38 IN VIEW BURNLEY
Profile
STRENGTHENING THE LINKS
Lukman Patel, Burnley Council chief executive
RIGHT CONNECTIONS WILL DELIVER RESULTS
Burnley needs better rail and road connections to unlock more economic opportunities.
Business leaders in the borough believe improved connectivity, such as extending the M65 motorway east, would open up lucrative new markets.
Leon Calverley, director and founder of digital agency Door4, says: “The key challenge for us is connectivity.
Appointed to the role in August last year, Burnley’s chief executive Lukman Patel is looking forward to further strengthening the links between the council and the borough’s business community.
He sees that relationship as critical to the future wellbeing and growth of the borough as it works to meet its ambitions.
Lukman has worked with the local authority since 2015 in a number of key roles, including being the chief operating officer from 2017-23, and heading up its legal department prior to that.
Prior to his appointment as chief executive he was chief operating officer the council. He was appointed to his current role after a robust national recruitment process.
Before beginning his local government career at Trafford Council in 2014, he was a commercial property lawyer working for a national legal firm in Manchester.
He says that experience in the private sector has given him a good understanding of the “sense of urgency” businesses require and their need to adapt quickly.
Lukman adds: “The borough has brilliant people and enterprising businesses and a true sense of ambition.
“My aim is to give businesses the support and confidence they need to deliver continued, sustainable growth and prosperity that benefits all of Burnley.
“They know we are here for them and that we are on the same team as them. That is really important.”
The sustainable growth he talks about includes the continued transformation of Burnley from a former mill town to an established university town, alongside the continuing development of a highly skilled workforce.
Lukman says: “Those aims are really important.” He adds: “We want Burnley and Padiham to be places other towns aspire to be and places that residents are proud of.”
Leon Calverley Karen Buchanan
“We would really like to be able to get out further east more easily. We’re on the fringe of West Yorkshire but getting into the area to do business is real challenge. There is almost a wall.
“We’d like to see a better train service in and out of Manchester as well. Once an hour into the city just doesn’t quite do it.”
Dharma Kovvuri, dean of the UCLan Burnley campus, believes the borough should be knocking on the door of government, calling for investment to boost its connectivity.
He says: “The town has amazing ingredients of opportunity, I think it should be really bold and say, ‘This is our plan, we need to expand the M65, we need better train connections, faster train connections’. I think they’ll listen.”
David Kitson, partner at accountancy firm Azets, agrees there is a barrier between Burnley and West Yorkshire that needs lifting.
He says: “Infrastructure and better connectivity are really important. Let’s take the M65 all the way across and get the trains improved.”
There are also calls to improve local connectivity. Karen Buchanan, principal and chief executive at Burnley College, says: “We spend £865,000 a year putting extra buses on to get people to come to the college.”
She would like to see the creation of a slip road travelling westwards on Junction 11 of the M65, a development campaigners
believe would ease traffic locally as well as opening up economic opportunities.
Chris Speakman, of Speakman Contractors, fears that traffic problems will only get worse as the area continues to develop. He says every key point into Burnley suffers from gridlock and he adds: “Infrastructure is our route to growth and sustainability as a town.”
Training and skills development are also seen as key areas of focus when it comes to growing Burnley’s economy.
Philip Jones, director of new services at Calico Group, references a piece of research his organisation has been involved in, centred around young people and worklessness.
He says: “Young people are telling us what they see as their future in Burnley, and what they want to achieve.
“Our challenge is to respond to that and create the environment where they can thrive because if we don’t, they will leave the town.”
It is a point taken up by Burnley Council chief executive Lukman Patel. He says: “We’ve got five generations of worklessness in some areas, which is just absolutely shocking.
“There’s something wrong in the system which we really need to address, and we need to be bold.”
He adds: “Where the local business community can really help is working with the schools and colleges.
“We talk about the skills shortage, but we have the people and there’s a lot of untapped potential there, which we need to tap into.”
Wesley Kellow at Burnley Leisure Group also highlights the skills challenge, which he says is a “real issue” in the hospitality industry.
Ian Bythell, of estate agents Petty Real, says: “Thirty years ago you had to leave this town to go and get an education and now you don’t. You can be empowered from within Burnley and fulfil your ambitions.”
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