£200 million cash boost for East Lancashire (From Blackburn Citizen)

£200 million cash boost for East Lancashire

10:00pm Thursday 22nd October 2009

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EAST Lancashire has been handed a massive cash boost after regeneration leaders secured up to £200million of funding.

The agreement will see the area’s six boroughs share up to £20million from next year of North West Development Agency (NWDA) money for key priorities like transport, education, housing and manufacturing.

The announcement means East Lancashire’s share of the regional funding pot has increased by up to five times compared with this year’s allocation.

Today council and business leaders hailed the funding boost, saying it would help ‘Pennine Lancashire’ compete with Merseyside and Greater Manchester as a North West economic powerhouse.

They said the agreement was only reached after leaders from Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale councils banded together to lobby the NWDA.

Blackburn with Darwen Council chief executive Graham Burgess said: “If we had not done this together we would have got only two per cent of the NWDA budget instead of four per cent.

“By talking up of the benefits and potential of Pennine Lancashire’s 500,000 population, we have got a lot more.”

Burnley Council leader Gordon Birtwistle added: “This investment, and pledge of continued funding from the NWDA, tells us that even more positive change is on the horizon.”

After securing the cash, representatives of the six boroughs, who together have formed the Pennine Lancashire Development Company (PLDC), will now decide how to spend it.

Among the priorities are three flagship business parks - the ‘knowledge zone’ and Whitebirk area in Blackburn, and the Burnley Bridge site - and renewed attempts to improve East Lancashire’s rail links to Manchester.

Bosses also want to get an extra 4,000 adults into university-level education in the next four years and upgrade sub-standard broadband links.

Mr Burgess added: “Some areas, such as Rossendale Pendle and the Ribble Valley, are particularly badly served by broadband and we have had meetings with BT to address this.”

The NWDA package comes on top of Elevate housing renewal money and other funding which gives regeneration leaders a total budget next year of around £100million.

Speaking after the announ-cement, Mike Damms, chief executive of the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said: “We are especially pleased at the strong emphasis on transport, skills, housing and support for higher-value jobs.”

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