Kirklees employers have been given their say on plans to attract hundreds of millions of pounds of government investment to the Leeds City Region.

Roger Marsh, chairman of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), met Kirklees businesses during a visit to the district.

Mr Marsh visited turbocharger manufacturer Cummins at Turnbridge, the Deighton-based Textile Centre of Excellence and multi award-winning fabrics exporter Camira in Mirfield.

He also also attended a meeting of Kirklees Business Champions at Huddersfield University’s 3M Buckley Innovation Centre, where he outlined the LEP’s ambitious proposals for a share of the government’s £2bn Local Growth Fund.

The LEP is currently developing a Strategic Economic Plan in response to the government’s invitation to all 39 local enterprise partnerships nationally to negotiate a Local Growth Deal for their area.

As well as providing vital government funding to boost the region’s economy – including potential investment in business support, skills, transport, energy infrastructure and housing and development sites – the Growth Deal could also help the LEP secure new freedoms and flexibilities that would enable the region to take greater control of its economic destiny.

Mr Marsh said: “I’m delighted to have the chance to meet with Kirklees companies and hear what they see as the key opportunities for growth over the coming years.

“As a major manufacturing cluster within Leeds City Region – itself the largest manufacturing centre in the UK – Kirklees firms, including Camira, Cummins and countless others, are driving the UK’s manufacturing innovation and have an important role to play in helping the LEP develop the Leeds City Region as an economic powerhouse nationally and globally.”

Mr Marsh was formerly senior managing partner at PwC in Leeds.

As the firm’s UK Northern Leader, Government and Public Sector, he worked with the Smith Institute to create the policy proposal, “Rebalancing the economy: prospects for the north” and was seconded to the Cabinet Office in 2007 as director-general of strategic finance and operations.

Mr Marsh took up chairmanship of the LEP in July last year.

He has been Deputy Chair of inward investment body Leeds and Partners since 2011, working to help constitute a new board while shaping strategy and priorities for Leeds as one of the UK’s most significant financial centres.