City Deal progress – two years on

The Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal has already helped to create more than 1,500 new homes and 753 new jobs in the past two years.

These jobs have been created through the development of over 9,500 sq m of new commercial space and the construction of new roads.

In the last two years, £9.16m of private sector capital has been invested to help deliver this infrastructure and improvement.

And over the next three years it's anticipated that more than £200m of investment will be made in infrastructure schemes in the area, supporting the completion of 3,000 new homes and 157,668 square metres of commercial floor space.

These figures are included in an annual report produced by the City Deal, detailing progress over the past two years and creating the foundations for future growth across Preston and South Ribble.

The report also sets out how progress has already been achieved on many major City Deal projects, including the widening of the A582 and the start of work on the Broughton Bypass.

Improving the road network makes it easier for people to get around and access employment opportunities, increases connectivity across the area and helps new housing developments to go ahead.

The £434m City Deal will help to create more than 20,000 new private sector jobs by 2023, and see over 17,000 new homes built in Preston and South Ribble over the next 10 years.

The aim is to grow the Lancashire economy, boost local business, support the construction sector, whilst helping people to travel around the area for work, and creating the homes where people and their families can live.

Jim Carter, Chair of City Deal said: "We are only a couple of years into this ten-year programme, but there's already a strong momentum building across Preston and South Ribble that will see once-in-a-lifetime changes to the economy and for people who live and work here.

"Since we signed our City Deal in Sept 2013, we've already seen strong progress on many major new developments across the area, which will put us in an excellent position for the future. This is adding up to an exciting time for Central Lancashire."

Across the area, City Deal has helped to enable a backdrop of growing commercial activity. The Momentum Business Centre at South Rings, Bamber Bridge, has just been completed and is quickly becoming occupied. The global retailer Amazon has space leased at Lancashire Business Park. Multi-million pound improvements are planned for the centres of Penwortham and Bamber Bridge.

In Preston city centre, improvements are planned for the bus station and a new youth zone, the continuing redevelopment of the Guild Hall, and the Markets Quarter featuring a new cinema; as well as the new Queen's Retail Park, and plans for two new hotels – at East Cliff and the former post office.

Jim added: "City Deal aims to create more jobs across the area by improving the infrastructure to directly benefit local people.

"Along with thousands of new homes and jobs, City Deal also aims to create new school places, green spaces and new health provision to cater for the growing population. It's important that we make the most of this opportunity."

The Annual Monitoring Return helps to inform and improve the delivery of the City Deal programme. It will also be submitted to government, providing accountability and feedback on performance so far.

Significant progress is being made on City Deal's major road projects.

In Penwortham, the final detailed planning work is continuing with a planning application for the bypass expected to be submitted later this year.

Detailed design work is continuing for the widening of the A582 in South Ribble, with work already finished on a widened section from Broad Oak roundabout, heading towards Preston.

Improvement work has also finished on the Broad Oak and Stanifield Lane roundabouts. Widening work is currently taking place on the Flensburg Way Roundabout.

Construction is currently taking place on the Broughton Bypass, and plans are being developed to improve the village once the bypass has opened.

A planning application has been submitted for the Preston Western Distributor, which would create a new junction with the M55, connecting to Preston and southern Fylde.

Key housing sites are already in progress and the first housing development in the City Deal area has sold out. All homes on Miller Homes’ Gate House Fold development at Bamber Bridge have been sold.

Many of the key Homes and Communities Agency housing sites are also progressing well, with developer partners now in place for five of the 11 City Deal sites. Three of these are already under construction with around 80 homes completed.

The City Deal is an agreement between Lancashire Enterprise Partnership and Preston City Council, South Ribble Borough Council and Lancashire County Council, along with central government and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

For more information about City Deal visit www.lancashirelep.co.uk/city-deal or follow @LancsCityDeal on twitter.