SHOPPING LIST: WHAT THE COUNTY WANTS
Lancashire County Council has bid to secure up to £50m to develop a range of complementary public transport, walking and cycling projects that would significantly improve travel opportunities for people across east Lancashire, making them safer and greener.
The council considered 600 potential transport schemes around the county before selecting projects in Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale.
Together they form the council’s bid, which it has titled ‘Levelling Up East Lancashire: Creating opportunities through greener, safer and healthier travel’.
Blackburn with Darwen has prepared two levelling up submissions to government. One will support its town centre masterplan – with phase one focused on establishing a new Business Innovation District with a £60m development. The second submission is looking to secure funding to deliver a £30m package of new transport infrastructure improvements at J5 of the M65, integrated with new walking and cycling routes to support growth opportunities in south Blackburn.
The Blackpool bid covers a range of projects. They include ‘Multiversity’, which is a £65m scheme for a new world class ‘university experience’ in the town centre.
There is also a £26m scheme for the refurbishment of the old Abingdon Street post office into a new four-star hotel and a £17.1m project to transform the town centre’s transport network, providing better traffic circulation with improved pedestrian areas.
Chorley has submitted a scheme totalling £45m that would transform three town centre sites creating a civic square, community health hub and town centre living.
Fylde has submitted a £13.14m bid: ‘From the Station to the Sea – Revitalising St Annes Town Centre and Promenade Gardens’. The LUF project will kick start the delivery of the St Annes-on-the-Sea masterplan by transforming public realm and connectivity from the station gateway to the promenade, integrating the town centre and seafront and providing a “linked, high-quality experience for residents and visitors alike.”
Lancaster’s bid is for £50m of public investment in Eden Project North in Morecambe, The Eden bid aims to be one of the two £50m awards being given out in the second round of the Levelling Up Fund for projects with a culture and heritage investment theme.
The bid builds upon the business case submitted to the government in September 2020 and sets out the economic, environmental, social, educational and cultural benefits that Eden Project North will bring to Morecambe and the surrounding region.
Around 300 high-quality green jobs will be directly created by Eden Project North, plus more than 1,000 additional new jobs supported in the region. Annual visitor numbers are projected to be 740,000 and additional revenue brought into local businesses due to Eden Project North
is set to exceed the £50m government investment within months of opening.
The Hyndburn £23m bid focuses on the redevelopment of Accrington Market Hall, Burtons Chambers and Market Chambers, all of which face onto the new town square:
The grade-II listed Market Hall will be refurbished and transformed in part into a higher-end eating, drinking and social venue with more modern facilities for small independent traders.
The important art deco heritage building Burtons Chambers would be brought back into full use by repurposing it into co-working space to support entrepreneurs, independent traders and start-up businesses.
Market Chambers would be transformed into a venue promoting arts, culture and heritage with potential for some higher quality commercial space to support local independent traders and organisations.
Preston’s bid focuses on two themes that, when delivered in a joined-up way, aim to bring many benefits to the city.
In transport, investment in new and enhanced works will improve the active travel infrastructure in the city.
Projects include segregated cycling and major public realm groups in areas of the city centre and a new cycle and footbridge over the Ribble to replace the Old Tram Bridge.
The cultural theme would see investment in four major city parks: Waverley Park, Moor Park, Ashton Park and Grange Park. The proposals involve the delivery of new, higher quality and more accessible sports and community facilities and pitches, pavilions, public realm and heritage, safety and infrastructure improvements.
Rossendale is seeking £17m from the fund. Improvements are focused on streamlining the gyratory system in Rawtenstall, reconfiguring Rawtenstall market, redeveloping the site of the existing Bacup market and creating a new centre for skills provision in Rawtenstall working with Nelson and Colne College.
The bid is focused on supporting economic growth in the borough by improving town centres, creating better skilled and better paid jobs for local people by boosting skills and training opportunities, and improving the road infrastructure to ease the flow of traffic into and out of the borough.
South Ribble has submitted proposals across two sites to create new-look public spaces in Penwortham and a major new sporting complex at Vernon Carus.
The West Lancashire bid seeks to build a new, “visually impactful, energy efficient and centrally located” Leisure and Wellbeing Hub for the people of Skelmersdale and the wider borough.
It will offer affordable, accessible, modern and needs-led leisure facilities, multi- agency drop-in services and multi-purpose community space. It will be designed to establish “the physical, economic, social and environmental conditions” that promote economic regeneration and address economic and health inequalities across the town.
Laura Weldon Creative director
@studioLWD studiolwd
BRAND IS AS MUCH ABOUT THE END
AS THE BEGINNING While B2C companies understand brand investment can be the difference between success or failure, B2B companies can often be guilty of underestimating its importance, especially when it comes to a successful exit.
Figures show that nearly a quarter of B2B companies devote less than 20 per cent of their marketing budget to brand, yet a recent survey by global consulting firm BCG and Google found that brand marketing can be just as effective in the B2B arena as in the consumer sector, if not more so.
The survey found that companies that are more mature in terms of brand marketing generate a higher ROI from those efforts, while strong brand marketing capabilities actually reinforce performance marketing, leading to better engagement overall.
The data showed that when B2B companies market their products and services, they have a strong tendency to focus on performance attributes, such as price and features, and often avoid broader initiatives to promote the overall company brand.
But it also found evidence that when companies do invest in brand, the returns can be astoundingly high. One that experimented to determine the gains it could generate from brand marketing investments found that the long-term ROI of those initiatives was approximately 640 per cent over four years.
Those kind of figures show a different attitude to company growth as a whole and paint a much more impressive picture for prospective buyers when it comes to exit.
When you decide to exit a company, you want to get the best possible price and get out. A company with a strong brand will be seen by potential buyers as one that will continue to perform, even if key personnel have moved on.
Brands take time to build, so if you are thinking of exiting one day, the time to start thinking about brand is now.
To discuss how brand power can help you achieve your vision, email
hello@studiolwd.co.uk, call 01253 892031 or visit
www.studiolwd.co.uk
LANCASHIREBUSINESSVIEW.CO.UK
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