Help shape the future of your Region apply to be a LEP Board member

12th July 2017

Dynamic individuals with an understanding of business and a taste for a challenge are being sought to help drive forward the work of the Sheffield City Region (SCR).

Four members of the Board of the Local Enterprise Partnership or LEP have reached the end of their three-year term and applications are invited for the vacancies. Today Sir Nigel Knowles, Chair of the LEP Board, said: -I'm tremendously grateful to our retiring members. They have given us a huge breadth of knowledge and depth of understanding of this region and its strategic economic needs. They have given their time and expertise most generously and we all have a great deal to thank them for. Several Board members will be joining a booming region that is smashing its own targets. It aimed to see 70,000 new jobs in the decade from March 2015 but just two years later 27,000 have already been created. The Local Enterprise Partnership Board, founded six years ago, has built an enviable reputation as a business orientated and pragmatic private-public partnership. It leads a region now well placed to take advantage of greater localism one of the key points of the Government's Industrial Strategy and to accelerate the rebirth of the economy. The LEP drives trade and investment activities, transport improvements, housing developments, and skills and training. With LEP support two global giants, the supercar maker McLaren Automotive and aero manufacturer Boeing, voted with their feet and began building bases in the region this year, and another two such major announcements are confidently expected in the near future. Now the SCR is looking for a three-year commitment from a new round of businesspeople prepared to sit on the LEP Board, giving their time and expertise to advise and guide the executive, working closely with the region's local authorities. The retiring members are Simon Carr, MD of Henry Boot Construction; Deborah Egan OBE, Arts Director; Paul Houghton, Partner at Grant Thornton; and Chris Scholey, former Chair of the Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust. Nigel Brewster, Vice Chair of the LEP, added: -I can honestly say being a LEP Board member is one of the most rewarding things I do. You learn a tremendous amount, meet fascinating people, and at the end of the day you can feel you've done some practical good for the region. -Members serve for three years and we are using this opportunity to look for people who are willing, unpaid, to represent the wealth of different businesses, geography and population we have in this region. We are working on a new Strategic Economic Plan which will be our road map for the next 10 years, and it brings a whole new set of exciting challenges so we are looking for the brightest and the best from across the whole of the region. -We're a region that's booming, and now is an amazing time to join us. For more information, and to find out how to apply, download the information by following this link: www.sheffieldcityregion.org.uk/lepboardrecruitment To receive a hard copy of this recruitment pack, or receive it in an alternative format please email LEPBoard@sheffieldcityregion.org.uk. The closing date for applications is 5pm, Friday 4th August.