into projects and seeing them delivered is going to be really important.
Rachel W: There is an excitement. The opportunity and the public sector and private sector are aligned for growth.
One growth opportunity is the need for between 100,000 and 140,000 people to join the nuclear sector by 2030. That is massive and it is important to support the skills, getting people in and understanding that working in advanced manufacturing is exciting.
Andy Walker
It is a long career, you can have it locally right here in this county, you don’t need to move away and why would you want to come and live anywhere else except Lancashire?
MB: Businesses around the table will talk about the fact that they are being held back by infrastructure, whether it’s transport, energy or broadband. We’ve got to make sure that this government is investing in the infrastructure to unlock the economic potential of Lancashire.
Rob W: The university has stepped up to the plate. We’re actually investing, along with BAE Systems, in the Warton Enterprise Zone and in particular a facility called ‘Altitude’. It’s an example of the role we can play in the region.
Robert Walsh
Jane C: We’ve had a programme of engagement with businesses through the Local Skills Improvement Plan to understand, ‘In the next 30 years, what do you want to see from the curriculum that the schools and colleges and universities need to offer, to make sure that we can underpin your business with employees to take you into the next level?’
This growth plan says, ‘We will invest in making sure that we collaborate with business and we underpin the FE, the HE education system to make sure we are filling that chain’.
John C: As well as having our strategy and structure in place, there are things that are on that agenda, the Cottam Parkway rail station is a good example of projects waiting to go.
We’ve got to accelerate that so people can see it happening. People said the new cinema in the centre of Preston would never get built. It has and people in the city are now changing their views and saying ‘Things do change here’.
For us on the business board moving our plans
We’ve taken over two hangars and a two-storey building on the enterprise zone. It has been essentially, refurbed by BAE, but the university has put funds into that as well.
Altitude is a physical manifestation of the aspiration, the momentum and the confidence that we should have for Lancashire. We are very much part of team Lancashire.
We’re looking at aerospace, we’re also looking at space. There’s AI and cyber, not just in terms of development, but of use.
The emphasis is on supporting what is necessary in the area. There’s no sense us doing an engineering degree which is nothing to do with anything that’s engineered in Lancashire as an example.
PG: That facility is a huge opportunity for Lancashire, it’s bringing capabilities and the development of skills in an area of future technology, both in aerospace, space and defence.
Defence and space are going to be huge areas of financial growth because of the opportunities in the UK, which are centred up here.
MR: The growth plan document is a way of bringing together a Lancashire message that generates economic growth. By default, that economic growth will reach all parts of Lancashire.
The business board needs to hear from business, it wants to hear from businesses and the business voice will be listened to.
If our meetings have proven anything, there’s a healthy debate, discussion and a lot of collaboration going on but, if you speak to us, the ears are definitely open and your voice will get heard.
AW: Some of the best minds in the county are on the business board but you can never be the smartest person in the room, can you? There are always other ideas and other perspectives out there, and we need to listen to those.
The Lancashire
Growth Plan 2025 – 2035 Powering innovation to drive economic growth.
View the plan:
Lancashire-cca.gov.uk
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
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