N8 AgriFood has today presented a brief to the chief executives of Local Enterprise Partnerships across the country advising them on how to embed environmental matters in to Local Industrial Strategies.
Local Enterprise Partnerships, known as LEPs, have been tasked by Government with creating Local Industrial Strategies – a long term plan to promote productivity that will be based on clear evidence and aligned to the national industrial strategy.
The strategies will co-ordinate local economic policy with national funding streams and promote public-private partnerships to deliver economic growth and job creation. As part of this, LEPs are being encouraged by Government to assess the role that natural capital may play in contributing towards economic growth.
However, so far few of the first Local Industrial Strategies approved by Government contain any recognition of “natural capital” or the natural environment in them.
N8 AgriFood, in partnership with Newcastle University’s Rural Enterprise UK (REUK) initiative, has produced a briefing outlining how natural capital can contribute to Local Industrial Strategy.
The briefing was authored by N8 AgriFood chair Professor Mark Reed, and presented by REUK Knowledge Exchange Facilitator Roger Turner at a meeting of LEP chief executive officers, held today.
The briefing terms natural capital as the stock of natural assets that provides services to support human life and wellbeing, and advises LEPs on how capital may be assessed through monitoring trends.