In the pursuit of economic growth: drivers and inhibitors of place-based partnerships

In the pursuit of economic growth, England has historically retained a level of centralized control despite policy attempts to decentralize. Consequently, attempts to create a subnational tier have struggled to establish a durable alternative. Reporting on the episode of localism, which began in 2010 and has involved the abolition of regional development agencies (RDAs) in favour of 38 voluntary local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) alongside the construction of a growing number of combined authorities, the research investigates a complex place-based economic landscape whereby the provision of guidance and sharing of practice in England remains limited. This paper draws on the existing literature to propose a conceptual model of place-based partnership that formed a scaffold for an empirical study involving 10 LEPs in the Midlands. A soft systems methodology was adopted to understand the factors that help and hinder these place-based partnerships. The paper advances the argument that the persistence of centralism limits the LEPs’ capacity to fill the missing space and observes a strong influence of central government and reliance on local government. Beyond the LEPs, given the global trend of decentralization, further research into the interplay between the factors in the conceptual model is encouraged to support the development of place-based partnerships as they work towards securing collaborative advantage.