³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

JBprospectus2
Click on this link (it's a Word document but will also open with Notepad, Wordpad etc) to read the latest version of Sir John Banham's blueprint for the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership. This version was written on 15th December to update the original, written on 4th December.

Sir John tells me he is currently working on a further version to reflect comments and opinions he has received in recent weeks. He also tells me he sees the board members being (initially) appointed and then subjected to re-election by a ballot of "stakeholders" in similar fashion to a PLC. Here's an extract from Version 2 document:

"The Partnership should be set up as a Limited Company, subject to exactly the same corporate governance rules as are set out in the Combined Code of the London Listing Authorities. The closest analogy would probably be publicly-quoted investment trusts, which do not have any corporate staff beyond a small secretariat that supports the entirely non-executive Board of Directors; all fund management activities are sub-contracted to an appointed fund management company.

"During the start-up phase, while the directors are being recruited and SPVs established, the Partnership would need to look to Cornwall Council for the necessary support.

"The Partnership would be structured to oversee a series of special purpose vehicles (SPV), as well as the work of the CDC. Each new SPV would have its own Board of Directors, management organization and shareholding structure/joint venture partners; management and employees would own up to 10% of the equity in each enterprise. The Chairman of each would sit as a Director of the Partnership; and the people of Cornwall would have a significant strategic shareholding in the vehicle which would be funded by Cornwall Council."

Just before Christmas Cornwall Council sent me a statement saying board members would be appointed through a - a reference to Lord Nolan's recommendations to improve the transparency and integrity of public appointments.

I asked Sir John about this and he's clearly not keen on a Nolan process. I don't see how both Sir John and the Council can be right....so let's fire off a few more questions to County Hall and see what comes back.

And of course, both Sir John and the Council are at odds with a sector of the small business community, who think the main purpose of the LEP is to support (rather than change fundamentally) Cornwall's existing economic model. There's a meeting of small business interests at Roche this evening, so no doubt more to report tomorrow.