10 years on - how the Coventry and Warwickshire Enterprise Partnership has helped businesses and organisations and the economy

The Coventry and Warwickshire Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) is celebrating helping businesses and organisations and the economy for 10 years.

For a decade, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have been driving forward inclusive economic growth across the country.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) has brought £191 million of investment to the area which has been match-funded by £407.4 million since 2011.

This has led to the creation of 17,504 jobs and the CWLEP is on target to deliver a further 13,858 jobs.

Alongside the CWLEP Growth Hub, 2,285 learners have been supported with an additional 3,942 people expected to be helped.

Over the last decade, a total of 5,464 business have been helped by the CWLEP and CWLEP Growth Hub and they are on target to support a further 4,065 businesses.

The CWLEP Growth Hub has dealt with just under 6,000 businesses in the last two years, has nearly 3,000 registered businesses on FinditinCW which has promoted more than £20 billion of tender opportunities and has had 28,000 site visits since launching CW Employment Solutions.

The chair of the CWLEP believes it has a critical role to play in shaping and delivering the area’s economic future.

Sarah Windrum, chair of the CWLEP, said: “The figures demonstrate the massive impact the CWLEP has had in the last ten years in Coventry and Warwickshire.

“We have driven investments across the region to enable the creation of jobs, apprenticeships and learning opportunities as well as supporting businesses to grow and innovate, whether they are an SME or global company.

“We have assisted businesses and learners through the intensive day-to-day operations of the CWLEP and the CWLEP Growth Hub – which continues to play a pivotal role among Growth Hubs in the region – while Coventry and Warwickshire Champions has had a vital role in promoting the area to highlight our innovation.

“All this has led to attracting inward investment and building world-leading facilities such as the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre as we cement our reputation for being pioneers in battery technology, automotive and manufacturing excellence.

“Before Covid, we were among the top three best performing LEPs in England and the best in terms of economic growth.

“Key to our success has been the fantastic private-public partnerships we have built throughout Coventry and Warwickshire and these will be vital in implementing our Strategic Reset Framework as we create the conditions for enterprise and innovation to flourish and play our part in delivering the nation’s net zero target.

“The CWLEP has a critical role to play in delivering our future ambitions and resetting our local growth trajectory to continue our pro-active future and drive the economy forward in all parts of Coventry and Warwickshire.”