The AGM is a requirement of all companies and indeed LEP guidance requires that all LEPS should publish an annual report.
Our Annual Conference is an opportunity to be accountable to shareholders and we held ours two weeks ago at MediCity in the heart of the Nottingham Enterprise Zone.
Attended by over 200 businesses from across the D2N2 area we have worked hard over the past 12 months to try to raise our profile with our constituencies. A challenge going forward is to raise our profile with our citizens so that our programmes and products are embedded in evidenced support from local communities.
As well as publishing our annual report, we also published our second ‘State of the Economy’ report and also specifically set out the achievements of the LEP over the past 12 months and the challenges looking ahead.
Obviously, our event was dominated (and timed) to coincide with the Growth Deal announcement.
Unfortunately our key note speaker, Greg Clark, Minister for Cities was reshuffled earlier in the week and consequently had to give his apologies, which gave a more D2N2 focus to the event.
As well as myself – you can view my speech here – and Chair Peter Richardson, we were delighted to hear a business perspective from Graham Mulholland, MD of EPM Technology, hot-footing it from the Farnborough air show and hosted a question and answer session to provide an opportunity for challenge and debate.
We also launched our latest video – you can view D2N2 videos on the D2N2 YouTube Channel– and also confirmed that Peter Richardson would remain Chair of D2N2 for the coming year. We also announced that we are inviting applications for further private sector Board Members, preferably with specific knowledge in our key sectors. The application process can be viewed here.
Looking ahead, the key challenge for the LEP will be translating plans into delivery. LEPs remain very light touch and reliant on partners to deliver our key projects. Our capacity to hold these partners to account and mobilise effective delivery across the whole D2N2 area quickly and effectively whilst being transparent as to where the money goes will be challenging indeed.
David Ralph
Chief Executive
D2N2 LEP
