West Lancashire Council unveils economic study for the borough

Jan 21 2010 by Michael Byrne, Ormskirk Advertiser

AN ECONOMIC study for the borough has been unveiled by West Lancashire Borough Council.

The study was commissioned to allow West Lancashire to continue to target resources to improve the economic performance of the area.

The findings will be used to help strengthen future funding bids and for lobbying of Government departments to help deliver economic regeneration activity in the borough.

It will also be an important piece of research to inform the Council’s planning policies and economic strategies for the future.

The report points out that employment is declining in agriculture and manufacturing but this is due to efficiency rather than a decline of these industries.

It also shows that Edge Hill University is a significant employer and contributes an estimated £17m into the local economy.

The amount of factory floor space has grown in the borough, which bucks the national trend, but there has been slow growth in commercial office space.

West Lancashire is uniquely constrained by Green Belt, which covers 92.5% of the area.

As a result, the study makes a number of recommendations to address these issues which the Council will need to consider, such as: providing more land for employment by reviewing existing employment areas and green belt boundaries; offering low cost offices; working with partners to improve broadband provision; and develop partnership working with local farm shops and growers.

Other plans are to introduce an Older Workers Initiative to encourage 50 plus workers to remain active, and deliver the Skelmersdale Town Centre Masterplan.

Councillor Adrian Owens, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, said: “The West Lancashire Economic Study provides an understanding of the Borough's economic baseline position and its key sectors. It provides a robust evidence base and set of priorities in order to encourage future growth and to take forward West Lancashire Borough Council's economic regeneration work.

“The findings in the report should also help us to attract more funding and provide weight to our contributions into strategic economic decision making.”

The study was funded by the Enterprising West Lancashire project through the North West Regional Development Agency via the Local Strategic Partnership’s Investing in Business Regeneration Programme.