What Is Regenerate Pennine Lancashire?
22.01.10
Regenerate Pennine Lancashire
Suite 22
The Globe Centre
St James Square
Accrington
Lancashire
BB5 0RE
t 01254 304550
Regenerate Pennine Lancashire is a new kind of organisation called an economic development company, designed to help increase prosperity and life choices for people living and working in Pennine Lancashire and to attract in others to work, live or visit.
Regenerate is owned by the seven Pennine Lancashire local authorities: Lancashire County Council and the borough councils of Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale. It will be led by a governing body made up of the leaders of the seven councils, and by a board mostly made up of the councils’ chief executives and representatives from the private sector. The Chair of the board, Dennis Mendoros, has been appointed from the private sector.
The company was formed to help seven councils deliver projects in ways they could not do before, by pooling expertise and resources, achieving greater value for money and attracting more private sector investment.
Funding for the new company will initially come from the Homes and Communities Agency, partner local authorities, the Northwest Regional Development Agency and the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI), and Regenerate will encourage more investment from the private sector.
The springboard for creating such companies was the government’s 2007 Sub National Review of economic development and regeneration, which pledged to give local authorities more powers to respond to economic difficulties, prepare for the upturn and strengthen jobs and business growth.
Regenerate will deliver major developments on behalf of local authorities, and continue the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) work initiated by Elevate. It will also have responsibility for delivering the No Limits LEGI scheme which supports new and existing businesses.
The new company has the remit to improve the image of Pennine Lancashire, and will make sure that measures to improve housing and the local economy are implemented in a joined-up way, recognising the close links between job opportunities, prosperity and the housing market.
The company will employ around 70 staff, located mainly in The Globe Centre in Accrington, the Beehive in Blackburn and various local authority offices.
The Chief Executive is Max Steinberg. The Executive Director for Housing is Jackie Mason and the Executive Director for Economic Development is Steve Hoyle.
The company’s main work areas are as follows:
Major projects
Regenerate will provide support for major commercial, housing and mixed-use developments which are likely to include:
• Whitebirk Strategic Site, Hyndburn, near Junction 6 of the M65
• Calder Valley Racecourse, on the border of Hyndburn, Ribble Valley and Burnley
• Nelson Town Centre, Pendle
• Pennine Gateway, Furthergate, Blackburn with Darwen
• Barrow Printworks, Ribble Valley
• Valley Centre, Rawtenstall, Rossendale
• New homes at Phoenix 1, West Accrington, Hyndburn
• New homes at Cog Lane, Burnley
• Eco-friendly house refurbishments at Stanley Street, Nelson
• New homes at Lock 54, Infirmary Waterside, Blackburn.
Housing and HMR
Regenerate will contribute to the delivery of the Pennine Lancashire Housing Strategy and will continue the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) work initiated by Elevate. The HMR programme is designed to tackle the problems of low demand and housing market collapse in the main towns of Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale. Between the initiative’s start in 2003 and the end of March 2009, £219.4 million of HMR funding was used to improve 4,267 homes, acquire 2,280 properties and demolish 1,963 properties for redevelopment. This attracted £79.2m of other public and private sector funding to Pennine Lancashire, and 1,506 new homes were built in the HMR areas.
The area has received £50 million HMR funding for the current financial year (2009-10) and a further £48 million is earmarked by government for 2010-11.
Economic Development and Enterprise
Regenerate will continue the No Limits programme, a business and enterprise development campaign for Pennine Lancashire. Working through a partnership of business support agencies, it supports new and existing businesses, with advice, support and funding. The aim is to create up to 13,000 jobs and new 4,000 businesses over a decade.
In almost three years, No Limits has helped grow 342 businesses, plus 917 new business starts. It has created or safeguarded 3,100 jobs and attracted £9.6 million of private sector investment.
The company also supports businesses wanting to adopt new technologies or to bring new products to the market. It can also assist companies wishing to expand their premises or seeking to relocate within Pennine Lancashire. To learn more about how No Limits can help new and existing businesses, call 0800 612 2029 or visit www.no-limits.org.uk.
Image
Regenerate will build on the work already undertaken to promote Pennine Lancashire as a place to live, visit and do business, and enhance the area’s image and profile. Past and future projects include Pennine Lancashire Squared, an international design competition which aims to develop unique public spaces and world class landscape design in six Pennine Lancashire towns; the Pennine Lancashire Festival of Food and Culture, which last year attracted more than 45,000 visitors to enjoy local produce and attractions; Chic Sheds, which encourages people to grow their own food and eat more healthily; Sound Investments, which fosters the local live music industry; and a new Pennine Lancashire website.
For more information, contact Katy McCormick or Rachael Farricker on 01254 304550.