I’m delighted to be able to say that there has been a great deal of interest in the emerging idea of a Seaside Towns Enterprise Partnership (STEP).
An initial draft letter to government has been circulated to some senior figures in the private, public and civil society sectors – a different ‘type’ of person in each of 6 seaside towns – to gauge opinion and start the ball rolling.
Everyone has said they’re interested, although there are some concerns that it might ‘muddy or dilute’ the county and sub-regional pitches for Local Enterprise Partnerships. 56 of these were received by the government yesterday (6th Sept) and are being considered. I won’t rehearse the reasons for a STEP again (see the last few posts), but the most important thing is that it is a different and complementary approach to the LEPs.
Amber Rudd, our MP for Hastings mooted it today with Greg Clark, Minister for Decentralisation who said “what a good idea”, which has got to be a good start. She has written to Greg Clark and Mark Prisk seeking further guidance on appropriate next steps and will also be talking to the other seaside MPs over the next few weeks.
Watch this seaside space… it’s time is coming.
