Lancashire Growth Plan (HTML)

Foreword

It’s Lancashire’s time!

In a world of rapid change and renewed leadership this Growth Plan sets out a bold vision for Lancashire’s future. It reaffirms our ambition, showcases our strengths, and highlights the unique role we can play in driving the UK’s national growth mission. It is a clear statement of what we aim to achieve, what we can deliver with our partners, and where collaboration with government will help maximise success.

Economic growth is not the end goal for Lancashire - it is the means to realise our wider ambitions. A strong, productive economy is the engine that powers better life chances, and our people are the foundation on which that future is built. This plan ensures our key sectors remain globally competitive, while our communities benefit from the opportunities that growth brings, creating good jobs, building skills, and improving quality of life across Lancashire.

Lancashire has a proud industrial heritage and continues to deliver some of the highest levels of productivity and export performance outside London. Today, we are a dynamic, forward-looking economy with both national and international relevance. Our unique energy assets, growing investments in defence, security, and technology, and our ability to reinvent traditional industries position us as a powerhouse of innovation and resilience. A key driver of this strength is the clustering of our high-value industry sectors, which fosters collaboration, accelerates innovation, and enhances our appeal to inward investors.

This Growth Plan aligns with the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy, focusing on shared priorities: creating good jobs, boosting innovation, and growing the economy sustainably. Our strengths in advanced engineering and manufacturing, clean energy, digital technology, and artificial intelligence reflect national ambitions and help turn innovation into real-world impact. We are also committed to working with neighbouring regions to widen opportunity and strengthen our collective economic footprint.

The Growth Plan sets out clear priorities for public and private investment, providing a roadmap to unlock Lancashire’s potential. It will guide how we target our own resources, improve local places, build new skills pathways, enhance connectivity, and create new opportunities for wealth and employment.

The pipeline of projects identified in the plan has the potential to attract over £20 billion in additional investment. We will continue to work closely with the Lancashire Business Board to ensure this vision is delivered. We call on Government, investors, and partners to join us - back Lancashire’s ambition, invest in its future, and help us deliver a stronger, fairer, and more prosperous UK.

This is the DNA we have brought to the development of the Lancashire Growth Plan, ensuring it both builds on existing sectors and assets yet also reflects what makes Lancashire distinctive and where a step change in performance is possible.

As Chair of the Lancashire Business Board, I am delighted to endorse this Growth Plan for Lancashire and the way in which the voice of business has been put at the heart of the new Combined County Authority.

Our Board has been extensively involved in the development of this Growth Plan and will continue to develop, define and reframe the document as we move into the delivery phase.

It is essential that the business perspective continues to inform not only this plan but also future strategies on transport, infrastructure, strategic development, and collaboration, ensuring Lancashire is well-positioned to attract new private investment in key growth sectors.

To support this ambition, the Growth Plan will be complemented by the development of a Lancashire Investment Prospectus. This document will articulate the nature of our investment propositions in greater detail, presenting the compelling case for potential investors and highlighting the strategic opportunities across our region.

Given the calibre of the businesses who have come together to form this Business Board, we are committed to leveraging our personal and business networks, using these plans as a guide, to facilitate and enhance key partnerships, introduce new investors, and broker deals that will advance our strategic ambition for the people, places and businesses of Lancashire.