The LCCA has developed a dynamic pipeline of projects, designed to deliver substantial economic, social, and environmental benefits. With the right support and investment, these projects will drive inclusive growth, foster innovation, and boost global competitiveness.
This appendix highlights the selection of transformational projects. These projects stand out due to their strong alignment with the Growth Plan’s strategic goals, their capacity to address spatial inequalities, and their ability to generate impact beyond a single locality. They reflect Lancashire’s ambition to lead in sectors such as, advanced engineering and manufacturing, clean energy and digital innovation.
It is important to note that this list does not represent the full breadth of growth initiatives within the Lancashire Growth Plan.
Samlesbury Enterprise Zone and Innovation Hub
A site of international significance, Samlesbury Enterprise Zone can enable transformational economic growth for the whole of Lancashire. Designed to support advanced engineering and manufacturing, hi-tech and research-led sectors, including cyber and robotics, the 120-acre site is primed to become a hub of world-class innovation, Industry 4.0 processes, and disruptive R&D.
The site sits strategically at the heart of Lancashire and will act as an anchor development for several other emerging economic opportunities. These include the Preston Station Quarter, Blackburn’s Cyber Skills and Education Campus and Innovation Quarter, and the wider M65 East Lancashire Corridor. The site is adjacent to BAE Systems and accommodates the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre North West (AMRC NW).
The site is ready for development and has undergone significant remediation and plot preparation, unlocked through the provision of utilities and a dedicated spine road.
The location of the National Cyber Force in the Samlesbury area provides opportunity to harness new corporates, SMEs and talent into the region. Funding to build the first phase of an Innovation Hub has been secured through Devolution. This Hub will harness this growing tech sector potential by being home to a series of programmes, funding initiatives and events to draw in new community members and establish Lancashire as the centre of cyber security technologies.
Samlesbury Enterprise Zone is a catalyst for Lancashire’s innovation-led growth, uniting world-class research, advanced engineering and manufacturing, and cyber technologies to unlock global opportunity.
Warton Enterprise Zone (EZ), featuring the University of Lancashire’s Altitude facility
The Warton Enterprise Zone (EZ), featuring the Altitude facility, is a thriving ecosystem that brings together industry, entrepreneurs, leading academic and government institutions to advance next-generation technology and skills capability in the exploitation of future aviation and space markets. The site includes the defence and technology prime, BAE Systems, alongside the University of Lancashire’s Altitude facility, which pioneers a new cluster of future air and space technology.
A recent PWC Validation study confirmed the Warton EZ site had the potential to deliver significant regional benefits, across multiple aviation high growth technology platforms. This includes capturing new revenue and investment from future aviation and space technology markets, with the unmanned aerial systems market expected to grow at 8% per annum, contributing £45 billion to the UK economy by 2030. Fostering an innovative and collaborative ecosystem between private, public, and academic sectors will support the development of the regional STEM talent pipeline, create resilient sovereign supply chains and create new employment opportunities. Significant public and private funding is needed for infrastructure to support cutting-edge capabilities.
Altitude features one of Europe’s largest indoor netted environments for Unmanned Aerial System design and testing, alongside research labs, classrooms, a business incubation hub, and a multi-use event space.
The goals are to deliver industry-leading technologies, foster collaboration, and enhance lifelong learning. The impact of this initiative kickstarts wider Warton EZ activities, leveraging strengths in aerospace, space, engineering, and cyber application sectors.
Through the Growth Plan, we aim to capture investment to accelerate regional development and next-generation technology opportunities. Leveraging Warton EZ and Altitude will boost the skilled workforce, partnerships, and growth. Enhancing the University of Lancashire’s teaching and research in next-generation technology will improve regional workforce development and business offerings. Promoting and attracting international investment and partners will further support these initiatives.
Warton Enterprise Zone is building on the momentum of the Altitude facility to lead a new era of innovation, advanced engineering, and aerospace excellence. It is complementing other Enterprise Zones across a key Lancashire corridor to strengthen the region’s position in next-generation technologies.
Heysham Nuclear Power Stations (EDF)
Heysham’s nuclear power stations play a crucial role in Lancashire’s economy and energy supply.
EDF’s recent decision to extend the operational life of Heysham 1 until 2027 and Heysham 2 until 2030 underscores their importance. This extension helps maintain energy security and supports local employment. Looking ahead, EDF has expressed intentions to keep these stations running for as long as possible, subject to inspections and regulatory approvals. The UK government has also recognised Heysham as a potential site for future nuclear power stations, which could further secure its role in the region’s energy landscape.
Heysham Nuclear Power Stations are a cornerstone of Lancashire’s energy infrastructure, providing secure, low-carbon power and sustaining hundreds of skilled jobs. Their continued operation and future potential as a site for new nuclear development represent a major opportunity for regional growth, energy resilience, and national decarbonisation.
Springfields (Westinghouse UK)
Westinghouse’s Springfields site has been manufacturing world class nuclear fuel, and related products, for almost 75 years. The 80 hectare site is today one of the most advanced nuclear fuel generating facilities in the world, with its Oxide Fuels Complex being the UK’s only commercial fuel fabrication facility. Utilising advanced manufacturing processes, the Springfields site produces around 32% of all the low-carbon electricity generated in the UK.
Springfields, is recognised as a world leader in safety, quality, environmental, and technological standards. Springfields has excellent infrastructure and connectivity. In 2023, the UK government awarded Westinghouse Electric Company three grants totalling £10.5m to upgrade and expand the Springfields facility to support the country’s development and deployment of next generation nuclear reactors. Further support from government is required to ensure the continued success of the site.
Springfields is a strategic clean energy asset, supporting the UK’s nuclear future and low-carbon transition. As the UK’s only commercial nuclear fuel facility. Recent investment helps to strengthen its role in next-generation reactor development and secures high-value jobs in advanced manufacturing.
Blackburn Cyber Skills and Education Campus and Innovation Quarter
The Campus and Innovation Quarter are key to the delivery of a £250m investment framework for Blackburn Town Centre, the largest development of its kind in the north west. Public investment has been secured for the first phase of the Campus development, valued at £60m, including a high-quality office and teaching facility, offering up to 100,000 sqft of new space, and a new cyber business centre with up to 15,000 sqft of contemporary accommodation to meet sector demands. Centred on the regeneration of the former Thwaites Brewery and Council sites, it’s part of the ambitious Blackburn Growth Axis plan which will deliver £1bn of new economic activity in the borough over the next 10 years.
The site is the closest strategic development to the Samlesbury Enterprise Zone making Blackburn an integral part of the Government’s North West Cyber Corridor between Lancaster and Manchester.
The Campus and Innovation Quarter connects with new growth opportunities generated by business clusters and HQ developments anchored by global companies such as Euro Garages and Assystem, and new development opportunities at J5 on the M65 which will deliver up to 1 million sqft in employment space for new business growth. Opportunities for health innovation at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, linked to Burnley Hospital, located near to the M65 Growth Corridor, will further enhance the scale and impact of development plans.
Blackburn’s Cyber Campus and Innovation Quarter is unlocking £1bn in new economic activity and driving skills, regeneration, and sector growth at the heart of the regional cyber corridor.
Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone and Silicon Sands
Located just off Blackpool’s seafront, Blackpool Airport boasts one of the UK’s most successful Enterprise Zones.
With growth of over 2,600 jobs already achieved, and an estimated £300m of additional private sector development potential, 25 acres of newly unlocked commercial land is primed for development for commercial use at the EZ’s Eastern Gateway. Accommodation within secure, landscaped plots (ranging from 15,000sqft to 100,000sqft) is available, with power, utilities and property access in place.
The EZ also includes the groundbreaking Silicon Sands project with the potential to become a Strategic AI and Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Hub for Lancashire and an AI Growth zone. The EZ is positioned on the North Atlantic Loop, a major transatlantic fibre artery connecting America and Europe with the fastest speeds. This strategic location places Blackpool and Silicon Sands within the same availability zone as Dublin, one of Europe’s leading data centre hubs, ensuring ultra-low latency connectivity for AI, cloud, Edge and high-performance computing applications. Silicon Sands is directly connected
via national fibre carriers to the UK’s main internet exchanges, including IX Manchester, IX Leeds and Linx London offering seamless low-latency access to hyperscale cloud providers and global AI infrastructure. Blackpool also benefits from its own ultra-low latency fibre network, which enables high-speed, high-bandwidth digital services with minimal latency—an essential requirement for next-generation AI, private 5G, and high-performance computing.
With the support of Lancaster University, Silicon Sands has been pioneering the concept of net-zero, sustainable data centres, leveraging immersion cooling technology and waste heat recovery. The project is shovel-ready, with an initial 2 to 6MW exemplar AI data centre set to launch, supplying recovered heat to the Sandcastle Water Park (eventually to become part of a wider District Heat network) one of the UK’s largest indoor water parks. This demonstrator will establish the foundation for the expansion of the Silicon Sands digital campus, with 32MW of power already available and a clear pathway to gigawatt-scale capacity by the early 2030s.
The project will capitalise on over three gigawatts of offshore wind power currently in development in the Irish Sea, set to come ashore at the EZ.
By harnessing curtailed renewable energy, Silicon Sands presents a unique opportunity for Lancashire to emerge as a major AI Growth Zone, aligning directly with the UK Government’s ambition for regional AI hubs with pathways to 500MW+ of power. It has the potential to provide 1GW of Data Centre capacity with access to 3.4GW of Green Power, creating £14.3bn of GVA, 14,000 jobs and reducing fuel poverty. This initiative will therefore drive economic growth, attract global investment, and create high-value tech jobs, reinforcing Lancashire’s position at the forefront of the UK’s green and digital economy.
Strategically positioned on the North Atlantic fibre loop, Blackpool’s Enterprise Zone and Silicon Sands are unlocking global connectivity and sustainable AI
infrastructure, driving £14.3bn in economic value and placing Lancashire at the forefront of the UK’s digital and green economy.
Blackpool Central Leisure Development
The former Central Station site is one of Blackpool’s most strategically important development sites, and its redevelopment is central to the ambition of developing a new, exciting and unique world class tourist destination with a vision to provide a unique leisure quarter which underpins Blackpool’s appeal as a national tourist destination, driven by exceptional quality, sustaining wider resort regeneration, and providing compelling new reasons to visit Blackpool.
The 7.15ha site occupies a prime seafront location on Blackpool’s famous Golden Mile and within the shadow of Blackpool Tower. It lies on the southern edge of the town centre and enjoys direct connection with the M55 via the Central Corridor. The ambition for the site is to ensure that proposals for development deliver landmark attractions of the highest quality to transform the visitor economy and resort appeal and supports its long-term future as a year-round world class resort destination, securing economic growth and regeneration within the resort and providing quality employment opportunities.
Blackpool Central offers prime seafront investment, creating a world-class leisure destination that drives tourism, regeneration, and long-term economic growth.
Morecambe Seafront and the Eden Effect
Morecambe, and the wider North Lancashire area, is set to directly benefit from the Eden Project Morecambe scheme. Conceived by the team behind the world-famous Eden Project in Cornwall, the 36-acre development was given the green light by Government in March 2023, along with £50m of Levelling Up funding, to allow work to commence on the £100m project.
Described as a destination which ‘re-imagines Morecambe as a seaside resort for the 21st Century’, it will be a ticketed tourist attraction. Focusing on the key themes of education, ecology, wellbeing and community, Eden Project Morecambe will combine indoor and outdoor experiences that directly link to the internationally significant natural environment of Morecambe Bay.
Being less than two hours travel time from most of the north’s main conurbations, and with a local catchment area of ten million people, Eden Project Morecambe is anticipating attracting up to 740,000 visitors a year. It is also expected to help create over 1,250 jobs and inject £150m GVA per year into the north west economy.
Eden Project Morecambe will drive regeneration, tourism, and environmental innovation.
Preston Station Quarter
Investment in Preston is driven by the 10 year City Investment Planxlv, outlining a long-term vision to transform the city with close to £1bn already invested or committed over the next few years. At the forefront of growth within the region, Preston is undergoing a dramatic transformation, capitalising on the National Cyber Force HQ facility on Preston’s doorstep, to create huge opportunities for commercial development and city living.
The Preston Station Quarter Strategic Regeneration Framework identifies four quadrants surrounding Preston Train Station: Preston Station East; Preston Station West; County Hill; and University Walk. It sets out a blueprint for the future development of the area, covering 43 hectares, to create a thriving commercial district next to Preston Railway Station, one of the most accessible locations in the north.
The vision includes the provision of Grade A offices, high-density housing, and quality public realm, to create an attractive place to live, work, and visit. This work also enhances Preston Station as Gateway to Lancashire including improved east-west connectivity through better links to the national rail network.
Preston Station Quarter is a key transformational initiative within the Lancashire Growth Plan, unlocking the city’s potential as a dynamic commercial and residential hub. Anchored by nearly £1bn of investment and the proximity to the National Cyber Force HQ, the project will deliver high-quality office space, housing, and public realm, strengthening Preston’s role as a regional growth engine and enhancing east-west connectivity across Lancashire.
Burnley Town Centre and Canalside Masterplan
Burnley Town centre and Canalside Masterplan is a £200m plan to transform the town. Burnley Town Centre provides a significant travel to work, travel to learn and leisure hub in the east of the County.
Significant progress has already been made with circa £40m investment in an iconic Canalside Campus for the University of Lancashire occupying over quarter of a million square foot of floorspace with capacity for up to 5000 FTE students and scope for further development. The campus focusses primarily on medicine and health care, working closely with the East Lancashire Hospitals and Cyber and Digital in collaboration with the area’s digi-tech sector. Alongside a University campus the canalside offers opportunities to develop canalside living close to the town centre with excellent rail connectivity to Lancashire, north Manchester and West Yorkshire.
The town centre is bucking the trend in terms of occupancy with recent investment in a new leisure development at Pioneer Place. The masterplan identifies interventions for housing and business space. A digi-tech hub, with a focus on bridging digital and AI solutions with the advanced engineering and manufacturing sector is a key piece of the planned investment in the town centre.
Burnley’s £200m masterplan is unlocking major investment in education, canalside living, and digi-tech innovation, helping to transform the town into a vibrant hub for health, engineering, and AI-driven growth.
Strategic Rail Programme
Lancashire’s Central Belt, running west to east from the Fylde Coast to East Lancashire, is the primary driver of our regional economy, comprising many of our strategic economic assets, including FE/HE institutions, R&D hubs and strategic growth locations including Preston Station, Blackburn Cyber Skills and Education Campus, Silicon Sands and Burnley Town Centre.
The railway between Blackpool North and Burnley Manchester Road forms the public transport spine for our Central Belt. However, although 70% of Lancashire’s residents live within five miles of the railway line, our region is fragmented into four economic sub-areas, which are focused
on more established north-south transport routes. Poor rail connectivity along this east- west axis is a critical challenge for our region (e.g. a mixture of slow and semi-fast services, slow journey times and poor accessibility at our stations). Unacceptable train operator performance, especially on services linking Blackburn and Manchester, which are among the most unreliable in the country, impacts the ability of businesses to recruit skilled staff, adds to employers’ costs and reduces productivity, holds back inward investment and undermines visitor experiences, particularly in East Lancashire.
Previous study work for Lancashire and Yorkshire partners demonstrated that improving strategic transport links across our Central Belt, and connecting through to North and West Yorkshire, could yield significant productivity benefits through agglomeration and expanded labour markets. Improved rail links could play a major role in enhancing connectivity between and unlocking new high value growth in our urban centres, including Blackpool, Preston, Blackburn and Burnley.
Through our new Local Transport Plan, we will be exploring options to transform rail connectivity across Lancashire, with a particular focus on the east-west axis serving the Central Belt. Working in partnership with Great British Railways, we will explore options to cut journey times, increase service frequencies and introduce higher capacity, more reliable trains linking the Fylde Coast to East Lancashire and beyond. We will also consider options to reinstate the missing link between Colne and Skipton, alongside Clitheroe and Hellifield, which will transform connectivity with North and West Yorkshire and improve links to major centres in the North. Better linkages between east Lancashire and Greater Manchester via the rail network, to access High Speed 2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail hubs, will also be developed.
These will be integrated into the wider public transport network, including exploration of new light rail solutions, to transform public transport connectivity, which will unlock mode shift across the Central Belt, creating supportive conditions for transformational growth across our area.
Transforming east-west rail connectivity across Lancashire’s Central Belt will unlock growth in key urban centres, expand labour markets, and improve access to education, employment and investment. Enhanced services, faster journey times and better integration will drive productivity and support inclusive, sustainable development across the region.
Talbot Gateway Skills and Education Campus (Multiversity)
Phase 1 of the Blackpool and The Fylde College Multiversity set for completion in 2027, plans are already underway for Phase 2, an ambitious expansion into the Talbot Gateway Central Business District to create a dynamic skills and education campus.
The Multiversity, which is a new concept for higher education, captures the idea of creating various (multi) and flexible pathways to higher level skills, compared to the “one size fits all” (uni) model of conventional higher education. The conventional model is the three-year residential degree and has become increasingly focused on young people, with adult numbers declining.
The Multiversity model operates very differently. The concept is based on the idea of multiple routes to higher skills, delivered flexibly in response to student, apprentice and employer need. It implies a curriculum which is based on an “escalator” of qualifications which lead to higher skills, but designed in stages, so that progression can occur as and when required over time, depending on the age, employment context, and priorities of the students and apprentices involved.
The aim is that the Multiversity will provide a new hub of ideas and practices, bringing educational partners together with students, apprentices and employers, to co-design and create new curriculum approaches, tailored to the needs of the labour market. By being in the Town Centre alongside the Multiversity Phase 1 Blackpool and Fylde College will improve access and visibility of opportunity to support the aspirations of employers, students and apprentices across all levels of professional and technical development, training and education to the population of the Fylde Coast, Lancashire and beyond.
The Multiversity will deliver flexible, employer-led pathways to higher skills, supporting priority sectors such as health, digital, engineering and low-carbon industries. Located in Blackpool’s Talbot Gateway, it will expand access to advanced training and education, driving innovation and inclusive growth across the Fylde Coast and beyond.
References
xlv. Invest Preston, Preston 35 - A Regeneration Plan for Preston (2024 to 2035)