North West Employers, previously known as the North West Regional Leaders Board, is the Local Authority Leaders’ Board for the North West region of England. It was established on 15 July 2008 and replaced the North West Regional Assembly. It was initially based at

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

but has since moved to St Helens in

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

Structure and membership

The board has 23 members of which 15 represent local government in the region and the remainder are drawn from business and the third sector. Three local government representatives will be drawn from each

Ceremonial County Ceremonial counties, formally known as ''counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'', are areas of England to which lord-lieutenant, lord-lieutenants are appointed. A lord-lieutenant is the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch's repres ...

in the region i.e.,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and

. A further 7 members represent Social Economic and Environmental Partners (SEEPs) and one further member is nominated by the

Lake District National Park The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

Authority. Participating (non-voting) observers can also be appointed. The board holds an annual meeting in July where a Chair and Deputy Chair are elected. The Chair is currently Councillor Sir Richard Leese, and the Chief Executive is Phil Robinson.

Functions and responsibilities

The board will work in the areas of housing, energy and transport, will scrutinise the work of the Northwest Regional Development Agency and will contribute to the Single Regional Strategy combining economic development and spatial planning. The forum's constitution describes its role as to: * set the strategic direction for, contribute to the development of, support and approve the Regional Economic Strategy, Regional Spatial Strategy and any subsequent Single Regional Strategy * approve the Forum budget * influence key Regional strategies * approve the Business Plan for the Forum * monitor the delivery of the Business Plan * approve and amend the Constitution and Standing Orders * appoint its Chair and Deputy Chair * appoint representatives to outside bodies. * establish any sub-groups, appointing their Chairs and determining their terms of reference

References

External links

North West Employers4NW Constitution
{{Regional planning in England Local authority leaders' boards in England Local government in North West England 2008 establishments in England Organisations based in Merseyside Government agencies established in 2008 Local Government Association