A look at the role new Local Enterprise Partnerships are due to play suggests they won't be responsible for very much at all.

Their powers, as set out in the Government's Local Growth White Paper, involve a lot of "working with government", "making representations" and "exploring opportunities" rather than making decisions.

Hopes that LEPs would take over policy functions such as planning, transport and economic development (placing these things under local democratic control, given that local councils play a leading role in LEPs) seem to have been dashed.

Now that the Birmingham-Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership has been approved by the Government, it is reasonable to ask what happens next?
LEPs, as far as anyone can see, will have no budgets to speak of and little in the way of executive powers.
What they will have is committed and enthusiastic support from the business community, for the time being at least.
The tireless efforts of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jerry Blackett to help get the Greater Birmingham LEP off the ground can only be applauded. And Jerry, ever the optimist, is already looking forward to the influence that businesses will be able to bring over the £15 billion of public expenditure in the LEP area.
He puts it like this: "LEPs allow us to identify a small number of important priorities into which we can all focus our collective efforts and resources. Some of these will not require new money but simply, better co-ordination and joining up of existing spend."

What are you optimistic about? Really, amid all the gloomsters, what are you optimistic about?

It's the question I asked a load of scientists who work locally; i.e. within about 20 miles of this breakfast table of mine where I'm writing this blogpost.

Amazingly, over 80 of these brilliant people responded, and their 76 essays are in a book.

And last month on 14th September, the first day

Black Country councils and business leaders are to press ahead with the local enterprise partnership bid - and will meet government officials to ask how they need to improve to get it accepted.

Their proposal was rejected by Business Secretary Vince Cable today, at the same time as he announced he was approving bids by neighbouring authorities including Birmingham and Solihull.

But the councils are not giving up - and, crucially, don't appear to be considering joining the Birmingham scheme, which would be another option.

So what happens to the European funding currently administered by the regional development agency?

It seems the Government is still trying to work this out - and needs to ask the European Commission for permission to introduce a new structure.

Advantage West Midland (AWM), the regional development agency, is currently responsible for the European regional Development Fund, which is providing £348 million for the region between 2007 and 2013.

Is this localism? It appears that Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, will personally decide whether to approve bids for a share of £1.4 billion in funding to improve local economies.

He will chair a panel to consider bids from local enterprise partnerships for a share of the regional growth fund.

The complex arrangements, with Ministers making decisions in Whitehall, sit uneasily with the Government's professed aim of devolving power to local authorities.

Cutting the size of the state might save money in the long run but it can be expensive in the short term - which explains why councils have been offered £200 million to help them "restructure their workforce", including dishing out redundancy pay.

The funding was announced in a press statement issued last week by the Department for Communities and Local Government following the Chancellor's Spending Review.

The Birmingham Mail reports today that the wife of Birmingham MP John Hemming has been charged with breaking into a home ­and snatching a kitten called Beauty.

Christine Hemming, aged 50, is accused of burglary at the home of a woman she believed to be her husband's mistress.

I must confess to having a sneaking regard for larger-than-life Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles.
When I first came across Mr Pickles, he was the newly-elected Conservative leader of Bradford Council in the late 1980s.
A Tory in charge of Bradford at that time was almost as shocking as the man who sat on the Queen's bed.
Mr Pickles hasn't changed much in the intervening years; if anything his views have hardened.
His basic take on local government is that councils generally are a wasteful over-paid, under-performing, over-zealous, interfering bunch of nitwits and that almost all services could be run more efficiently and cheaply by private and voluntary sectors.

An inquiry by the House of Lords Privileges and Conduct Committee has recommend that Lord Paul - a Labour peer with substantial business interests in the Black Country - be suspended from the House for 4 months.

He was found to have breached the rules around the designation of his main residence, and to have wrongly claimed night subsistence and travel expenses.

The Committee state that "We do not feel justified in finding, on the balance of probabilities that Lord Paul acted dishonestly or in bad faith. However his actions were utterly unreasonable, and demonstrated gross irresponsibility and negligence".

He has issued a statement in response. I'll be writing news stories for the Post & Mail but it's unlikely we'll be able to use the statement in full, as it is so long. Here it is:

It's always easy to make promises in opposition. As an undergraduate, a very long time ago, I joined a demo organised by Labour Students (I wasn't actually a member, if you're wondering) against student tuition fees.

This was when Labour was in opposition and the evil Tories were supposedly planning to introduce fees.

In fact, the Conservatives never got round to it - but a few years later, Labour was in power and guess what? Imposing tuition fees was one of the first things they did.

Now it's the Lib Dems who are set to change their tune, after signing a National Union of Students pledge to vote against any fee increase.

There's a feeling of disbelief at the city council at the Government's determination to foist a directly elected mayor on Birmingham.
Rumours have been around for several months that Tory Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles had a cunning plan to make sure a referendum to discover whether people wanted a mayor would produce the right result - that is a 'yes' result to please prime minister David Cameron, who is a huge fan of elected mayors.
Displaying an audaciousness and low cunning of which even the worst Stalinist states would have been proud Mr Pickles and Mr Cameron are certainly going to go ahead with the promised referendum, but only after the mayor is already in place.

Dominic Fisher aka praguetory writes:

The jokes and attacks on Labour were fun, but Cameron's closing speech was about communicating three serious messages, one theme and one vision.

The end is in sight for Birmingham City Council's exhausted Tory party conference delegation, no more so than for city leader Mike Whitby whose selfless dedication to duty has meant that no reception went unvisited, no Ministerial hand unshaken, writes Paul Dale.

I caught up with the great man lounging on the council's imported Breakfast Television sofa in the ICC, surrounded by his entourage, looking a little tired but very happy.
He was also looking a little, well, full. Not surprising really, since he was forced to eat two dinners last night.

Jonathan Walker writes: Ladbrokes report they have paid out punters who backed Eric Pickles to be spotted in a Birmingham curry house during the Conservative Party conference.

The Local Government Secretary used Twitter to post a picture of himself in an Indian restaurant and immediately called on Ladbrokes to "pay out!"

Alun Thorne writes.....Have just sat through fourth Mike Whitby address in 36 hours - and he was certainly on message for one of the more exciting announcements for Birmingham to come out of this week's conference.

Alun Thorne writes.....Refreshingly honest encounter with the 'big beast' Ken Clarke this afternoon at a Law Society bash at Opus just hours after he delivered his keynote speech at the ICC. Lots of common sense, a distinct absence of spin but couldn't help thinking how much he is beginning to look like John Prescott.

Dominic Fisher aka praguetory writes;

Meetings to debate policy on the conference fringe are numerous, packed and lively. Can we go back to how it was before?

Jonathan Walker writes: A good right wing policy from Ken Clarke today, as he announced prisoners would be forced to work (and earn wages), with a good proportion of what they earn siphoned off to help pay for the cost of keeping them locked up.

It sounds like the sort of thing old-fashioned Tories would lap up, but it's also been welcomed by charities which say it will help prepare offenders for life in the real world.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has promised to teach British children proper British history, which should also raise Tory spirits.

Dominic Fisher aka praguetory writes;

A referendum on the alternative vote or AV was a key concession made by the Conservative Party to secure the coalition. It's a Lib Dem idea which should be an easy thing for any Conservative to oppose, but looking at the arguments, this Tory has changed his mind.

Birmingham City Council leader Mike Whitby is like a dog with two tails at the Tory conference rushing around telling anyone who will listen how he has the ear of the Prime Minister, writes Paul Dale.
Whitby, the first Conservative leader of the council since the early 1980s, finally persuaded Cameron to pay a personal visit to the site of the new £187 million civic library in Centenary Square, a few metres from the conference hall.

Alun Thorne writes.....Reporting on the utterances of Mike Whitby can be something of minefield. So eager is he to push his positive messages about Birmingham that his natural ebulliance often gets the better of him and he ends up saying things he shouldn't. Today provided another squeeky bum moment for those tasked with trying to keep him in check.

Alun Thorne writes...Amusement at event hosted by financial services champions TheCityUK when chair and host Stuart Popham turned up late for his own event. Turned out he was sat three seats along from David Cameron for the Chancellor's speech in the main conference hall and didn't want the PM to think he had taken umbrage to the contents of George's speech. Eventually managed to sneak out during third ovation apparently.

Alun Thorne writes....I brushed off my best suit for the conference welcome event at the Water Hall. It didn't go unnoticed. It's a grey number that only sees the light of day for weddings and now party conferences. Unfortunately so many people passed comment I've now got a complex about the state of my ordinary business attire.

Jonathan Walker writes: A couple of interesting stories have come out of the Conservative conference which are now available online.

We've got some words from the Prime Minister who talks about a range of topics including plans for a Sikh "free school" in Handsworth, which have been criticised by he (Tory-led) city council.

Mr Cameron backs the proposal, saying: "This school - like any other free school - would be open to children of all religions and backgrounds. The admissions rules are clear: up to half of pupils can be chosen on the grounds of their religion and the rest of the places are for children of any faith or none. That's really important.

Dominic Fisher aka praguetory writes:

A conference veteran tells me that in 1997, he missed the looming presence of anti-Tory agitators who were a feature of Conservative conferences when we had been in government. After years of being out of power - when protestors at conference were little more than a minor curiosity - yesterday we saw the reversal which comes with power.

Dominic Fisher aka praguetory writes:

What can I say about Saturday evening at conference? With delegates pouring in from all over the country, hosting conference in Birmingham is a great opportunity for a spot of local fund-raising. Gareth Compton, who is the freshly elected Chairman of Erdington Conservatives isn't one to miss a chance to cash in and organised a highly profitable drinks and canapes event for Saturday evening at Mechu on Summer Row.

Jonathan Walker writes: I bumped into Lib Dem MP John Hemming (Yardley) at a Chinese restaurant on Saturday night. He's agreed to provide some of the entertainment at the Conservative conference, playing piano at the ICC.

So, naturally, he's got himself a pass, which he was pleased to show off. The organisation he is representing? The Conservative Party's friends the Lib Dems, of course.

Security staff were taking no chances with the sensibilities of Tories arriving at the Conservative Party conference, writes Paul Dale.
Large printed notices were plastered all over the lifts at Jury's Inn Hotel in Broad Street, where many delegates and some minor Government Ministers are staying, warning guests that they would have to put up with a trade unions demonstration due to march past the building.
There might be noisy scenes, for goodness sake, and banners with unpleasant messages.

Jonathan Walker writes:

The Conservative Party conference has been opened by Charles Barwell, former Constituency Chairman in Birmingham Edgbaston. His was the first speech of the event, but the one I'm looking forward to most today will come from Eric Pickles, the local government secretary.

Pickles is always good value, but today he should be particularly interesting as there are rumours of an announcement about Government plans to create mayors in cities such as Birmingham.