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Heart of the South West to unveil Business Plan

Heart of the South West (HotSW), the Local Enterprise Partnership for Devon, Somerset, Plymouth and Torbay will launch its Business Plan at a full meeting for Business Forum members at the Tiverton Hotel on 3rd April.

The Business Plan sets out the objectives, opportunities and priority initiatives for the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) over the coming months.

HotSW Chair, Tim Jones said: “The launch of the Business Plan is a very important milestone for the LEP. There is much work to be done to create catalysts for economic growth and development across our area. The Plan brings together our vision and objectives, as well as our priorities for the coming months.

“We need to harness the expertise, will and ability from our business and public sectors to create opportunities for growth, increase our competitiveness and enable entrepreneurial flair and innovation.”

Business Forum members will have the opportunity to see for themselves the results of the LEP’s extensive consultation with businesses, organizations and the public sector across the HotSW area. Stakeholder engagement events were held in Exeter, Plymouth and Somerset.

In addition to the launch, the LEP will use the opportunity to provide feedback to Forum members on many key concerns arising from the engagement events. One of the most important has been identifying and collating business perceptions of the key barriers to economic growth in the South West.

The LEP will set out some of its proposals to facilitate task groups to begin addressing these issues.

Rupert Cox, Chair of the Business Forum said: “The Business Forum has a vital role, acting as a ‘critical friend’ to the LEP. The Business Plan has been developed with a huge amount of input from the Forum members, and I would encourage all members to attend the launch.”

The meeting is only open to members of the Business Forum.

For more information on the work of the Heart of the South West, please visit www.heartofswlep.co.uk

Ends

Notes to Eds:

There will be a separate media launch where LEP Board members will be available for interview on 3rd April. Details will be issued to media when finalised.

For more information, contact Liz Waugh or Julie Everett at Coast Communications on 01752 847135 / 07966 388921

Heart of the South West

The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has been formed under the leadership of the private sector supported by the local authorities from Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay and the area’s District Councils. It is one of 32 partnerships created since the Government’s Local Growth White Paper published in October 2010.  More information about the work of the LEP is available from the website www.heartofswlep.co.uk.

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      David Ralph

      Chief Executive

      David Ralph started as Chief Executive of Heart of South West LEP at the beginning of June 2018. Previously, he had spent 5 years as CEO of the Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire (D2N2) LEP from 2013 where he oversaw the development of the D2N2 Strategic Economic Plan and sector strategies, 3 Growth Deals with HM Government to deliver a £1billion capital investment programme, securing and implementing £200m ESIF programme, the Derby and Nottingham Enterprise Zone, the D2N2 Skills Deal and Time for Innovation programme, community fund and led the executive team to develop the HS2 East Midlands hub. He was also closely involved in the proposed North Midlands Devolution Deal and one of the key architects in establishing the Midlands Engine, chairing the officer steering group. Whilst in this role David was a NED of the Nottingham Enterprise Zone, and Marketing NG, the Outer Estates Foundation and a Governor of Nottingham College and on the advisory Board of Nottingham Business School.

      Before the East Midlands, David was CEO of the Have Gateway Partnership working closely with local stakeholders including the ports of Felixstowe, Harwich and Ipswich and BT Adadastral Park across Suffolk and Essex and prior to that was Chief Exec of the Barton Hill New Deal for Communities programme in Bristol and the Nelm Development Trust in Norwich.

      David is a keen sailor, walker and trail runner.