A different kind of LEP

Asked if he had read Sir John Banham's prospectus for a Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, new chairman Chris Pomfret said he had "skimmed through it.....a bit." His salary will be £20,000/year for the part-time job. The remaining board members will be appointed over the next few weeks. "We should do only a few things - but do them really well," said Chris. He doesn't yet know what those few things will be, but drawing up a "to do" list will be top of the new board's agenda. And whereas Sir John envisaged a LEP run along similar lines to a PLC, with equity-holding board members elected by shareholders, Chris seems to favour a more traditional quango model - praising the transparency of the Food Standards Agency, whose board he joined in 2005.