co-ordinated approach, that prioritisation of the things that will make a massive difference strategically.
Where we are still missing a trick is that we are focussing on these great individual projects which all have merit in their own right, but where do they take the county as a whole?
Outside investors want to see a coherent plan. What we have is a series of more local plans, but the over-arching county plan isn’t yet clear enough.
I have not seen anything in the country as exciting as the Eden Project and yet it is just one on the list. We should have had this delivered three or four years ago - would have, had our politicians been co-ordinated and speaking with one voice.
There is still parochialism. That is not a progressive way of approaching a levelling up agenda, it has to be a strategic, co-ordinated approach.
When we talk about strategic investments in our transport systems in this part of the world, we talk about how we can get to Manchester or Liverpool quicker. When are we going to talk about how we can connect Lancashire’s hubs and towns better than we do now?
If you look at Manchester’s success and what the West Midlands is doing now, before everything else what is their priority – it is the tram system in Manchester, its reregulation of the bus services and a new tram system right across the West Midlands connecting the towns and hub cities.
I am optimistic about the opportunities that Lancashire has, they have been there for the last decade. The sad thing is, we are still not in the place we need to be to take full advantage. That is where politicians come in but it’s also where we in business come in because we’ve got to push those common purpose agendas.
Investment Zones are new to most of us, but it seems we are going to see some deregulation of the rules on planning that often get in the way of some of the more innovative ideas.
Certainly, what we see in this country as a result is a slowing down of ambitions, which leads to investors going elsewhere and that can mean anywhere in the world. This cutting of bureaucracy is important to stop this happening.
JOHN CHESWORTH
The case for a mayor is completely made out from a business perspective. I was at an event a year ago and the room was asked, who would like a mayor? All but one or two out of 300 people put their hands up.
It just seems to me the political will isn’t there because it is too difficult to deal with. But if we don’t then we are going to end up further behind. The business community has a role to play in this. I know we don’t like to get involved in politics too much, but if we can see this is holding us back as an area then we should be talking to our politicians and get it changed.
Whatever you may think about the politics behind initiatives such as levelling up or Investment Zones, they are the opportunities that are on the table and we have to engage. If we don’t opportunity will pass us by and we will miss out.
The pragmatism that the private sector brings to such things as the Towns Fund boards is important.
Public/private sector partnerships must be true partnerships, not just a tick box exercise where you get a couple of business people in to say that you have consulted with the private sector just so your bid gets the tick in the right box.
Outside investors want to see a coherent plan. What we have is a series of more local plans but the over-arching county plan isn’t yet clear enough.
There is private investment going into some of the schemes we have heard about but outside investors, from overseas in particular, want to see more of a scale and we are only ever going to achieve that scale on a countywide basis.
As matters stand, there are other places for outside investors that are more advanced and more ready to receive it than here in Lancashire. But the opportunity is absolutely here, if there was more co-ordination. They want to see Lancashire as a market, not Preston or Lancaster or Blackburn as a market.
With Investment Zones, the way for local companies to get involved needs to be clearly signposted. Some of the larger contractors want to use local suppliers and contractors, but often getting the two together is hard, so early engagement with the big projects would help local businesses get involved.
LANCASHIREBUSINESSVIEW.CO.UK
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BUILT ENVIRONMENT
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