I know that everyone reading this will agree that Lancashire is by far the best county in the UK. World class businesses, entrepreneurial people, breath-taking landscapes, and a heritage and history that we are all immensely proud of.
And last month, Government demonstrated that it agrees with all of us, when it announced the latest round of investment from the Levelling Up Fund. That announcement means that, in Lancashire alone, Government has investment more than £225 million from the Levelling Up Fund, and that rises further still, to more than £360 million, when Town Deals are added in. To put this into context, in January’s announcement of LUF funding, Lancashire counted for almost 10%.
The schemes that this investment is supporting are transformational.
The Eden Project, renowned around the world, will now have a Northern base in Morecombe drawing in hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Blackpool will become home to a new Multiversity, with a carbon neutral campus placing the Talbot Gateway at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence and robotics learning. Accrington will see its historic market hall revamped into a space seen normally in cities like London and Manchester. In Burnley, where I represent, UCLan will move into Newtown Mill, offering world class, 21st century skills and learning, in a historic setting. And across Lancashire, regeneration schemes will be taking shape to ensure this is and remains the best county to live, work, study, and set-up a business.
All of this sits on top of the other investment and levelling up of opportunities we are seeing. Take just one area – education. On top of Blackpool’s Multiversity and Burnley’s growing UCLan campus, our county is also becoming home to one of just 30 Institutes of Technology across the country.
Specialising in STEM-based occupations, these IoTs will cover subjects such as advanced manufacturing, aerospace, cyber security, construction, healthcare, and digital. And here in Lancashire we are seeing it taking shape, with the county’s colleges, universities and leading employers coming together to research and develop the skills and technologies we need for the future.
Levelling up is about expanding opportunities and powering regional growth. In Lancashire we have made major contributions to UK prosperity, but we all also know that with the right tools, focus, investment and incentives, we can do so much more too.
Next month the Budget will take place against a very challenging backdrop, and in the run up to it I and other Lancashire colleagues will be making this case again. But more on that next time…
