European Structural Funds &
Simplification - A LEP perspective
Jim Sims
Buckinghamshire Thames Valley LEP
April 2014
The boring bit ….
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE THAMES VALLEY LEP
• Last of 39 LEPs to be awarded
• Strong private sector involvement
• Ozymandias LEP
• Government Facing Strategic Partnership
• Smallest ESIF allocation in the country!
• No core cities
• Secretariat hosted within Buckinghamshire Business First
ME
• Trained Industrial Designer, moved into Service Design
• Over 20 years of working with EU Funding
• Background in training, business support, technology transfer
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39 LEPs
21 Overlapping
65 + (??) LEADER Groups
2% Technical Assistance (??)
65-ish (?) CLLD’s
? Integrated Territorial
Investments ??
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National Industrial Strategy
National Sector Strategies
8 Great Technologies
The Witty Review: Universities & Growth
Individual localities producing Smart
Specialisation Strategies
• Structural Fund Investment decisions will
underpin the development of some of
these capabilities
• Planned national platform to support LEPs
Tools for effectively managing Localism
within the European Programme
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An Integrated Territorial Investment is a tool to implement territorial strategies in an
integrated way. It is not an operation, nor a sub- priority of an Operational Programme.
Instead, ITI allows Member States to implement Operational Programmes in a crosscutting way and to draw on funding from several priority axes of one or more
Operational Programmes to ensure the implementation of an integrated strategy for a
specific territory. As such, the existence of ITI will both provide flexibility for Member
States regarding the design of Operational Programmes, and enable the efficient
implementation of integrated actions through simplified financing. The key elements of
an ITI are:
– a designated territory and an integrated territorial development strategy;
– a package of actions to be implemented; and
– governance arrangements to manage the ITI.
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Community Led Local Development – methodology for delivering bottom-up; publicprivate; integrated; innovative; co-operative investments that are focused on specific
sub-regional territories are community-led are carried out through integrated and multisectoral area based local development strategies and takes into consideration local
needs and potential.
LEP Perspective?
• A Flawed construct??
• There is political support for Localism
BUT
• What documents does the commission recognise?
• Who makes the rules?
• Who will issue the calls?
• Who makes the final investment decision?
• Who is designing the business processes?
• What is the minimum size of bid?
• Will there be a single application process?
• Many of these questions won’t be resolved for a few months
LEPs will be responsible for;
• Developing an overarching strategy;
• Developing an Annual Delivery Plan;
• Working with partners to
– Establish Local Investment
Committee’s;
– Develop project specifications;
– Have a role in the Appraisal process;
– Monitor and review project
performance
• Playing a part in guiding the process;
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Get involved!
Ask not what a LEP can do for you, but what you can do for a LEP!
Seek representation on the Local Investment Committees
Typologies of LEPs will likely start to emerge
– Sovereign States?
– Federations?
Understand the local politics
Understand the local strategies (including Smart Specialisation Strategies)
Try and build cross LEP programmes, with partners (where appropriate);
Involve the LEP Executive(s) in your thinking
Understand the national processes (as they emerge)
Understand the intervention costs
Use the national ‘Check and Challenge’ structures (where necessary)
Thank you
Any questions?