supported its supply chain and that everyone across the sector was treated fairly. That included paying businesses on time to prevent them having cash-flow problems.
Gemma spoke of her fears that the decision-making process around planning permission was too slow.
She said: “We have lots of skilled people in the built environment and everyone is coming up against walls and getting frustrated that they can’t put the services in the right places and improve the lives of people living in Lancashire because the decisions are being made too slowly.”
Dan Hughes, planning director at Lancashire based PWA Planning, also highlighted the concerns over the current speed of the planning process and the challenges faced by under-pressure council planning departments.
He told the conference: “Local authorities are not particularly well-resourced and struggle with getting the right people and there are a lot of applications to process.”
Dan also said that some local authorities in Lancashire were more pro-development than others.
He told the conference that he believed that the Labour government’s work to change the planning system – including how greenbelt land is assessed and the introduction of the ‘grey belt’ would be a “positive”.
Dan told the conference: “There are going to be a lot of opportunity sites.”
PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT PANEL: John Chesworth, Harrison Drury Solicitors
Linda Dean, Blackpool and Fylde College and Lancashire and Cumbria Institute of Technology Courtney Prestage, Connections2energy
WE NEED TO POWER UP
Action is needed now to prevent an electricity supply crisis massively impacting development in Lancashire and the wider North West.
That was the stark warning from Courtney Prestage, commercial director at Haslingden based utility facilitator Connections2energy.
She told the conference: “There is a massive problem of capacity at the moment. In London and in the midlands at this moment in time there is no electricity capacity in certain areas.”
Courtney said that clients that have got their project through the planning stages have been told it will take 10-15 years to get them connected to the power they need.
She said: “It is not a problem in Lancashire yet, though it is in certain areas of Manchester. We need to see reinforcement action in Lancashire now so we can futureproof the grid and continue with the ambitious plans we’ve heard about.”
Courtney said more funding was needed to prevent problems developing rather than waiting until they are here.
The planned increase in housebuilding will also have an impact, she warned, along with the drive to deliver more electric vehicle charging points. Courtney told the conference: “We are using up our electricity quickly.”
Continued on Page 40
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