Study of Delivery Model for Enterprising Communities in West Cumbria

ERS were commissioned by Allerdale Borough Council in February 2008 to carry out a study into a Delivery Model for Enterprising Communities in West Cumbria. The study covered a number of aspects surrounding enterprise culture, including: the context and background for the study in terms of what enterprise culture is, looking at the national, regional and local policy context for enterprise culture; assessing the current levels of enterprise culture in West Cumbria, and the difficulties of measuring enterprise culture, building on established good practice in the basket of measures that were used; reporting on the findings from the business survey and stakeholder consultations about the current levels of enterprise culture and the specific issues in West Cumbria that influence the development of an enterprise culture.

The study also included an interim evaluation of a local project - the Enterprise Development Workers Project, which aimed to identify lessons learned and best practice that would help to inform the development of the delivery model for Enterprise Culture. The study also included a review of the model used by the NWDA Market Towns Initiative and identified lessons learned and best practice from this initiative that will help to inform the development of the proposed delivery model for enterprise culture. Finally, the study outlined the recommendations for the delivery model for enterprise culture. This included coverage of: the principles that should underpin the model; a proposed process to be carried out to develop a local enterprise assessment and action plan; the components of a delivery model and identification of anticipated outcome and impact measures of the model.

The study resulted in the following outcomes:

• A recommended Enterprise Culture Delivery Model
• An interim evaluation of the Enterprise Development Workers project
• An analysis of Enterprise Culture activity in Allerdale and Copeland
• Recommendations of appropriate interventions to fill any identified enterprise culture gaps in Allerdale and Copeland

ERS Contact: Andy Parkinson aparkinson@ers.org.uk 0191 244 6103