by business editor Trevor Sturgess

The Government has backed a controversial Kent, Essex and East Sussex partnership that promises to create "an economic powerhouse."

The successful bid by the three county councils is a much bigger LEP than the Kent and Medway scheme originally proposed.

It will be business-led, although councils will have considerable influence. The partnership aims to promote economic growth by tackling issues such as skills, housing, tourism, transport and infrastructureThe new three-county LEP will take over some of the functions of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) which is to be scrapped. But it will have less money to spend.

While some business leaders have criticised the larger LEP as being too big and rather too similar to the regional agency it will replace, Kent County Council says it will create an "economic powerhouse" with 3.9 million people and 1.3m jobs.

KCC leader Paul Carter said the LEP would "hit the ground running." "It will help us unlock the massive economic potential of Kent, Essex and East Sussex, with a real drive for new business growth, jobs and improved transport infrastructure."

Geoff Miles, chairman of Kent Economic Board, said the business community in Kent and Medway had really got behind this LEP. "We believe there are considerable commercial opportunities to be gained from increased economic co-operation with Essex and East Sussex which will benefit many of our key sectors."

But Richard Cripps, managing partner at Gullands, the Maidstone-based law firm, sounded a note of caution. "LEPs will have a broad economic development focus, but the main problem we can see with them is that the strategic focus provided by the RDAs will be lost," he said. "There is no wider, regional overview - something SEEDA for all its faults was good at providing."

Miles Templeman, director-general of the Institute of Directors and chairman of Faversham brewer Shepherd Neame, said: "We are concerned about just how much influence LEPs will have. Without any obvious formal or informal clout in the planning process, it is highly questionable whether LEPs will be effective."