Background to the Local Economic Assessment
Mickeldore - Gaining Value from Local Economic Assessment
From the 1st of April 2010, local authorities have a legal duty to undertake Local Economic Assessments (LEA). The purpose of the LEA is to improve the evidence base around economic issues so as to provide a common understanding of locality to inform policy and priorities and will help in understanding and forecasting future trends and development. The LEA will also be critical in informing Regional Strategies, Sustainable Community Strategies, Local Area Agreements and other strategies.
The LEA provides an effective structure to bring together existing local, sub-regional and regional data that will help to construct the 'story of place'. The LEA will build from the starting point of the area, its partnerships and economic linkages with the wider region. In the Draft Statutory Guidance (December 2009) produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government in advance of the final guidance, it is proposed that the assessment should address the following core set of themes:
- Economic Geography and Economic Flows
- Business and Enterprise including structure of the local economy; Enterprise and Innovation; Business Needs.
- People and Communities including demography and geography; labour market; skills; economic and social exclusion.
- Sustainable Economic Growth including relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability, the existing and future way the locality can meet the low carbon economy; transport and other infrastructure; Housing.
- Economic Competitiveness including specific strengths and weaknesses of the local economy.
However, these themes are not prescriptive and local authorities can decide what other key issues that affect their locality should be included in the LEA.
Local authorities are required to complete their first LEA within a maximum of 12 months from the 1st April. Following this, it is suggested that local authorities should review the LEA every year, with a full refresh every three years.
A number of local authorities have already started preparing their assessments and Mickledore is working with Barth & NE Somerset Council in their approach for the LEA.