Local Transport Boards were established on Local Enterprise Partnership footprints, as joint bodies between Local Transport Authorities and LEPs. The Boards operated under an assurance framework which ensured that their decisions complied with Government requirements for transparency and accountability and adhered to DfT standards in assessing value for money.
The Heart of the South West Local Transport Board was formed in 2013. It has continued in operation until Spring 2021.
Local Enterprise Partnerships submitted their bids for the first round of the Local Growth Fund (Growth Deal) in March 2014, together with their Strategic Economic Plans. The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership asked the Local Transport Board to advise it on the prioritisation of transport projects, and to oversee the management of the Growth Deal transport programme, including the approval of business cases in accordance with the assurance framework.
There have been three rounds of Growth Deal funding, which has led to the delivery of 26 transport projects, alongside business and skills projects. Government’s objective for the Local Growth Fund was to support growth of the economy, with an emphasis of provision of additional housing and employment.
Over the past 7 years the Local Transport Board has approved the business cases for each of the Growth Deal projects. One of those projects (Forder Valley Link Road, Plymouth) was subsequently overseen directly by DfT, owing to its scale.
Some 16 projects had been completed by March 2021, and the remainder are under construction, with several nearing completion. Overall, the Growth Deal programme secured £118m for transport projects, which have a total overall cost of £264m.
The transport programme will support the delivery of over 16,000 dwellings and 22,000 jobs. Some 9,000 dwellings and 3,000 jobs have been supported by March 2021. By 2025 it is envisaged that the total of 16,000 new dwellings will have been reached, but the delivery timescale for the employment outputs is longer, as some of the transport projects will unlock major employment sites which will take up to 20 years to develop to completion.
The projects in the Local Growth Fund programme including the transport programme are listed here.
For an up-to-date status on these projects please click here (and link to the projects page heartofswlep.co.uk/projects/
The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership was one of 38 LEPs in England. The LEP was a leader and influencer for economic growth, job creation and prosperity across the Heart of the South West area covering Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay.
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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.