City Region, grow existing businesses, attract investment, accelerate improvement in education and skills, and encourage creativity and innovative ideas.

The UK Government has asked the LEP to set out its economic ambitions for the City Region by December.

Through its growth plan, the Sheffield City Region will compete with other UK areas for powers and funding to be handed down by the government.