44 BUILT ENVIRONMENT
TAKING A STRATEGIC VIEW
Nick Gerrard, growth and prosperity programme director at Blackpool Council Frank McKenna, founder and chief executive at Downtown in Business John Chesworth, executive chairman at Harrison Drury Solicitors
The strategic context of Lancashire’s levelling up bids was put into focus by our panel of experts as they looked at the proposed projects and their potential impact. We asked if there was an over-arching vision for the county
NICK GERRARD
The half a billion pounds that Lancashire is seeking is a statement of ambition but they are a series of individual projects, each of which will have a dramatic impact, whether that’s to transform the tourism offer or stimulating business.
It sounds a lot, but over Lancashire it isn’t. We talk in Blackpool about our nearly £2bn Greater Prosperity Programme. That is not enough to tackle everything that needs tackling, so it has to fit into a wider context.
That must be the vision for Lancashire, what we’re trying to do and to actually sell that vision.
We need to sell our vision to the funders, in this case the government, because the more they see these individual projects as part of a bigger vision the more people will get on board and that will have a positive impact on business.
This is a bidding process for the Levelling Up funds, but the levelling up agenda is much broader than that. The built environment is a means to an end, and we need to focus on the skills agenda to make sure that our populations are benefitting from these buildings, whether that is an Eden Project or a Multiversity.
I have previously worked in Manchester and Liverpool, and I have seen in Manchester the consistency of purpose to their agenda and their responding to whatever changes came about in government, such as what we’re trying to do now with Investment Zones. You need that consistency and strategic aims to deliver that. There is no doubt that collectively we can get a bigger bang for our buck.
There are signs of hope. One local example is Blackpool’s Multiversity project. The three Fylde coast local authorities, Wyre, Fylde and Blackpool, have worked together on this and the bid for the Multiversity was supported by Wyre because it will benefit the whole coast.
Lancashire, collectively, is now looking to produce the Lancashire 2050 Plan. If that is produced and we get the heft behind it as a serious prioritised piece of work, that will help to deliver regeneration.
FRANK MCKENNA
Lancashire is in a fantastic place in terms of its location, its natural assets its resources and just look at the businesses we have in terms of diversity, we have everything from BAE Systems to a vibrant SME sector.
But what we don’t have, which we have seen develop rapidly in places like the West Midlands, Liverpool City region and Manchester, is that
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