Pictured above: Johnathan Dudley, Midlands managing partner of Crowe Clark Whitehill

Money and influence will largely decide whether Local Enterprise Partnerships are a success or not, Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, head of Warwick Manufacturing Group, has predicted. 

Speaking at a Manufacturing Business Network dinner, organised by national audit, tax and advisory firm Crowe Clark Whitehill, and held at West Bromwich Albion Football Club, he highlighted the amount of competition to access the newly-created £1 billion-plus growth fund - the Government had been inundated by submissions for the first tranche of £200 million. 

Lord Bhattacharyya, who was involved in the creation of the Coventry & Warwickshire LEP, praised the way so many high powered businessmen had come forward to help run the organisations. 

It was far too early to say whether LEPs would work, and he very much hoped they would. 

But, in order to make that happen, extra money would be required after the first year. "They will need to pressure government to produce more." 

Lord Bhattacharyya said the Black Country - criticised in some quarters for setting up its own LEP and not going with Birmingham - had to argue its case much more forcibly. 

The area had many small and medium sized companies, but SMEs were not well understood by those in authority. Manufacturing was only 12-14 per cent of the economy and, albeit David Cameron was making a big effort to appreciate the needs of the sector, it was not seen as a major vote winner in its own right, albeit that would change if by driving growth its importance grew.

SMEs had special needs - skills, availability of capital, a favourable fiscal environment, marketing help and a system by which they could work with and integrate with bigger companies. 

But the Black Country must guard against charges of being isolationist and uncooperative. 

He told the network: "You must make yourself heard. Be articulate. Make it clear to the Government that the Black Country is a force to be reckoned with." 

And noting that the South-east was far ahead of other parts of the UK in this, he went on: "Go to Parliament. Lobby them. Take your local MPs to task. Tell your employees not to vote for them unless they perform. That is the way to get people's attention." 

Engineering employers group, the EEF, was getting better at it, the aerospace sector got billions of government money because it was so good at it, but generally manufacturers simply did not lobby enough.

The Government knew it could not get the growth needed from the City. However the pound was competitive and consequently export-led growth was gaining momentum.

"There is a following wind. You must capitalise on it." 

Johnathan Dudley, Midlands managing partner of Crowe Clark Whitehill, which has offices in Kidderminster and Walsall, said what particularly pleased him about LEPs was they were being told it was down to them - it was a blank canvas. 

And he praised the capabilities of Stewart Towe, managing director of Hadley Group, the newly appointed chairman of the Black Country LEP. 

One idea that had been discussed at the last MBN meeting was to have a kind of industrial lending agency, a Third banking sector, something perhaps along the lines of the old Birmingham Municipal Bank. 

Mr Dudley said: "We need to establish something that can compete and plug the demand gaps caused by banks repairing their balance sheets; something that could lend sensible amounts of money." 

Lord Bhattacharyya said the Government was trying to cajole the banks to lend more. 

The existing structure could go one of two ways - split retail off from investment banking or create a "green" bank, backing manufacturing and low carbon, possibly financed by a tax on mainstream financial institutions. 

"Let's wait and see what is in the Budget," he told the 20-strong round table discussion group. 

The Budget is on March 23.

The Manufacturing Business Network, organised by Crowe Clark Whitehill to provide a network for local manufacturers to meet each other, share best practice, capacity and business opportunities as well as to provide lobbying opportunities such as this dinner, is open to any West Midlands-based manufacturing business.

Interested parties should contact Miriam Sherwood on 01562 60101 or 01922 725590 or email miriam.sherwood@crowecw.co.uk.

For more information about Crowe Clark Whitehill, please visit their website here: www.croweclarkwhitehill.co.uk