East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce column | Short-termism – a raw deal

February 22nd saw Northern Powerhouse Partnership chief executive, Henri Murison, ‘in conversation’ with Miranda Barker OBE, East Lancashire Chamber chief exec, at the Chamber’s Diamond Ambassadors’ latest lunch event.

Questions came forward and solutions were discussed, with an audience of Lancashire’s most outward facing and keen to influence firms.

On transport

Touching on how we need to focus on demonstrating the potential gains from real economic corridors, supporting the flow of funding and goods into and out of our region and the north of England, to be able to lever in transport investment on a real transformational scale.

On levelling up

How the four-and-a-half year term of modern government and the current political liking for short term tightly geographically defined funding doesn’t always lend itself to driving long term investment, from businesses. We need coordinated and substantial, multi parliamentary term cash injection plans from government at a transformational scale to give businesses the security and belief to come alongside with their own funds. To retain and to draw in new international manufacturing players to our expert advanced manufacturing community.

And on devolution

We need to lobby together for long term significant devolution funding across Lancashire, lifting the whole county and raising the resulting economic benefit to all it can be for the County and the Country’s benefit.