Presentation, Phil Green
Minutes:
Phil Green, Director of Growth, Environment and Planning, Lancashire County Council gave a presentation to provide the Board with an update on progress made with the Greater Lancashire Plan (GLP).
The following points were highlighted:
· The GLP would set out the overall vision and strategy for Lancashire and provide a policy framework for all future plans and policies. It would be based on existing research, recent work carried out with Paul Scully MP, and a number of commissions, all of which would ensure the GLP was based on robust, independently tested evidence.
· The various workstreams would be overseen by an Independent Panel of experts who, based on the evidence collected and analysed, would offer insight and advice to local leaders to inform the GLP.
· Metro-Dynamics had been commissioned to carry out an Independent Economic Review, which would provide an economic evidence base and investigate a range of sectors, including internationalisation in partnership with the LEP and OCO Consulting. The Independent Economic Review was intended to provide a thorough and holistic view of Lancashire's economy.
· The Environment Commission comprised four key pieces of work and would be carried out by two partners, Jacobs and Atkins.
· The timing of the GLP's workstreams was intended to align with the Government's White Paper on Levelling Up, however it was currently unclear how soon the White Paper would be published; and
· The prestige, credibility and networks of the Independent Panel members were intended to serve Lancashire and encourage agreement. It was hoped that, following the Independent Panel's recommendations to leaders, the GLP would be published in early 2022.
In response to questions from the Board, the following points were clarified:
· The Independent Panel recognised Lancashire's rural context and the nature of its subregional economy, which differed from economies with cities at their centres. Lancashire's geography had already been captured by the research carried out so far.
· A plan of the scale and nature of the GLP would benefit from widespread consultation and agreement. It was for local leaders to determine how to agree and implement the GLP, but the more stakeholders driving it the better.
· The GLP's commission on public sector reform, which would complement the Independent Economic Review and the Environment Commission, was on hold until the Government's White Paper on levelling up, devolution and subregional economies had been published.
· The LEP's Sector Groups would be helpful to gather research and evidence to identify the economic opportunities in Lancashire, for example to supply the global decarbonisation effort.
· The GLP would allow Lancashire to set out an agenda and priorities to address the county's regional differences and skills shortages, and to engage Government in serious conversations about areas and sectors that had been overlooked; and
· Some of reports produced, particularly in relation to health, education and early years, would provide tough reading, which was to be expected from independent reports. These reports would identify the challenges facing different parts of Lancashire.
Board members noted that it would be important to measure the outputs of funding received and for the GLP to serve all areas of Lancashire.
The Chair highlighted that once the GLP was completed, the LEP and its partners needed to advertise the opportunities within, and unique selling points of, Lancashire. There were a range of projects across the county that the LEP could support.
Resolved: That the update on progress made with the Greater Lancashire Plan be noted.