Local Economic and Community Plans LECP | Guidelines 2021
providing a co-ordinated local focus to support and inform the efforts of the economic development agencies and identifying any gaps in that regard; identifying possible risks to local employment, developing strategies to address them in conjunction with relevant agencies and coordinating/mobilising response to such eventualities; economic development measures within the local/ community development programmes; measures to support labour market activation under commitments in the forthcoming National Economic Recovery Plan (NERP); measures related to the delivery of support to micro-enterprises locally, in accordance with the provisions of service level agreements with Enterprise Ireland, to SMEs in line with the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and to other businesses operating in the Local Authority area, as appropriate; measures to ensure that the skill needs of enterprises and potential enterprises in the area are addressed by education and training providers particularly the ETBs and HEIs; and measures to ensure that adequate and appropriate enterprise space is available at a wide range of locations throughout the county to facilitate FDI and local enterprise development and growth reviews of development policies to identify any major barriers to enterprise development in rural areas and the steps which might be taken to address these barriers. Other areas of action, primarily in the context of regional economic development opportunities, include:- targeting relevant economic sectors/activities with strong potential for success and growth based on the inherent attributes, resources, capabilities or other strengths of the area; measures to capitalise on identified potential, including development of critical mass, clustering, synergy, or a platform/catalyst to generate or stimulate further sustainable economic activity, identifying particular local opportunities in that regard, and specifying action to maximise that potential in line with the principles of smart specialisation and place-making;
action to improve infrastructure of strategic importance to economic development within the context of the region and regional
economic development priorities; promoting linkage/synergy between
businesses (including between existing and enterprises and prospective investors), third level institutions or other relevant parties, such as business networks, arrangements for provision/sharing of data, information, and market intelligence, and interaction/ collaboration between sectors and organisations; and mobilising necessary action (by relevant agencies/institutions in relation to factors of strategic importance to economic development such as educational opportunity, relevant research, technology and innovation, strategic infrastructure (physical or ICT), public transport and access generally, effectiveness and productivity of the work force and enhancement of its skill base and resilience, with particular focus on sectors targeted for economic development in the region. Information and Input The information outlined in the “Content of Economic Elements” of this document is an essential platform for the LECP. Further sources of information of specific relevance to the economic element are referenced in this section. Duplication with work of other agencies must be avoided, but such work should, provide a framework/platform for the economic development role of the Local Authority and other locally-focused economic development bodies with local objectives and actions being formulated which are consistent with national policy and regional objectives and strategies. A statement of current economic performance using relevant data could help to provide an economic baseline for the formulation of the LECP. This could help to identify where performance needs to improve and could be used to develop likely scenarios of future performance and policy options. Sources of information and other input of particular relevance to the formulation of the economic element of the LECP could include the following:-
51
Powered by FlippingBook