The leaders of the outgoing North East LEP say the organisation has left the region’s economy in a better place, despite a range of external challenges.

The LEP, which was formed in 2011, will officially go out of existence next month as its staff and functions are subsumed into the work of the new North East mayoral authority.

Figures released at the end of last year showed that the LEP has missed a target set 10 years ago to create 100,000 more jobs in the region. Having been significantly ahead of that target before the pandemic, the LEP’s plan was set back by Covid and other economic shocks that have followed, including soaring inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.

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But the LEP has exceeded targets on creating ‘better’ jobs, with the number of people in the North East working in professional and managerial professions increasing by more than 80,000 since 2014.

It has also been involved in a number of key infrastructure projects that are set to bring more employment to the region in the coming years, including the International Advance Manufacturing Park near the Nissan plant at Sunderland, the extension of NETPark in County Durham, Energy Central in Northumberland and part of the Helix site in Newcastle. Other projects that have been backed by LEP funding include the Beacon of Light sports and education centre in Sunderland, improvements to Newcastle’s Central Station, a visitor centre at Auckland Castle in County Durham and new units at the Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate.

The LEP has also won international praise for a groundbreaking careers advice programme called Gatsby and a data-led growth hub for SMEs.

The organisation was set up after the abolition of regional development agency One North East, though it had a smaller budget and fewer staff. The LEP’s board included seats for the region’s seven council leaders, but also business leaders and representatives of the education and charity sectors. The LEP board will become the business board of the new mayoral authority, while LEP chair Lucy Winskell will join the mayoral authority’s cabinet. LEP chief executive Helen Golightly will be retiring after May’s mayoral election.

Ms Golightly said: “We’ve been working on productivity and the overall economic wealth of the region. Better jobs will be higher paid and therefore the residents of our region get more wealth in their households.

“That strategic economic wealth work is really important but I’m very much a people person and for me, this is about what it mean for families in Walker or wherever. It was about focusing on particular sectors and assets that would grow the region’s productivity.”

She added: “The biggest thing we’ve achieved for me has been around the partnership working and how the region has pulled together. It’s always been around: what’s the strategy and what does the evidence say – and that’s where we invest. That’s been really important.”

Ms Winskell said: “The team should be very proud of what they’ve achieved. It’s been achieved with partners and it’s a really strong legacy to hand over to what will be a new way of working.”