With 55,000 businesses generating £34bn per year, Lancashire has a thriving economy
The county is a recognised world-leader in aerospace, advanced engineering and manufacturing, energy, and higher education excellence. We are two hours from London by train, linked to the rest of the UK by six major motorways, and to the rest of the world via Manchester and Liverpool airports. We are Lancashire, the place for growth.
Lancashire - The Opportunity
Lancashire isn’t just a stellar place to do business, it is also a county offering a superb way of life. From beautiful expanses of coastline, heritage in our cities and the stunning vistas offered across our countryside, it’s time you took a closer look.
Whether you want to spend an afternoon flying a kite on the beach, a day exploring some new walking routes, or a weekend discovering the charms of our cities or experiencing the excitement of Blackpool, Lancashire offers it all.
Lancashire is a destination with a thriving tourist industry with attractions and places to visit that suit all tastes, along with food and drink from coastal cafes, the best countryside inns and Michelin star dining at Northcote in Langho, near Blackburn, Moor Hall in picture postcard Aughton, West Lancashire and The White Swan in Fence, Burnley.
There’s also a superb retail offer with cities and towns like Blackburn, Clitheroe, Lancaster, Ormskirk and Preston providing a great mix of the big names with a thriving independent business scene run by locals passionate about what they sell and the areas in which they live.
COST OF LIVING:
The average house price
in Lancashire is £161,337 compared to £304,976
for the rest of the UK
Lancashire is a well-connected location with a diverse business base and nationally significant strengths in manufacturing, particularly in aerospace.
We have a strong track record in attracting British and internationally owned businesses, a number of whom have continued to re-invest in the area. These include BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, TRW, Sanko-Gosei, Safran, PACCAR and Toshiba Westinghouse.
Economy
Our internationally renowned civil and military aerospace industry represents the largest single concentration of aerospace production in the country. Lancashire also has a notable automotive supply chain which consists of approximately 115 companies, and is home to Paccar, Europe’s most advanced truck assembly plant. Our engineering and manufacturing expertise is also creating a growing base of Medical Technology businesses.
We have a real depth of food manufacturing expertise, from multinationals such as PepsiCo to small artisanal producers. As well as our production skills, investors have been attracted by our quality provenance and the outstanding quality of our food combined with easy access to consumer markets.
Within the energy industry, we have strengths in nuclear, shale gas and wind. Considerable investments have already been made in Lancashire by companies including EDF, Toshiba Westinghouse, Electricity North West, Vattenfall and Cuadrilla.
Lancashire also has a diverse software sector, with particular areas of expertise in cyber security and applications for advanced manufacturing
55,000 businesses generating
£34 billion
per year
As a dynamic economic region within the North West and the wider North of England Lancashire has a unique offer to make and a role to play in the Northern Powerhouse.
Skills and expertise
Lancashire’s global reputation as an outstanding business location springs from our entrepreneurial flair, technical innovation, commercial know-how and can-do attitude – a global track record of innovation and industrial excellence. Leading the way on this front are our Universities and colleges. The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership work unstintingly to ensure existing and newly-located companies are fully engaged with our world-beating R&D offer.
Lancashire has a considerable workforce of just under 1 million people. Over 6 million live within an hour’s drive, increasing the potential labour pool even more.
We have a large and diverse skills base across professional and skilled trades, and we offer a cost-effective location for businesses. Wages are on average 10% lower than they are for the UK as a whole, with rates particularly competitive in locations such as Rossendale, Blackpool and Burnley.
Workforce
The educational achievements of our population ensure that companies locating here can attract well qualified staff. Over a third of Lancashire’s working age population is educated to degree level or above, on par with the regional average.
There is a local higher education student population of over 55,700 across our 4 universities – Lancaster, UCLAN, Edge Hill and Cumbria (Lancaster Campus) – with access to a further 200,000 students based at over a dozen universities located within an hour’s drive, including the Universities of Manchester and Liverpool.
Lancashire also has an outstanding Further Education and vocational offer, capable of meeting all skill needs. We have specialist FE provision such as Myerscough College, a leader in agri-tech and Lancashire Energy HQ, delivering the next generation of energy engineers. The county is the only area in the country where all FE colleges and locally-based training providers are recognised as good or outstanding.
4 successful universities and
13 FE colleges producing
the next generation
of STEM talent.
Lancashire sits at the heart of the UK and is at the centre of the Northern Powerhouse.
We are linked by six major motorways providing superb north-south and east-west access. Manchester and Liverpool airports are within easy reach and Preston Railway Station – the third busiest in the country – has three trains an hour from Preston to London.
Connectivity and Infrastructure
Lancashire is an ideal location from which to reach national and international markets. We are linked by six major motorways which provide excellent north-south and east-west access to the rest of the North West and beyond. Manchester Airport is little over half an hour away from our southern edges and London can be reached in 2 hours.
Preston Railway Station is the third busiest railway station in the North West and serves over 2 million passengers annually. There are up to 3 trains an hour from Preston to London with a journey time of just over 2 hours. Once electrification of the line is complete, the journey between Preston and Manchester will be reduced to 30 minutes.
With HS2, rail access in the region will be further improved. Preston is to become a HS2 hub station, which will result in journey times to London – already only just over 2 hours – cut to just 77 minutes.
Lancashire is within easy reach of Manchester Airport, which is the largest freight terminal outside of London and handles 22 million passengers a year. It is the third busiest airport in Britain and has direct flights to over 200 destinations across the world.
As well as Manchester Airport, Lancashire is within easy reach of Liverpool John Lennon Airport which continues to expand its European connections. Blackpool Airport offers corporate handling and private charter flights.
Our global connections are boosted by an exceptional port infrastructure. We are home to Heysham Port which, following a £124.5million Bay Gateway relief road project, is just 7 miles from the M6 motorway. Heysham has excellent capacity with 1,000 metres of berths, including three specifically for roll-on roll-off traffic.
Within half an hour of our southern boundary is Superport Liverpool where the new deep water Liverpool2 terminal is able to service 95% of the world’s largest container ships. Superport Liverpool is the UK’s premier hub for North America container trade, as well as routes to Latin America, Asia and Europe.
A LEISURE DESTINATION:
Lancashire welcomes over
69 million visitors
each year
Lancashire is a dynamic economic region within the North West and the wider North of England. Leading the way with innovation it has a unique offer to make and a major role to play in the Northern Powerhouse.
Innovation
Lancashire’s leading international and national position in relation to aerospace, advanced engineering and manufacturing, energy, higher education institution excellence and visitor economy make it a pivotal part of the long term economic growth of the North.
Lancashire’s global reputation as an outstanding business location springs from our entrepreneurial flair, technical innovation, commercial know-how and can-do attitude – a global track record of innovation and industrial excellence.
Number 1 in the UK for aerospace with 500 aerospace supply chain companies; 4th largest aerospace cluster in the world.
Job creation and economic growth are at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse and training the next generation to become the highly skilled workforce of the future will be vital to its success.
Lancashire’s strengths to attract inward investment, to retain the best talent and unlock the area’s potential are being crystallised and supported by world-class, flagship projects backed by the LEP including UCLan’s £30m state-of-the-art Engineering Innovation Centre (EIC) in the heart of the Preston, and the Health Innovation Campus at Lancaster University, both of which are due to open in 2019.
The £10.3m Lancashire Energy HQ in Blackpool, operated by Blackpool and the Fylde College, recently opened. Set to be the UK’s leading college for training workers in the renewable, oil and gas energy sectors, the purpose-built facility is at the heart of the Lancashire Advanced Manufacturing and Energy Cluster, leveraging its position at the heart of Lancashire’s world-class cluster of nuclear, oil, gas and renewables companies. It will cater for 3,003 learners and 205 apprentices.
Lancashire has the potential to become a global leader in the development and assembly of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.
The Westinghouse Springfields Nuclear Fuels facility in Lancashire has the technology to manufacture fuel for all major designs of nuclear reactors worldwide. Most of the fuel requirements for the UK’s nuclear power stations are met by Springfields and together with initiatives such as the Lancashire Energy HQ, which includes the sector’s largest nuclear & renewables simulator, Lancashire is at the forefront of the Nuclear sector.
50,000 businesses generating £28 billion per year
Number 1 in the UK for advanced manufacturing activity
85,000 employees in the engineering sector
13,000 aerospace employees; UK’s largest concentration of aerospace employment
41,000 working in the energy and environment sector
Businesses locating to Lancashire can benefit from tailor-made support
From the time of initial enquiry right through to a programme of ongoing support once established here, we will create a bespoke service to ensure that your investment into Lancashire is a success.
Investment and Business Support
Our service is bespoke, but can include:
Through our links with the Department for Trade and Investment, we can:
Our support partners include The Lancashire Skills Hub and Boost, Lancashire’s Growth Hub. The latter provides business support and economic development services to small and medium sized businesses. The Lancashire Skills Hub supports the development of skills within Lancashire across a wide range of industries including digital and automotive.
We are happy to help, so do please get in touch. Click here to visit Boost Business Lancashire’s website.
Number 1 in the UK
for aerospace with
500 supply chain companies
If you are looking to expand or relocate your business, now is the time to make it happen
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