£730m BOOST FOR TRANSPORT SCHEMES
Lancashire has been awarded the largest share of ‘Network North’ cash that the government has freed up following the scrapping of the northern leg of the HS2 high speed rail line.
The county council has been handed £494m from the £2.5bn pot intended for transport infrastructure projects – more than any of the 27 local authorities across the north and midlands eligible for the cash.
Lancashire’s share is even bigger when the £116.9m for Blackburn with Darwen and £120.8m for Blackpool is added to the sum. It all adds up to more than £730m for the three authorities at the heart of the county’s devolution deal.
The government has announced the funding – part of £2.5bn allocated for the north of England – will be delivered over seven years, starting from 2025.
A county hall statement said: “Lancashire’s transport planners have already been re- examining their ambitions, and the county’s leaders will now be talking to MPs and partner councils about their priorities in order to put forward a clear and joined-up vision.”
Aidy Riggott, cabinet member for economic development and growth,
Frankly Speaking COUNTY NEEDS
TO STOP TALKING
TO ITSELF By Frank McKenna
Downtown Lancashire in Business
Lancashire is a fantastic place to work, rest, and play. We know this because we tell each other every time we meet.
Whether that is at Burnley Bondholders meetings, Preston Partnership gatherings, events hosted by my organisation DIB, or indeed this wonderful magazine Lancashire Business View, we can bring together hugely impressive business leaders who are able to wax lyrical about their own personal success, and the potential and opportunity of the county.
However, when it comes to promoting our brand beyond ‘county lines’, we have lost our way.
After a flurry of hugely impressive activity from Marketing Lancashire pre-pandemic, including an award-winning appearance at the major property festival MIPIM in Cannes, Lancashire has returned to not so
much hiding its light under a bushel, but burying it 10 feet under.
At that same MIPIM event this year, I will search in vain for a Lancashire presence, as I visit investor promoting stands from Manchester, Liverpool, and Newcastle.
At a parliamentary reception hosted by the county council in the Speaker’s House last year, the great and the good of the Red Rose county were in the room – but London investors, there were none.
It’s good to talk – and there is no harm during these challenging times of slapping ourselves on the back and building self- confidence.
However, we know how great Lancashire is. We need to find a way, once again, of telling everyone else, in the UK and internationally.
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
added: “This massive increase in funding means we have the opportunity to deliver some hugely significant transport improvements on a scale that usually only comes about once in a generation.
“We already have a clear idea of the projects we think can bring the biggest benefit to our economy, businesses and residents, and we’ll now be talking to Lancashire’s MPs about what they see as the key priorities for the communities they represent.
“Together we will work to produce a clear and joined-up vision for transforming transport in Lancashire, and I look forward to starting those conversations over the coming weeks as we await guidance on the type of schemes which will be eligible for support with this funding.”
Labour was less enthusiastic. Louise Haigh, the party’s shadow transport secretary, said communities were “sick and tired” of what she described as empty promises.
She said: “Only the Conservatives could have the brass neck to promise yet another transformation of transport infrastructure in the midlands and north after 14 years of countless broken promises to do just that.”
Steve Brennan Co-founder & CEO
A BETTER WAY TO HIRE YOUR
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www.bespokedigital.agency
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