Making Places Work — harness regeneration to maximise Lancashire growth, agrees Brabners & Chamber panel

Creating the conditions to enable private sector businesses to invest and build more in Lancashire will be key to ensuring that the county can fast-forward its economic growth over the coming decade. This was among the key takeaways at the North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce’s Quarterly Economic Breakfast — which we sponsored — held at St Catherine’s Hospice, near Preston, earlier this month.

Billions of pounds of Government-backed regeneration

The event — which launched the Chamber’s Quarterly Economic Survey — began with an overview of the results of this quarter’s survey of around 150 Chamber members. The responses measure business confidence based on the previous quarter. Q2’s results were broadly similar to Q1, with confidence restoring slightly in some sectors following a difficult end to 2024. However, investment intentions remained subdued among Lancashire businesses.

Lancashire is currently experiencing billions of pounds worth of Government-backed regeneration projects including the £100m Eden Project Morecambe, Blackpool’s new £40m Multiversity and Preston’s £20.9m Towns Fund cultural investment programme, as well as £50m for infrastructure investments in East Lancashire.

How are regeneration projects affecting business confidence?

An expert panel — that we helped to organise alongside the Chamber — debated how these regeneration projects affected business confidence and how the county can maximise regeneration to prompt business investment and support long-term growth.

The panel included:

• Jennie Jones (Partner, Brabners)
• Iain Gamble (Partner & Head of Real Estate, Brabners)
• Simon Lawrence (Director of Growth & Regeneration, Lancashire County Council)
• John Ralphs (Managing Director, Multipave)
• Chris Brown (Managing Director, Brindle Homes)
• Jess Barrow (Heritage Consultant, HPA Architects)

Simon highlighted some of Lancashire’s key development projects and how the county was facilitating more joined-up discussions on infrastructure and other issues.

He said: “Eden North is an amazing project... It has now been confirmed as opening in September 2028 and it will be massively significant for Morecambe and the surrounding area. Also, the new National Cyber Force HQ in Salmesbury will be off the charts in terms of supply chain opportunities and jobs".

Simon added that the newly-established Combined County Authority was helping to bring Lancashire’s authorities together to discuss infrastructure projects and other initiatives benefitting the whole of the county in a holistic away.

However, business panellists — including John and Jess — suggested that while it was clear there was significant regeneration happening in Lancashire, much of this was currently being led by direct public sector investment and the wider implications on private sector growth were limited.

John said: “We’re a specialist roads business and operationally we're currently very busy. However, the Q2 Economic Survey really resonates with how we currently see the market". 

He also highlighted that Government-funded jobs were currently a significant share of the company’s work and there was a feeling across the sector that a lot of private sector work was being delayed or paused.

Discussing the ways to maximise the economic benefits from public sector-backed projects, John also highlighted procurement rules for public sector infrastructure projects in Lancashire and its surrounding areas, stating that directions for companies to use local sub-contractors and labour were only guidelines, rather than being enforced. This means that the full economic benefits from such projects don't necessarily remain within the county.

The panel also assessed the wider challenges facing the Lancashire business community — particularly the property and construction industries — and how better collaboration between the public and private sectors could address these to ensure that the Lancashire economy capitalises on local and national investment into regeneration. 

Jennie said: “Government investment into our towns and communities is something that Brabners and our True North network has continually called for. However — without creating the conditions that allow businesses to invest and build — the private sector can't fully support and capitalise on Lancashire’s opportunity to reach its economic potential. 

Success lies in businesses and policymakers working collaboratively to build thriving regional eco-systems — and we need to act now to face the construction sector’s challenges head on".

Jennie highlighted rising energy, labour and material costs, a critical skills shortage, planning delays and regulatory reforms including the Building Safety Act as well as net zero and sustainability regulations as among these issues.

Skills, planning & economic growth

In particular, the panellists discussed skills and planning and how these could be addressed regionally, with increased local decision-making and better private-public collaboration among the key requests.

Chris pointed to how Lancashire could look to other areas of the North for inspiration. He highlighted data such as a recent Northern Powerhouse Partnership report — which showed that Greater Manchester had the greatest improvement in GVA per hour worked over the past 20 years — as evidence that public sector investment combined with increased local decision-making and collaboration can prompt sustained long-term economic growth.

Iain — who advises on complex development transactions across the whole of the North — underlined this and pointed to the need to harness both current and future national regeneration opportunities to maximise economic growth in Lancashire.

He said: “There are some significant policy changes announced by the Government which will unlock regeneration opportunities, such as the National Housing Bank which will provide £16bn to unlock over 500,000 homes across the UK and the Government’s ten-year infrastructure strategy, promising £725bn for UK infrastructure projects.

All areas of the North — including Lancashire — will need focused and inclusive collaboration between the public and private sector to truly harness the benefits of these for the coming generation".

Leaders in regeneration

We have one of the largest regeneration teams in the North of England, with more than 120 legal experts advising developers, public sector partners and investors to cut through complexity, create opportunity, enable progress and deliver growth. The team is advising on several of Lancashire’s biggest regeneration projects, including Eden Project Morecambe.

Get in touch with the team at regeneration@brabners.com or call us on 0333 004 4488.