IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/loceco/v37y2022i1-2p66-83.html

The role of the private sector in subnational governance: Learning lessons from England’s local enterprise partnerships

Author

Listed:
  • Jack Newman
  • Nigel Gilbert

Abstract

This paper seeks to learn lessons about the role of the private sector in subnational governance by analysing the UK’s Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). The paper outlines the public justifications for LEPs using documentary analysis, and then considers these against findings from interviews and network analysis, concluding that the justifications are problematic. LEPs were established on the assumption that civic and business leaders needed to be brought together in business-led institutions. However, network analysis shows most civic leaders also hold private sector roles, undermining the assumed need for a ‘bringing together’. Three further justifications of the LEP model are also challenged. Firstly, business leaders were supposed to enable knowledge flows, but analysis shows that this knowledge is skewed by unrepresentative LEP boards. Secondly, it was assumed that LEPs would catalyse networks, but the networks have been built around individual interests, without transparency. Finally, LEPs were meant to mirror business structures, but this has undermined democratic accountability. Taken together, these findings suggest that the creation of LEPs has attempted to solve the wrong problem in the wrong way. The paper concludes by proposing guiding principles for the role of the private sector in the Levelling Up agenda: representation, transparency and accountability.

Suggested Citation

  • Jack Newman & Nigel Gilbert, 2022. "The role of the private sector in subnational governance: Learning lessons from England’s local enterprise partnerships," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 37(1-2), pages 66-83, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:37:y:2022:i:1-2:p:66-83
    DOI: 10.1177/02690942221098615
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02690942221098615
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/02690942221098615?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Shutt & Joyce Liddle, 2020. "Comparing the development of Local Industrial Strategies across the Northern Powerhouse: Key emerging issues," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(4), pages 297-315, June.
    2. Andy Pike & David Marlow & Anja McCarthy & Peter O’Brien & John Tomaney, 2015. "Editor's choice Local institutions and local economic development: the Local Enterprise Partnerships in England, 2010–," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(2), pages 185-204.
    3. Huanming Wang & Wei Xiong & Guangdong Wu & Dajian Zhu, 2018. "Public–private partnership in Public Administration discipline: a literature review," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 293-316, February.
    4. Lorraine Johnston & John Blenkinsopp, 2017. "Challenges for civil society involvement in civic entrepreneurship: a case study of local enterprise partnerships," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 89-96, February.
    5. Cristian Gherhes & Chay Brooks & Tim Vorley, 2020. "Localism is an illusion (of power): the multi-scalar challenge of UK enterprise policy-making," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(8), pages 1020-1031, July.
    6. Daniel Bailey & Matthew Wood, 2017. "The metagovernance of English devolution," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(6), pages 966-991, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emil Evenhuis, 2017. "Institutional change in cities and regions: a path dependency approach," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 10(3), pages 509-526.
    2. Luo, Lanlan & Zou, Ziran & Chen, Shou, 2021. "Discounting for public-private partnership projects in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 218-226.
    3. Mark Sandford, 2020. "Conceptualising ‘generative power’: Evidence from the city-regions of England," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(10), pages 2098-2114, August.
    4. Xiaohan Li & Yang Lv & Md Nazirul Islam Sarker & Xun Zeng, 2022. "Assessment of Critical Diffusion Factors of Public–Private Partnership and Social Policy: Evidence from Mainland Prefecture-Level Cities in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, February.
    5. David Clelland, 2020. "Beyond the city region? Uneven governance and the evolution of regional economic development in Scotland," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(1), pages 7-26, February.
    6. Matthew Thompson & Vicky Nowak & Alan Southern & Jackie Davies & Peter Furmedge, 2020. "Re-grounding the city with Polanyi: From urban entrepreneurialism to entrepreneurial municipalism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(6), pages 1171-1194, September.
    7. Frolov, Daniil, 2019. "From institutions to extitutions to the post-institutional theory of institutional anomalies," MPRA Paper 95960, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Sep 2019.
    8. Athaulla A Rasheed, 2020. "Framing Metagovernance in the Context of Developing Democracies: An Institutionalist Viewpoint," Journal of Public Administration and Governance, Macrothink Institute, vol. 10(3), pages 91111-91111, December.
    9. David Beel & Martin Jones & Ian Rees Jones & Warren Escadale, 2017. "Connected growth: Developing a framework to drive inclusive growth across a city-region," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(6), pages 565-575, September.
    10. Jian-gang Shi & Hongyun Si & Guangdong Wu & Yangyue Su & Jing Lan, 2018. "Critical Factors to Achieve Dockless Bike-Sharing Sustainability in China: A Stakeholder-Oriented Network Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, June.
    11. Grillitsch, Markus & Stihl, Linda & Hermelin, Brita, 2024. "Municipalities’ role in regional development: Navigating subsidiarity, place-based approaches, and geographical variation," Papers in Innovation Studies 2024/10, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    12. Zhouying Song & Qiuhui Yao & Weidong Liu, 2024. "The Growth of Cross‐Border Regions Toward “Two Countries, One Park”: A Case Study of the Mohan–Boten Cross‐Border Cooperation Zone," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), December.
    13. He, Xiaolong & Wang, Chaoyi & Yang, Xiaowei & Lai, Zhoujing, 2021. "Do enterprise ownership structures affect financial performance in China's power and gas industries?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Menglei Jiang & Caiyun Cui & Bo Xia & Martin Skitmore & Yongjian Ke & Yong Liu, 2025. "Local Government’s Intention to Use Public-Private Partnerships for Infrastructure Projects in China: Antecedents in a Technology Acceptance Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-24, March.
    15. Liam Clegg, 2019. "Economic geography and the regulatory state: Asymmetric marketization of social housing in England," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(7), pages 1479-1498, October.
    16. Alcaraz Carrillo de Albornoz, Vicente & Sánchez Soliño, Antonio & Lara Galera, Antonio & Isabel Álvarez, José Miguel, 2021. "Bankrupt PPPs: Is it really so bad? Case study of R-3 and R-5 toll motorways in Spain," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 78-87.
    17. David Marlow, 2019. "Local Enterprise Partnerships: Seven-year itch, or in need of a radical re-think? – Lessons from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, UK," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(2), pages 139-148, March.
    18. Roberto Moro-Visconti, 2021. "Networking Digital Platforms and Healthcare Project Finance Bankability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-18, April.
    19. Dan Pan & Huan Chen & Guzhen Zhou & Fanbin Kong, 2020. "Determinants of Public-Private Partnership Adoption in Solid Waste Management in Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-14, July.
    20. David Clelland, 2022. "New regions in the periphery: Agency and politics in shaping the governance of regional development in the Scotland–England border region," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 37(6), pages 421-439, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:37:y:2022:i:1-2:p:66-83. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/index.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.