Lancashire needs to set investment priorities to get 'biggest bang for buck'

That is the message to politicians from a powerful business group, which has called for Lancashire to focus on its most deliverable prospective schemes – and those that will make the biggest difference to the lives of the people who live and work in the area.

Mo Isap, chair of the Lancashire Business Board (LBB), told a recent meeting of the Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA) that there are between 40 and 50 “propositions” from which a priority list urgently needs to be drawn up so that Lancashire can capitalise on current opportunities.

“We need to distil [the total number of possible projects] to say which are the ones that we believe have the best chance of investment [and]… the biggest bang for buck,” he explained.

“What we now need to focus on is looking at…projects that we feel are going to make a substantive difference to jobs, [the] economy, prosperity, livelihoods [and] community – [those] that we should be batting for now in this current parliament, now that there is clarity [from the] spending review…[and about] where that [government] investment is going.

“We should be putting forward real propositions which are well positioned [and] are competitive – because we are in a competitive situation with other combined authorities – [to show] that we are…the partners for government to deliver these outcomes.

“By doing so, we are going to deliver real outcomes for our people – and we could see that happening now if we do it right.

“For us, we’re keen to start to do the evaluation [of] which projects [we should] be really getting behind.”

Work is ongoing within the LCCA – the body established earlier this year to oversee the implementation of Lanashire’s devolution deal – to finalise the county’s growth plan. A draft of the document, launched in February, highlighted five key sectors that could give Lancashire a £20bn boost, including clean energy and advanced manufacturing.

The LCCA has also agreed to a request from the LBB for £50,000 to enable the board to undertake promotional and engagement activity.

The meeting heard that a Lancashire delegation to a recent UK Real Estate Infrastructure and Investment Forum event – where the county’s business leaders highlighted the area’s “considerable strengths” – was “very well received”.

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