by business editor Trevor Sturgess

East Sussex may join Kent and Essex in a bid for a new local enterprise partnership (LEP), it can be revealed.

It has emerged that at last week's Tory conference, the Government suggested to Kent and Medway MPs and Kent County Council that a wider regional bid might win more favour.

Kent Economic Board director Megan McKibbin has written to members about the idea.

She said: "It seems to have developed traction on the basis that as a strategic LEP the three counties together have a population of 3.9 milllion - larger than any UK city region outside London - and some 130,000 businesses."

It appears that Eric Pickles, Communities and Local Government Secretary, is encouraging council and business leaders in Kent, Essex and East Sussex to draw up plans for a three-county LEP, which will be a far cry from the original Kent and Medway LEP idea.

Ms McKibbin adds: "The revised proposal will remain focussed on the bringing forward of key infrastructure, maximising the strategic location between London and European markets, the huge potential to harness the opportunities presented by the Thames Gateway, coastal renewal and the maritine economy, Britains' largest rural economy and our major growth points."

Roger House, chairman of the Federation of Small Business in Kent and Medway, criticised the idea, saying it would be "a LEP too far" and create "another SEEDA" which it is designed to replace.

He was "flabbergasted" that there had been no consultation with business about this latest development.

"As the leader of the largest single business group in Kent I am concerned that this concept of a business-led initiative is being lost," he said.