Councillor Ian Stephens, Leader of the Independent-led Isle of Wight Council has joined five others as new board members of the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
The new Board Members will join nine existing Board Members and take a key role in shaping local economic priorities and securing funding from central Government and Europe in order to deliver the LEP’s ambition of creating 10,000 new jobs in the Solent area.
- Councillor Simon Letts, Leader at Southampton City Council
- Councillor Keith Mans, Deputy Leader at Hampshire County Council
- Councillor Ian Stephens, Leader at Isle of Wight Council
- Professor Don Nutbeam, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton
- Rory Fisher, Managing Director of BAE Systems Maritime Services
- Jan Ward, Chief Executive Officer of Corrotherm International
Cllr Stephens, said:
“We are in need of new jobs for our Island residents and this will not be achieved in isolation.
“I will be working with the Solent LEP and our colleagues on the mainland to ensure that we can maximise support for the Island economy.
“Island businesses and entrepreneurs are already seeing the benefit of the LEP through the Bridging the Gap funding programme which launched last month and I hope that this will be the first of many initiatives we can announce.”
Doug Morrison, Chairman of the Solent LEP said:
“I am delighted to welcome all of our new LEP Board Members to the team. I am sure that the range of expertise secured will help us identify the best projects to support with the Solent Growing Places Funding we announced on Friday and ensure we can produce a strong investment strategy for the Solent to attract as much European and central Government funding as possible in the coming years. Collaboration between the public, private and academic sectors will be vital to this and I believe the Board Members announced today put the Solent LEP in an excellent position.”
The new Board Members bring the Solent LEP Board back to full capacity with eight senior Solent business leaders, five council representatives, one higher education representative and the Solent LEP Chief Executive. All Solent LEP Board Members are independently elected, ensuring the Solent LEP is accountable to its business, academic and local authority members.
Rory Fisher, Managing Director of BAE Systems Maritime Services and newly appointed Solent LEP Director, said:
“I am committed to ensuring a sustainable future for the communities in which we operate through the promotion of skills and educational attainment of our current and future workforce. Our waterfront region has huge potential and I am delighted to have the opportunity to work as part of the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership to promote, sustain and drive success for the local economy and, ultimately, the Solent community.”
