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A year of continued evolution and engagement for the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP

Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (SSLEP) has published its 2021-2022 Annual Review, highlighting the key achievements over the last financial year as it continues to evolve and adapt to the changing needs of business and the economy.

The LEP has continued to support local companies navigate the business support landscape and by working with partners, it has helped nearly 3,000 businesses to grow and access support; supported almost 500 individuals to start a business through the Growth Hub; created 297 new jobs and leveraged £65.61million in private investment into the region.

Helping businesses to invest in skills and training has also remained a priority – from supporting the development of new learning centres and state of the art facilities through to offering 878 businesses a bespoke skills review and helping over 3,000 individuals to upskill through the Skills Hub. The LEP also launched a ‘Skills for Growth’ survey which engaged with businesses in the region to deepen local understanding of skills demand and support skills and supply matching.

Over the past 12 months, a number of projects that have received LEP investment to create and re-purpose spaces for businesses to grow and innovate have opened their doors, including Stoke-on-Trent’s first flexible workspace Smithfield Works and Shire Hall which has come back to life as a modern business space. Many major infrastructure projects have also progressed this year with Etruria Valley Link Road starting on site and construction completing on the Innovation Way development as part of the Ceramic Valley Enterprise Zone’s Chatterley Valley East site.

The climate emergency has also remained a key focus for the LEP as they have proudly partnered with local stakeholders to support the establishment of the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Climate Commission. The Group will be instrumental in accelerating climate and nature recovery action across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.

As the LEP has continued to evolve and adapt to the changing business and economic needs of the region, it undertook its largest ever business engagement and listening exercise through a SITREP which engaged with almost 800 local businesses providing an unparalleled level of insights into the needs of the business community. The LEP’s key focus for the year ahead is to continue investing in this invaluable business insight and intelligence to help inform and shape future business support and economic growth activity in the area.

Alun Rogers, chair of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP, said:

In our delivery plan for last year, our priorities were to create the right conditions for businesses to grow, create jobs for local people and to make a significant contribution to national competitiveness.

Our ambition was to do this by working in partnership to focus on innovation-led growth, digital skills and technologies and the provision of the right digital and physical infrastructure across our area. As this Annual Report sets out, I am so proud that the LEP has delivered on this ambition and in particular, the impact partnership working has had.

As we look to the future, we continue to see the evolution of the LEP as an opportunity. An opportunity to further build on the model of partnership working at a local level to deliver maximum impact for businesses and amplify the voice of business locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.