http://www.nwda.co.uk/pdf/315ISSUE4

315째 THE RDA MAGAZINE SEPT 2004 ISSUE 04

Destination Northwest Top region for overseas investors Sea change Cluster boost for maritime industries Capital of fun Blackpool gambles on new future Healthy eating Bid to boost organic production World city Liverpool joins elite club

4

Contents

Cover image Investors bank on the region’s future

4

The Third Degree Martin Brooks

9

Business Development

6 8 9

Foreign investors target Northwest The chemistry of cluster success Maritime industries boost

10 New awards champion enterprise 11 New fund sparks investment rush

12

Regeneration

12 Investing in economic recovery 14 Reviving a national treasure 16 Drive to expand organic farming

Skills & Employment

20

20 University sets pace on enterprise

Image

24 Garden capital of Britain 25 Region to star as top events venue 26 Liverpool joins elite heritage club 27 New direction for tourism

17 Scheme to raise farm competitiveness 18 Putting faith to work

22

Infrastructure

22 Creating space for business growth

24

28 Whitehall despatches 29 Event highlights 30 Viewpoint

31 NWDA area offices

Chairman

Bryan Gray

One young person who achieved national recognition recently embodies this vision for the future. Rosemary Harper, a 27-year-old process engineer at Solvay in Warrington, was named UK Chemical Industry Young Person of the Year 2004.

The Chemicals sector is crucial to our economy but it is often wrongly perceived to be both dull and in decline. It is therefore good to read of such encouraging evidence that the industry in the Northwest is still attracting talented young people.

This issue of 315˚ is full of the stories of other outstanding individuals who are making important contributions to the Northwest.

Take Christine Armstrong, Cumbrian sheep farmer, and winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Christine has developed an innovative wool product which is helping to generate a new market for sheep farmers. Such an enterprising approach to our most traditional farming industry is exactly what we need to secure a prosperous future for our rural communities.

Carole Nash has built her organisation, Carole Nash Insurance, from her dining room table to become one of our top companies with a turnover of £52 million. Carole’s commitment and investment in staff training and development is to be commended. This activity is clearly yielding impressive results and is an example from which many companies could learn.

A key role for the Agency is to help to provide an environment in which entrepreneurs and innovators can flourish. I believe that the Agency has the commitment and ability to deliver just that.

The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) continues to make a real difference. The Secretary of State at the DTI, Patricia Hewitt, recently commended the Agency for exceeding all performance targets set for us last year. I am confident that we will continue to deliver excellent results in the future while encouraging others to do the same.

Bryan Gray September 2004

315° Contacts

Editor

NWDA

Trevor Bates email@trevorbates.fsnet.co.uk

Emma Degg 01925 400 100 emma.degg@nwda.co.uk

Chairman’s message

The future economic strength of our region depends upon the Northwest becoming established as the home of innovative and productive companies staffed by highly skilled people.

315°

4

5

The Third Degree

Martin

Brooks Martin Brooks started his career as a junior reporter in his home town of Oldham before graduating to the BBC in 1976 where he has gained wide experience in both radio and television. He has held senior editorial and management posts on both sides of the Pennines and has been the Head of Regional & Local Programmes BBC North West for the past eight years. In this role he is responsible for all regional television output and three BBC local radio stations. Martin is currently working as the BBC’s Charter Review Co-ordinator for the North West.

Are the plans to expand the BBC going to represent a gradual growth of what is already here, or a major big bang?

We are working from a very strong base. Our local television programmes are strong. North WestTonight is doing very well. BBC Local Radio has a growing audience. All the BBC’s national religious output comes from Manchester as their network department is based here. There are growing current affairs and entertainment departments, the BBC Philharmonic is based here and the whole broadcasting centre has a very diverse range of output. Under the new proposals it’s going to do even better. I’m from the Northwest and see this amount of investment in a regional centre the largest ever in the BBC’s history - as a massive proposition.

Will it prove difficult to persuade London-based executives to relocate to the Northwest as they will inevitably have to?

Department heads are currently discussing the possibility of moving to Manchester. Decisions have not been taken yet as to what may be coming out of London to relocate here. These talks are going to continue over the coming weeks and months. Later this year we will know what is moving up here.

How did your staff in Manchester react to the news?

We announced these proposals at a packed staff meeting and it was really exciting. Several people came up to me afterwards and said they would like to be champions for Manchester, for the Northwest, to talk to other people in the BBC about working and living here.

What role will the BBC play in supporting more independent producers, the freelance community - cameramen, technicians, engineers - as well as a whole range of support businesses?

We are talking about more than doubling the size of the BBC’s operation in Manchester. We currently have about 700 people working here and staff numbers will be twice this under the new proposals. There will be a greater production spend in Manchester as part of an increased amount allocated for the BBC’s nations and regions which will go up by about £250 million. A substantial portion of this is coming to Manchester in additional production. There will be the bulk of £400 million of commissioning spend coming here, a great deal of which will go to the independent sector. I firmly believe that Manchester will become a magnet for talent and creativity and new jobs. It’s a very exciting proposition.

What can the BBC do to work more closely with ITV to provide a firm base for businesses and the regional economy?

We have a joint venture with Granada ITV - Three Sixty Media - and we will make plans for this partnership when all the pieces are in place but first we need to see what is coming up to Manchester. When we know, we can work out what accommodation and studios we will need to provide the engine rooms for these departments. Until we know the detail it’s difficult to predict. It’s interesting that this is happening at a time when the ITV network is going in the opposite direction.

Could this be good news for Liverpool too?

It will be good news for the whole of the North of England. Producers in the regions will have the opportunity to pitch ideas to people based in Manchester who have real power. At the moment that power rests in London and this is a major change.

Michael Grade has made a pledge to make the BBC more relevant to the whole country. Do you think the BBC has become too metropolitan and too London biased in its output?

We set up a Northern Taskforce to address this issue and the result was the appearance of more Northern voices on radio and television.

We have seen, for instance, Cutting It, Linda Green and Merseybeat which all flowed from this initiative. I think we will, in the future, be hearing more Northern voices. We do recognise that the BBC is too London-centric and 58% of all BBC staff are still based in London. It’s agreed that this is not representative and we are doing something about it.

“ I see this amount of investment in a regional centre as a massive proposition” What about radio and new media?

We don’t know yet, but it is an important part of the strategy of the BBC to expand new media services. The BBC in the Northwest already provides a range of services in TV, radio and new media and I would expect these different aspects of our output to share in the growth of Manchester as a production centre.

Which particular strengths do you believe the BBC can effectively build upon?

This new development will give the BBC a focus like never before. It’s an opportunity to identify and develop new talent in the North. For example, the Comedy Unit, which was set up last year in Manchester, has already been a success in showcasing northern humour to a wider audience. Developments like this will go from strength to strength under the new proposals and put us at the heart of the BBC in the future.

What about New Broadcasting House? Will it play a part in the future?

Once we establish what is coming to Manchester we’ll work out what our strategy will be in meeting our accommodation needs. Our current home, New Broadcasting House, does need a lot of investment to bring it up to the standard required of a modern broadcasting operation. It will be a priority to look at our whole needs for the new BBC in Manchester before any decisions are made on the future of the site.

What are your own personal ambitions in the new set-up?

It’s just incredibly exciting to be involved in what’s happening to the BBC in the North of England. I’m just enjoying playing a small part in that process at the moment in an ambassadorial role as people come to look and to find out what the BBC in Manchester has to offer.

Also, I am from Oldham and love working in the Northwest. In the past, staff have looked beyond Manchester in order to advance their careers.

This will not be the case in the future and because of this we’re going to get people who really want to come and work and live here and put roots down.

315°

6

7

Foreign investors target Northwest Overseas investors reaffirmed their faith in the Northwest as an international business location by helping it to outperform all other English locations last year in creating and safeguarding jobs. This is the second consecutive year the Northwest has achieved pole position.

According to figures released by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), much of the employment created by the region’s 63 project successes was in high quality jobs. The projects generated or preserved 12,711 jobs and delivered investment worth £1.15 billion.

The region’s appeal was further underlined in July when arvato AG, a subsidiary of Germany’s giant Bertelsmann media group, announced it is to build a £115 million state-of-the-art gravure printing plant at Speke on Merseyside initially creating up to 500 jobs.

Construction of the 500,000 sq ft facility will begin in 2005 with completion due in 2008. Supported by a £7 million grant from the Department of Trade and Industry, the project will be located on a 50-acre site of Peel Holdings’ Liverpool International Business Park.

Gravure – or rotogravure- is a specialised printing process used to produce high quality, high volume, high colour publications like magazines.

The new plant is part of arvato’s strategy to extend its European network to meet current high levels of demand for gravure printing.

The company already has a significant presence on Merseyside through its arvato services subsidiary, which operates an 800-seat call centre in Liverpool’s Cunard Building.

Securing the investment involved a major collaborative effort by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Liverpool City Council, The Mersey Partnership, Greater Merseyside Learning and Skills Council and other partners. The NWDA’s inward investment team faced stiff competition from Wales and Yorkshire for the printing plant and burned the midnight oil to secure the project.

“The way in which we worked together to win this project is a real credit to the sub-regional partners,” explained John Cunliffe, the Agency’s Acting Head of Investment. “The ability of the regional team to respond quickly, and more importantly, to deliver our promises, gave arvato the confidence to invest here.”

The scale and quality of regeneration in South Liverpool, demographic factors, the availability of a flagship site and good transport links helped swing arvato’s decision Merseyside’s way.

High skills will be required to operate the plant. arvato will be recruiting an entire new workforce and will run a major training programme as the skills are scarce in the UK. “The project bucks the perceived trend that the UK does not win manufacturing jobs any more”, says John Cunliffe. Some of the big investments secured in the past 18 months have a distinct high-value

production bias including Quinn Glass’s £120 million bottle plant at Ince, Cheshire, and the £85 million Chiron Vaccines expansion at Speke.

The NWDA is prioritising its foreign direct investment (FDI) activities at projects that require advanced skills and increase the region’s gross value added (GVA) – a measure of prosperity - through higher salaries.

Figures published by UKTI for 2003-04 reinforce the region’s continued attractiveness as a business base for American, European and Far East companies. The employment tally of the 63 confirmed projects - 3,162 new jobs (12.4 per cent of the national total) and 9,549 safeguarded (28 per cent) - was significantly higher (4,580) than the region’s nearest rival Wales.

The NWDA offered support in 28 of the projects delivering investment worth £667 million and securing employment for over 6,000.

The most notable successes were the Quinn Glass bottle and packaging plant (300 new jobs), a Bosch call centre in Liverpool (207 jobs), IVAX Pharmaceuticals’ £25 million expansion at Runcorn (385 jobs safeguarded) and Koito Industries’ new aerospace facility at Speke (21 jobs).

The picture looks even rosier when 38 other recorded investments totalling £480 million are taken into account. The biggest of these are Jaguar’s expansion at Speke (1,000 jobs), further investment by Bentley at Crewe (350 jobs) and AstraZeneca’s £70 million expansion of its Research and Development base at Alderley Park (240 jobs).

A key element of the Agency’s success, says Cunliffe, is the reinvestment and expansion of the companies in this region.

“Our colleagues in the Investor Development Team and our sub-regional partners play a crucial role in ensuring that the Northwest secures the long-term future of these companies.”

He believes there is now a greater awareness of what the region has to offer. This is due in part to the Agency’s new proactive marketing approach to inward investment and its successful efforts to counter industrial stereotyping of the region.

“The region’s business make-up is much more dynamic and diverse than it once was and this has helped shield us from the downturn that other regions have faced. The fact that we are still attracting call centres, projects from Japan and high-value manufacturing is a tribute to that diversity.”

Gambling on success Many overseas investors are establishing smallish corporate bridgeheads in the Northwest to cash in on future business opportunities, none more so than US gambling machines giant Alliance Gaming Corporation.

The Las Vegas-based company has added to Wigan’s gaming profile (the Tote is located there) by opening a £5 million HQ for its Bally Gaming business with help from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

Alliance has made its move into the UK in advance of legislation that is widely expected to change the gaming landscape, leading to the development of Nevada-style resort casinos. Blackpool, Manchester and Liverpool have been identified as possible casino locations.

Bally sells gaming equipment to casinos, bingo halls and amusement arcades and provides gaming systems for the entire market. Its US parent strengthened its presence in the UK through the acquisition of Crown Gaming of Preston and Honeyframe of Telford.

Bally has built up its workforce to 35 with more in the pipeline. “We have come to do business now but also to prepare for the opportunities arising out of gaming de-regulation,” explained Bally Managing Director Paul Roden.

Study forecasts by KPMG suggest Britain’s casino industry could be worth £2.5 billion by 2009, representing a 217 per month growth since 2003. “The casino industry has seen healthy growth in recent years but that will be totally eclipsed when the Gaming Bill becomes law,” said consultancy company KPMG’s Paul Korolkiewicz.

315°

8

9

The chemistry of cluster success The Northwest’s £10 billion innovation-driven chemistry-using industries have entered a new phase of development following the re-launch of the Northwest Chemical Initiative as Chemicals Northwest.

An integral part of the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s cluster programme, the re-branded organisation intends to capitalise on the already rich heritage of achievement which has made the region’s industry one of the largest, most modern and diverse in the UK. Its importance to the local economy cannot be underestimated.

The existence of 800 chemical and related companies employing 43,000 highly skilled people and sustaining a further 120,000 service and support jobs, means the region now provides almost a quarter of the UK’s chemical output, 60% of which goes for export.

Chief Executive Carol Boyer is clear about the plans for the future of the industry. “My vision is that the chemical industry in the Northwest is valued, appreciated and sustainable.”

“At Chemicals Northwest, we have the opportunity to shape the future direction of the industry. There is tremendous enthusiasm to participate, from chemical manufacturers, downstream user companies and related specialist service companies.”

With 430 chemicals sites around the region, the industry feeds its products into many of the consumer items that dominate our everyday lives from water purifying and refrigerants to components powering our mobile phones and laptops.

Each year the sector invests more than £400 million on research and development and over £1 billion in manufacturing plants, maintenance and employee salaries across the industry.

One of its great strengths lies in its ability to produce the advanced materials required for emerging markets including bio and life sciences, ICT and environmental technologies.

The recent opening of the £3 million Organic Materials Innovation Centre, (OMIC) one of five University Innovation Centres (UICs) across the UK, should help to accelerate this process. Located at the University of Manchester, OMIC is the only chemistry-based UIC and serves a consortia of Northwest universities.

The skills gap at both plant operator and graduate levels is one serious threat the industry faces. In an attempt to deal with this issue, new initiatives are being put in place including a longer-term look at the feasibility of a Learning Academy, which will provide re-training for employees at all levels.

Proving its firm standing in the wider UK chemistry-using industry, the Northwest walked away from the recent Chemical Industries Association (CIA) awards dinner with no less than six accolades.

At the recent ceremony, held for the first time in Manchester, Blackley-based Avecia won the ‘Innovation of the Year Award,’ with process engineer Rosemary Harper, earning the UK Chemical Industry ‘Young Person of the Year 2004’award for her work at Solvay in Warrington.

These successes signify a positive future, according to Boyer.

“The challenge for me was to find a way of linking together many of the groups operating in the industry. Regular visits to companies, participation in the Regional Economic Strategy and the Chemistry Leadership Taskforces ensure that all our interventions and projects meet the industry’s needs.”

Maritime industries boost Schools across the Northwest are to be encouraged to take up an imaginative curriculumbased activity challenge which organisers hope will reconnect pupils and teachers with the region’s illustrious maritime heritage, as well as its future opportunities.

Launched with funding from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and backing from industry, the project will culminate in an awards ceremony to coincide with the Trafalgar Festival in Autumn 2005.

Schools will be invited to devise their own projects around three broad headings – enterprise, environment and engineering. Organisers hope to attract 100 schools to take up the challenge and will appeal for private sector sponsorship.

“The aim is to raise awareness that there is still a wealth of career opportunities in the maritime industries from fish filleting to ice carvers on QM2, or inspire someone to become a sea captain or a professor of marine science,” explained Capt Nigel Malpass, a former Bibby Line captain and one of the Challenge organisers.

The project is a centrepiece of Maritime Northwest, an NWDA cluster programme initiative to develop the industry, an important segment of the regional economy with an 18,000-strong workforce and a turnover of £3.3 billion.

The aim is to raise awareness that there is still a wealth of career opportunities in the maritime industries.

Despite Britain’s history as a maritime nation there is currently a poor perception of the industry as a rewarding business and career opportunity. “People have lost sight of the value of our maritime industries. They seem to forget that 98% of UK trade by volume goes out and comes in by sea,” says Chris Fisher, Head of Maritime Northwest.

The cluster group, an alliance of key companies, port groups, industry organisations like Mersey Maritime and training providers, are now pressing ahead with five initiatives to exploit growth potential in sectors as diverse as ports, shipping and maritime commerce, seafood, leisure and the cruise business.

Ports offer real scope for expansion, even some of the smaller ones.

Liverpool handled 31million tonnes of cargo last year, the highest ever, and major investment is planned in new terminal facilities creating more employment.

Peel Holdings is also seeking approval for a new container terminal - Port Salford – in the upper reaches of the Manchester Ship Canal, a project that has the cluster team’s support. “The idea that the Canal has died is far from the truth,” insists NWDA Cluster Manager Eddie Keating.

There is also significant activity in fish catching and processing, with emerging business opportunities in the latter likely to be boosted by a proposed new fish auction hall at Fleetwood costing several million pounds.

Skill shortages are a key issue for Maritime Northwest and training courses are being put in place to equip young people for jobs in shipping practice (maritime commerce), port stevedoring and supervising, marina management and fish filleting.

315° 10

11

New awards champion enterprise 1

2

1

2

Bowled over Christine Armstrong receives her award from James Cropper, Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria Link man Anthony Wilson will host two enterprise sessions

New regional and national award schemes have been launched to recognise the achievements of the nation’s enterprise heroes and promote a culture of ambition and entrepreneurship.

The biggest of these is ‘Enterprising Britain’, a national competition that will culminate with Chancellor Gordon Brown announcing the British Capital of Enterprise in Spring 2005.

A drive, spearheaded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), is now underway to find the best candidate to represent the Northwest. The winner will receive £150,000 of Agency funding to further develop an enterprise culture.

Local authorities are being invited to submit details of how they have made a step change in their approach to supporting and promoting enterprise.

Submissions should also demonstrate how the area has faced the challenge of promoting enterprise, how it formed partnerships and policies in tackling these challenges, and how its actions have had a positive impact in promoting enterprise.

Completed applications forms must be received by 5pm on October 1. Final judging will take place in late October with the regional winner being announced during Enterprise Week (w/c November 15). The national judging process takes place in January and February 2005.

Business creation is a crucial element of regional and national economic policy. The Chancellor has pledged to create a “Britain of ambition where what matters is not where you come from but what you aspire to.”

A similar theme underpins a new Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, which will go to outstanding individuals who promote entrepreneurship either by their own efforts or by encouraging enterprise and innovation in others by mentoring or networking.

Up to ten Awards will be given annually for these enterprise champions. Closing date for nominations is October 31.

The new accolade complements the wellestablished Queen’s Award for Enterprise that rewards collective efforts by top performing businesses in International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development.

One of the most recent awards in the Sustainable Development category went to Cumbrian farmerChristine Armstrong who came up with the novel idea of converting unwanted wool into Thermafleece, a safe, environmentally friendly building insulation product.

She set up Second Nature (UK) at her farm at Penrith after discovering that the UK was importing wool suitable for insulation while dumping perfectly good British wool because the textile trade didn’t want it. The insulation is now used in building projects from single homes to council estates.

The NWDA intends to turn the spotlight on this sort of entrepreneurship by holding a high profile series of business creativity events in the region during Enterprise Week (November 15-21) in collaboration with the NW Enterprise Forum.

Spanning the Agency’s skills, business support and innovation agendas, the programme will draw in schoolchildren, young people, graduates, businesses, innovators and would-be entrepreneurs from all parts of the region.

Highlight of the week will be the Business Enterprise Xchange conference and exhibition (BEX) at the Manchester International Business Centre (November 17-18), which is expected to attract over 3,000 SMEs and potential entrepreneurs.

A focal point of the BEX will be an event for the directors of tomorrow hosted by broadcaster Anthony Wilson, founder of Factory Records and featuring two question and answer sessions for 800 young people aged 14-25.

For further information on Enterprise Week: www.starttalkingideas.org.uk

New fund sparks investment rush Two companies with innovative approaches to the region’s energy supply market can look forward to a bright future after receiving risk capital support from the Northwest Business Investment Scheme (NWBIS).

They are among 16 businesses that have secured investment totalling £2.9 million from the fund during its first 15 months of operation. This in turn has levered additional equity funding of £15 million, a rate that is exceeding initial expectations.

Yorkshire Fund Managers who run the £17.3 million scheme on behalf of the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) report a strong flow of inquiries from technology-based businesses. A quarter of all deals have a university spin-out dimension.

The deal involving Community Energy Trading Limited (CETL) is unusual for a venture capital provider in that the Bury-based start-up plans to use half its profits to support charities and deprived communities.

Brainchild of renewable energy expert Dr Alan Green and his colleague Vince Hulley, CETL is taking advantage of deregulation in the energy market to provide electricity supplies to UK companies to enhance their social responsibility programmes. NWBIS is providing 25% of the firm’s start up costs.

The concept is so popular that CETL’s annual turnover target of £3.8 million underestimated the demand for the service and the business is now on track to turn over £9 million in its first 12 months trading.

Another recent investment of £150,000 in Eclipse Energy is being used to develop the company’s plans for generating electricity through a hybrid of natural gas and offshore wind power from a site 10km to the west of Walney Island in Cumbria.

Energy experts believe the Ormonde Project will set the standards in cost effective, sustainable low–carbon electricity generation and could prove to be a catalyst for hundreds of similar schemes through the world.

The NWBIS is filling a significant equity funding gap for a wide range of Northwest based companies that do not match the limited investment capacity and highly specific criteria of existing investment funds.

Investments have been running at an average of 15% of total requirement with other funding providers supplying the rest, but in some deals it has been as high as 35-40%. The biggest investment so far has been £350,000 in a green property design and development company.

Some projects would not have gone ahead without NWBIS’s intervention, according to YFM Investment Manager Doug Stellman. “Sometimes we are the last piece of the funding jigsaw, in other instances we are providing the first piece.”

He’s now urging small companies and their advisers to dust off any development plans and bring them forward for NWBIS appraisal.

Fund managers are particularly interested in increasing enquires from the tourism and creative industries sector.

Vivienne Upcott-Gill, the NWDA’s Head of Business Finance and TEChINVEST, is pleased with the enquiry flow (314 in the first year) and quality of investments so far, but stresses that all money from the fund must be invested by December 2006 otherwise it will revert back to the EU. The NWBIS is one of a number of funds the NWDA has established to provide finance to the Northwest’s small companies. The Agency’s Equity Advisory Services, TEChINVEST, provides help to companies, identifying and introducing them to the most appropriate sources of finance.

For further information: www.nwbis.co.uk or www.techinvest.org

News

Construction is underway on the £34 million National Biomanufacturing Centre on the Estuary Commerce Park at Speke.

As part of its investment in the scheme the government has earmarked nearly £3 million for an access fund that will enable small biotech companies to buy services from the centre...

The NWDA has approved the creation of an Aerospace Innovation Centre (AIC) with the Northwest Aerospace Alliance as the preferred bidder to implement the multi-million pound project.

The AIC will promote technology and innovation across the region’s aerospace supply base...

The NWDA has confirmed first stage funding of £1 million for a Regional Attraction Fund to support independent television and film production. It will be managed by North West Vision, the film and media development agency for the Northwest...

Britain’s Automotive Academy has opened a third regional spoke in Leyland to enhance the skills, training and competitiveness of the motor industry. It is managed by the Northwest Automotive Alliance (NAA), the NWDA’s automotive cluster development organisation...

13

Photography by Brian Sherwen

315° 12

Investing in economic recovery More investment in technology, business support and sustainable farming is being channelled into Cumbria as the Northwest Regional Development Agency and its partners work to address the county’s economy.

Funding of £20 million has been approved to raise local digital competitiveness by rolling out broadband coverage to 95% of businesses and householders in Cumbria and North Lancashire.

A UK and RDA ‘first’, Project ACCESS is expected to make a huge impact on some of the county’s more remote rural communities by providing them with fast, reliable and affordable Internet connections.

In another move to stimulate enterprise and innovation, the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) is allocating £3 million to create an Enterprise Fund to safeguard jobs and attract inward investors to Barrow and Furness.

The fund is the latest in a series of NWDA initiatives to develop new employment opportunities in an area badly hit by shipbuilding redundancies. These include the establishment of a Barrow Taskforce, major plans for the development of the Port of Barrow and construction of a £4.8 million Call Centre in the town.

An additional £9.8 million is to be invested in an innovative programme of support to improve the long-term sustainability of the county’s farming and agricultural industry. Developed by Rural Regeneration Cumbria (RRC), ‘Farming Connect Cumbria’ will also focus on assisting young farmers.

European Commission statistics on GVA, released earlier this year, revealed the extent of the challenge facing the NWDA and its partners in turning around Cumbria’s economy.

Figures showed the county to be the only UK area where GVA had fallen. Across the recently-extended European Union only Berlin and parts of the Czech Republic have seen declines so worryingly rapid.

GVA is 23% below the UK average, a situation that NWDA Chief Executive Steven Broomhead described as “unacceptable” when he outlined the Agency’s plans for the sub-region at a business reception in Kendal organised by the Institute of Directors. He indicated that the Agency would invest at least £120 million in Cumbria over the next three years.

Cumbria has a workforce of 250,000 producing goods and services with an annual value of £5.4 billion. Around 7% is employed in tourism. Job losses in surface vessel shipbuilding and an anticipated large-scale contraction of the nuclear industry in the next six years pose serious threats to the local economy.

Jobs-versus-protection of the environment is a key issue for planners.

The dilemma was highlighted in a recent economic assessment carried out by BMG Research on behalf of the county’s local authorities, further education colleges, Learning and Skills Council, Cumbria Inward Investment Agency and Lake District Planning Authority.

The report argues that planning policies are restricting development in Cumbria’s most successful areas where the prospects for private sector led economic growth are potentially strongest.

A major relaxation of planning policies outside the National Park would lead to more housing development and a rise in population in areas where people would like to live.

The report came to some sobering conclusions. Cumbria can stay as it is, in which case economic growth will remain relatively low and the county’s output and income per head will slip further behind the UK average.

Or it can try to boost wealth generation significantly by creating a single agency with economic development as a primary objective “rather than as something which is permitted after a range of other pre-conditions have been met”.

Better road access to Furness and West Cumbria is identified as a way to attract more private investment and a ‘Cumbria University’ is seen as crucial to retain talented young people.

1 1

Reflected glory New wave regeneration at Whitehaven harbour Seat of learning Newton Rigg Campus, Penrith

Carlisle campus joins UCLan family Higher Education opportunities in Cumbria are to be expanded following the transfer of Northumbria University’s 400-student Carlisle Campus to the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

The initiative has been backed with £1.9 million from the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE) and £1.2 million from the NWDA. UCLan’s development plans for the campus include improvements to infrastructure and more courses.

The transfer will strengthen the strategic alliance between UCLan, Cumbria Institute of the Arts, St. Martin’s College and the University of Lancaster, leading to wider participation in Higher Education.

Professor Norman Burrow, UCLan’s Director for Cumbria, says the integration of a city campus in a Cumbrian setting provides the university with an opportunity to develop provision that is complementary to both the Preston and Penrith (Newton Rigg) campuses.

Northumbria University has made substantial investment in the Carlisle Campus in the past ten years. In 2002 the site was significantly upgraded by construction of a £3.2 million Library and Learning Centre.

This move is part of our strategy to bring wide-ranging and relevant opportunities to the people of Cumbria Undergraduate and postgraduate courses includes Business Studies, Education, English, History with Social Sciences and Tourism.

The portfolio will be expanded to include Travel Journalism and Adventure Journalism with Photography.

The campus attracts a mainly domestic Cumbrian student body and a number of international students from countries such as China, Nigeria and the USA. “We are delighted that our development plans have received the seal of approval from HEFCE and the NWDA,” commented UCLan’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Malcolm McVicar.

“This move is part of our strategy to bring wide-ranging and relevant opportunities to the people of Cumbria.”

315° 14

15

Blackpool’s iconic image as the nation’s premier coastal resort is set to undergo major change as civic leaders and regeneration agencies embark on bold long-term proposals to revive the resort’s fortunes.

Work is already underway on two gateway projects costing nearly £20 million and plans are advanced for an £80 million Defra-funded radical remodelling of the town’s famous seafront.

The schemes represent early action on implementing an imaginative new 15-year Masterplan that envisages massive regeneration of a 200-hectare area stretching from North Pier to South Pier taking in Blackpool’s Victorian and Edwardian core.

Planners believe that proposals outlined in the blueprint would generate investment of £1.4 billion, 20,000 full-time jobs and £437 million of new income each year. This would amount to the biggest investment in Britain’s premier coastal resort since it became a fun-and-sun destination for the industrial masses over a century ago.

Blackpool has been in a slow spiral of decline for the past three decades. It still attracts 11 million visitors a year but is largely a shortbreak destination. Civic and tourist leaders want to reshape Blackpool’s character boosting annual visitor numbers to 15 million (many of them ‘staying’ tourists).

“We aim to totally reposition the resort in the national and international marketplace as a 52-week visitor entertainment experience,” explains Reg Haslam, Head of the Blackpool New Horizons planning team.

He believes American-style resort casino hotels are key to unlocking the resort’s full potential.

The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) is already working with the council to regenerate the town in the context of the ‘New Vision for Northwest Coastal Resorts’ strategy.

It is currently preparing plans with English Partnerships and the council to establish a new delivery vehicle on the lines of an Urban Regeneration Company (URC) to coordinate planning and investment activity. Sir Peter Hall, a distinguished planner and an old boy of Blackpool Grammar School has been recruited to chair the shadow URC board.

The designated URC area includes the Masterplan zone plus deprived communities of inner Blackpool (total population 32,000), which contain

a large element of 19th century housing. These have been designated as Integrated Neighbourhood Improvement areas (INIs).

Published in 2003, the Masterplan envisages a new conference/ exhibition centre and what the Americans call a ‘second gate’ visitor draw.

“Pleasure Beach is seen as our first gate, the second is a proposal for a seafront casino spa and an urban Centre Parcs attraction that will enable us to import pounds and euros into the region,” explains Haslam.

Planners project a cluster of three resort casinos for the Golden Mile and civic leaders are closely tracking government plans to liberalise Britain’s gaming laws. A new bill legalising Las Vegas-type self-contained resort casinos is expected to receive its first reading in the autumn.

The region faces difficult decisions because there will be more candidates for casinos than can be accommodated, suggests Haslam.

“It’s important that this limited demand is marshalled and directed where it will have the greatest benefit and that will require bold decisions to be made by the regional planning authorities.”

Masterplan ideas are being put into action in advance of the URC. The NWDA has already committed single programming money to various projects including public realm work on two environmental improvement corridors.

The Southern Gateway (£4.4 million) will smarten up the seafront and the Central Gateway (£16.6 million) will provide a new parkland entrance to the town replacing acres of tarmac.

Private investors are also lining up major schemes to improve the town’s retail offer. Academy Land has acquired the Hounds Hill retail centre and subject to Compulsory Purchase Order approval plan to build a 250,000 sq ft extension in partnership with the council with Debenhams as an anchor tenant. The total investment is £70 million.

Carole Lythall, Regeneration Manager at NWDA’s Lancashire Office, says “key to the economic success will be the strength of the tourist industry and its ability to match demand in an evolving leisure market.”

Reviving a national treasure

New routes to prosperity Blackpool Council has opened the gate to improved prosperity - and more visitors - by selling the resort’s municipal airport to a private operator who plans to double passenger numbers within five years.

The deal with a consortium led by City Hopper Airports Limited and MAR Properties secures a multimillion investment programme aimed at improving the terminal and surrounding buildings.

Situated at Squires Gate just three miles from the M55, Blackpool is Britain’s longest serving civil airport (aviation started in 1909). Operators include Ryanair, which flies scheduled services to London Stansted and Dublin. The airport currently handles 250,000 passengers a year.

City Hopper’s Executive Chairman Paul Whelan has outlined plans to transform Blackpool into a world-class ‘regional city’ airport by offering overseas leisure and business travellers an alternative less congested gateway to the Northwest.

“More flights will be arriving here from continental Europe bringing in tourists to ride the roller coasters at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, play golf on some of the best courses in Europe or visit the Lake District.”

The deal allows the council to retain a 5% stake in the airport along with a seat on the board. New facilities are to be introduced and passenger comfort greatly improved.

Improving access to the resort is an important piece of Blackpool’s regeneration jigsaw, says Reg Haslam, Head of the New Horizons team.

“We regard the airport as a key tool for bringing people into the region to enjoy a high quality entertainment experience.”

Capital of fun Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the resort’s biggest attraction, continues to invest heavily in new thrilling rides to sustain its popularity as Britain’s favourite family theme park.

In the past 10 years it has ploughed £60 million in new stomach-churning rides and visitor facilities including the 116-bed Big Blue Hotel where a new 40-bed extension is being added to meet the high demand for accommodation.

Billed as the Britain’s most visited tourist entertainment, Pleasure Beach boasts 145 rides and attractions, three show venues and draws in 6.2 million visitors a year.

The park embarked on a major programme of investment in 1994 with the £12 million Pepsi Max rollercoaster, followed it in 2000 with the world’s largest dark ride Valhalla (£15 million), the hotel (£4.5 million) in 2003 and this year with Bling, a £2million white knuckle experience.

1

2

Blackpool favourite Sunset over Central Pier Stylish promenade New curved lighting columns at South Shore Picture perfect Blackpool Council Leader Roy Fisher reveals the future

1

2

315° 16

17

Drive to expand organic farming More farmers and growers are being encouraged to join the healthier food revolution by going organic. Practical help in making the transition and answering market demand is being offered by the Northwest Organic Centre (NWOC), a new regional facility.

Thirty per cent of the nation’s organic farmers are located in the South West and only 4% in this region, a situation the centre hopes to remedy with a programme of skills training, business support, marketing advice and the promotion of inter-farm collaboration.

Patrick Holden, Director of The Soil Association, which is partnering the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) in the venture, raised the prospect of the region becoming a “food pilgrimage destination” where people could enjoy quality food and see how it was produced.

Speaking at the project’s official launch at Blackburn Rovers FC he spoke of the need for the region to cultivate “citizen pride” in its food that reflected itself in consumer loyalty to local producers.

Based at Myerscough College, near Preston, the Northwest Organic Centre has been supported by an initial NWDA investment of £180,000. It is staffed by a small team led

by Arno de Snoo who has experience of organic agriculture in places as far away as Honduras and Holland.

Over the next three years it aims to work with over 300 small businesses and convert an additional 60 producers to organic methods. Currently only 1% (165) of the region’s farmers are organic.

The UK has the third largest organic market in the world with retail shop sales topping £1 billion, and according to Phil Stocker, Head of Agriculture at The Soil Association, there are an increasing number of farmers interested in producing high quality food and adopting

high animal welfare practices.

“Organic farming is emerging as a real leader in defining what sustainable agriculture is all about,” he says.

Long-time organic grower Alan Schofield who, with his wife Debra, runs an organic vegetables business at Pilling, an area with rich alluvial soils, argues that with bigger consumers looking for a oneshop supply service it is important that growers work together.

He established ‘Growing with Nature’ in 1992 to market direct to the final consumer and runs a box scheme with other growers that offers consumers 50 different types of vegetable and salad lines in three fixed price bags under a “Your share of our harvest” marketing slogan.

Schofield supplies customers over a wide area of Preston,

Lancaster and the Fylde coast and has recently launched two sales franchises to cover Blackburn and South Manchester. Demand is high and he is currently looking for more growers to join the scheme. “Collaboration is definitely the future for the small-scale producer,” he says.

According to Steve Heaton, the NWDA’s Head of Rural Affairs the NWOC is a natural fit with many of the region’s policy drivers, including the Agency’s £100 million Rural Renaissance programme.

“There is considerable undersupply of certain organic products in the region and this initiative will help to open up new opportunities for farmers and food producers.”

For further information: www.nworganiccentre.org

Scheme to raise farm competitiveness Farmers who want to carry on farming in the 21st century’s challenging climate are queuing up to take advantage of an innovative new source of support in Cumbria.

1

2

1

2

Farming tradition Weekly livestock market, Kendal Harvest time Most farmers want to carry on farming

They are hoping to benefit from Farming Connect Cumbria, a £9.8 million scheme launched in September at the Westmorland Show. The initiative is funded by Rural Regeneration Cumbria through the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

Grants of up to £16,000, accompanied by ongoing help and advice, will assist farmers to become more competitive by creating long-term development plans, sustainable both financially and environmentally.

The key aim is to help in areas of primary agriculture, rather than diversification.

Farming Connect, which will safeguard 750 jobs and provide almost 1,600 eligible businesses with advice, will also focus on young farmers, aiming to assist 200 in business start-ups or expansion between now and March 2008.

Richard Lancaster, programme manager for Rural Regeneration Cumbria says: “This is fantastic news for farmers in this county, 90% of whom want to carry on farming. The support on offer is different from anything that has been available before and targeted specifically at the livestock-dominated areas of Cumbria which have their own particular needs.”

The scheme is in response to research, which showed that farmers wanted a single point of entry for any new initiative. Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency’s Farm Link team will oversee the grant application process and provide the hands-on help.

Sheep and dairy cattle farmer Steve Dunning, a member of Rural Regeneration Cumbria’s agriculture committee, believes that this element is vitally important.

“It means farmers will have contact with specific farm advisers who can take a close look at their business and discuss future plans to ensure they are sustainable,” says Steve, Vice Chairman of the County NFU during the foot and mouth epidemic. “In Cumbria we have a lot of people who want to farm, including a lot of fresh starters, and it’s important we encourage them into the business and help to make them competitive.”

Steve, whose son Michael, 27, is the fifth generation of farmers at Raisgill Hall, Tebay, says: “What is so good is that this chunk of money is being invested totally in Cumbria – we are not competing for a share of a national pot.”

Because of the changing nature of the industry, farmers acknowledge that they have often made short-term adjustments without considering the long-term future, says Richard Lancaster.

Advisers will be available to sit down with a farmer and their family, consider their needs and how they might be met. “They will consider whether sons or daughters want to go into the business, whether the farm can sustain more than one family, and what the options are to make that possible,” he says.

They will also look at how new environmental legislation may affect the farm and advise on the new environmental stewardship schemes.

Grants will be considered for eligible projects, which could include livestock handling and housing facilities and up-to-date provision for dealing with farm waste.

Richard says Farming Connect will run in parallel with the Farm Business Advisory Service, Defra’s Rural Enterprise schemes, which concentrate mainly on diversification, Leader Plus and Distinctly Cumbrian.

315° 18

19

Putting faith to work Regeneration is being given a spiritual dimension as church and other faith groups across the Northwest focus their efforts on bringing about environmental improvements in some of the region's most deprived neighbourhoods.

In one project on Merseyside, innovative reclamation of church land has enabled members of the local community to grow fruit and vegetables with the help of a poly tunnel, raised beds and wheelchair ramps.

The produce will be sold at the on-site church run café providing local residents with additional access to healthy and affordable fresh food. Partners in the venture included the local church, the Primary Health Care Trust, schools, the Allotment Association and the Area Neighbourhood office.

It is one of 20 projects, all involving a faith partner, receiving support and advice from Operation EDEN, a three-year initiative supported by the Bishop of Liverpool which has received £418,000 funding from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

Launched earlier this year, EDEN is expanding a network of faithbased volunteers, known as “Environmental Representatives”, to include all faith communities.

The volunteers are urged to put their faith’s teachings on, and experiences of, the environment into action with other groups to empower local sustainable development, a principle underpinning the Agency’s regeneration activity on a range of fronts from

1

1

Spirited action Clergy join forces with local volunteers to grow fresh produce

environmental renewal and social enterprise to tourism and resource efficiency.

Operation Eden covers the Diocese of Liverpool and takes in some of the most deprived boroughs in the country. Other funders include the Environment Agency, Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority, Groundwork and Defra. The money provides seed funding for schemes via grant applications to the Project Development Fund.

Schemes receiving help and advice from Tom Veitch, EDEN’s Project Officer, range from an outdoor primary school classroom, a supported recycling service for people unable to access recycling facilities, and a faith symbolic garden around a synagogue.

“Faith groups traditionally offer support in local communities by providing meeting spaces and a host of support services,” explains Project Co-ordinator Annie Merry. “Eden enables faith members to actively empower sustainable community regeneration - economic, social and environmental - with a spiritual dimension.”

For further information: www.merseysidecharities.co.uk/operationeden/contact.html

News

Inspirational landscapes The Newlands regeneration programme is set to deliver a landscape revolution across eight sites in the Mersey Belt, where derelict or neglected areas will be transformed into active, socially and economically beneficial new community woodlands.

The scheme was launched in July 2003 by John Prescott MP and is set to reclaim more than 400 hectares of derelict land across the region. The sites have been identified from a major aerial survey of the region’s derelict, underused and neglected land using a new software tool called the Public Benefit Recording System.

Eight major sites have now been selected, with in-depth site investigations, design planning and public consultations being carried out. The sites are: Town Lane, Ibstocks and Bidston Moss in Merseyside; Moston Vale, Lower Irwell Valley Improvement Area (LIVIA) and Belfield in Greater Manchester; and Cabot Carbon and Shell Stanlow in Cheshire.

The brownfield sites will be transformed into community woodlands through a partnership made up of the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the Forestry Commission, as well as a range of delivery partners, which include the Red Rose, Mersey and Pennine Edge Forests, Forest Enterprise, Mersey Basin Campaign and Groundwork.

The site-by-site transformation will do more than just plant trees and green up some eyesores: Newlands is a programme firmly focussed on economic and social benefit.

The initial site designs include plans to screen off industrial areas from transport corridors, making the Mersey Belt more attractive to investors and tourists alike. There are also outline ideas for play areas, for public art and sculpture, for forest trails and for outdoor sports and youth activities.

The £23 million scheme is sorely needed, as nearly a quarter of England’s derelict land is situated in the Northwest, much of it contaminated. This blight is widely recognised as being damaging to the region’s image as well as holding back regeneration efforts in deprived communities.

Chairman of the Forestry Commission, Lord Clark, said: “The NWDA has shown real leadership to other Regional Development Agencies by forging a unique partnership with other government agencies, including funding for the long-term management of the sites and using truly cutting edge surveying and analysis techniques to ensure maximum benefit for public money.”

For further information: www.forestry.gov.uk

New area managers have been appointed for the NWDA’s Greater Manchester and Merseyside Offices.

Paul Lakin, formerly Deputy Chief Executive of the Park Royal Partnership, London, has taken charge on Merseyside and Maurice Gubbins, formerly Head of Strategy in NWDA’s Operations Directorate, has taken over in Greater Manchester...

Liverpool’s Kings Waterfront scheme moved a step closer to reality with the provisional award of £50 million from Merseyside’s Objective One programme. Plans for the site include a 10,000-seat multi-use arena, exhibition and conference facilities...

Actor Robert Powell and Salford MP Hazel Blears join architecture and urban design experts on a 12-strong judging panel for the international competition that will produce a 20-year vision and regeneration framework for Central Salford...

The NWDA has announced a £5 million grant for the Unity Project, a key component in the regeneration of Liverpool’s Business District. The scheme by Rumford Investments Limited reclaims previously obsolete buildings for use as high quality office and residential space...

Burnley Borough Council has chosen Henry Boot Developments as the preferred developer for the £50 million scheme to provide 300,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space on the former Co-op food store site. The NWDA is investing £1.8 million in the first phase of the town centre project...

315째 20

21

University sets pace on enterprise For a university not among the most generously funded or best endowed, Salford has made its mark in the academic world by being inventive - and above all enterprising - in the way it connects with business, students and the community.

Following the appointment of Professor Michael Harloe as ViceChancellor in 1997 the university streamlined itself merging eight faculties into 4 and 38 schools into just 16 - an organisational model others have been tempted to follow.

Salford is using its long academic engagement with business, industry and the community to strengthen its brand as “the enterprising university”, a move designed to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

“We are no longer in a seller’s market,” explains Professor Harloe.

“The idea of a uniform university system producing a uniform product has gone. Every university now has to find a niche or USP. We want to be defined by something that is positive - and that is our commitment to enterprise.”

Salford’s decision to set up Academic Enterprise (AE) in 1999 was the catalyst for a total culture change across the campus.

Enterprise is deeply embedded in the way the university organises itself from faculty planning to graduate courses. The revolution has led Salford to adopt new promotion criteria so as to allow professorships for excellence in academic enterprise, not just research.

Examples abound of Salford’s creativeness. An A to Z rundown of its strengths lists over 140 links where the university has an engagement with enterprise, from its acoustics laboratories to its work in nuclear medicine training courses.

It supports incubation through a number of funded programmes, is engaged in an £8 million Innovation Park partnership, works with big international companies on problem-solving and since 2000 has been involved in a series of enterprise and training-related projects which have attracted £19 million of grant funding, including £3.86 million from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

One nationally-recognised initiative is a £1.2 million collaborative venture to deliver learning packages for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) which capitalises on Salford’s expertise in action learning.

The programme, which takes owner managers up to Master of Enterprise level, recognises that owner managers tend not to come from traditional academic backgrounds. “They typically have an IQ

higher than many university entrants,” says AE Director Professor Laurie Wood, “but they learn in different ways. This programme suits the way they think and work.”

Despite its global reach Salford has a proactive attitude to community development and is a potent driving force in the city’s regeneration.

The university expects to invest £130 million in modernising its estate over a six-year period providing the 18,000 students (94% of whom go on to employment or further study) with new facilities and the city with iconic buildings and new hubs of enterprise.

Schemes like the £20 million health building, due for completion in September 2005, will consolidate more activities on the main campus.

The university also hopes to make a start in 2005 on a new Arts and Media Centre in the Adelphi Arts and Media Quarter on Chapel Street costing £30-£40 million.

Professor Harloe describes the estate strategy as the largest programme of campus expenditure since the university was founded in its present form in 1967. “With the arrival of top-up fees we are entering into a much more competitive environment and students will want to know that they are getting good value for their money.”

The flagship construction projects lend real weight to the renewal processes at work in Salford. Professor Harloe is also involved at a more practical and personal level. He chairs both the Chapel Street Partnership and the Manchester-Salford Housing Renewal Partnership.

He’s also lined up to become a board member of the partnership that will spearhead the regeneration of Central Salford. Professor Harloe is proud of the know-how and quality of research and teaching that resides within the university.

The Salford-led bid for a national Construction Knowledge Exchange recently attracted £1.85 million HEFCE and NWDA funding, and in the most recent competitive research benchmarking exercise the Research Institute for the Built and Human Environment (BuHu) received a 6* rating, the highest possible score.

Professor Harloe would like business and the public sector to make much more use of the university’s know-how. “We have the strongest concentration of regeneration expertise in the region and possibly the UK.”

Production line of talent Students in the University of Salford’s School of Media, Music and Performance are gaining hands-on experience of the media and entertainment world by helping to run their own TV station and record label.

Channel M, a partnership between the university’s International Media Centre (IMC) and the Guardian Media Group, has been on air for four years and, in July, became available to one million viewers when the signal was broadened to take in a much wider area of Greater Manchester.

One of the few local TV stations in the UK, it broadcasts a daily mix of news, current affairs, short films and documentaries with some of the programmes being produced

by IMC students.

“It’s a great partnership because it allows students direct experience of a professional broadcast environment which we have built into the curriculum,” explains IMC Director Professor Ron Cook, the Faculty’s Associate Dean. The Centre runs a BSc in Media Technology and a BA in TV and Radio Journalism.

In a parallel project, the Centre has launched its own record label (Adelfi) with a first release of a three-track CD of contemporary ‘Indie’ music (sold through an HMV store in Manchester). A second CD, to be launched in the coming academic year, will be open to any aspiring musician.

“We are running a lot of projects like this - it’s a way of helping to maintain that critical

mass of creative people in the region,” adds Professor Cook.

The university is a breeding ground for real talent. Comedian Peter Kay and actor Christopher Eccleston are Salford graduates and in Sheila Whiteley the university can claim to have the first Professor of Popular Music.

The 1,600 students in the School of Media, Music and Performance and the 1,100 in the School of Art and Design will form the core of the new Adelphi Arts and Media Quarter, a key component in Manchester’s Knowledge Capital strategy.

315° 22

23

Creating space for business growth Private investors and public bodies are making great strides in creating a well-designed, technology-friendly 21st century property infrastructure which will allow companies, entrepreneurs and science-driven industries to push the region into a long period of sustained economic growth.

The wide progress achieved in making the region’s impressive portfolio of strategic sites ready for investment is documented in detail in the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s latest strategic regional sites annual monitoring report.

The Agency formally designated 25 major employment sites as strategically important to the region in 2001, and in October 2003 confirmed the designation of Astra Zeneca’s world-famous research campus at Alderley Park, Macclesfield, as an additional site.

Some sites are being rapidly advanced by the private sector. Where the private sector is leading the Agency’s main role is support through the planning system. In other instances the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) is funding site preparation, transport infrastructure, high quality office development and landscaping.

Creating employment is a key objective. At Chester Business Park MBNA Bank is building an extension to its European headquarters with four new buildings linked by a glazed atrium, creating 2,700 new jobs.

In Central Park, Manchester, formerly known as the North Manchester Business Park, construction has started on a business village of three buildings totalling 13,900 sq m (150,000 sq ft), which will be let to Fujitsu.

Work has also started on the £18 million project to create One Central Park, an “education hub” created jointly by Greater Manchester’s four universities, further education college MANCAT and Manchester Science Park.

In the centre of Liverpool, next to the ceremonial steps of the famous Metropolitan Cathedral, 4,065 sq m (43,756 sq ft) of new workspace is under construction at Liverpool University Edge, a new location for high technology companies in life sciences, new media, bioinformatics and information technology.

At Westlakes in Cumbria, construction work began in February on Galemire Court, a 2,000 sq m (21,500 sq ft) building costing £2.6 million and part-funded by the NWDA, which is poised to provide space for the future requirements of the nuclear industry.

A new conference centre and facilities for the knowledge-based SMEs linked to the nuclear supply chain and a Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration are other initiatives being take forward on at the Science Park Park nearWhitehaven.

The former Royal Ordnance Factory in Chorley, Lancashire, has benefited from grant aid to fund land reclamation. Development is already underway on the brownfield site, part of which will be occupied

by BAE Systems.

In all of these initiatives, public money is being used to give an initial impetus to projects, which the private sector has indicated a strong willingness to support.

A measure of what can be achieved on these sites can be taken from Kingmoor Park in Carlisle. It was one of the first 13 strategic sites designated by the NWDA shortly after its inception.

Covering nearly 90 hectares (222 acres) the former RAF Maintenance Unit, is now home to 150 businesses employing more than 1,200 people. When the site was sold by the MoD in 1999, it had five tenants and employed around 20 people.

Local jobs for local people

New distribution hubs

Central Park in Manchester is not a site that would spring to mind as a traditional location for a new business park, particularly not one setting out its stall to attract the global corporations of the future.

But its inner city location has not prevented it becoming the first of the UK’s new breed of large scale, mixed-use urban business parks.

Ken Knott, a director of private sector partner Ask Akeler Developments, grew up in East Manchester and is familiar with local peoples’ needs and aspirations. He met many of them while the park was in its early planning stages and discussed the project with them in some detail.

“This area used to be home to the biggest industrial names in the world. Then most of them disappeared. This project is about making it a location for the big industrial names of the future,” he says.

What particularly appealed to Knott was that this would not be a place, which created jobs and opportunities only for those who live in leafy suburbs far away.

The involvement of MANCAT alongside the universities means that there will be access for local residents who may have no academic qualifications, as well as PhD students from all over the world.

The educational institutions are partners in a new education hub, One Central Park, which is now being developed with funding by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) via the urban regeneration company New East Manchester.

NWDA Chief Executive Steven Broomhead says it will bring skills and employment to the area and promote economic growth. “It is essential that we continue to invest in these vital areas, particularly with those communities that are hard to reach,” he adds.

Logistics is a massive industry whose efficiencies underpin growth in many other sectors from manufacturing to retail. It creates pressures on land use, which the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has to be alert to.

One of the key objectives of the Agency’s strategic regional sites programme is to provide inter-modal freight facilities and terminals, which will help reduce the number of lorry journeys and replace those journeys with more sustainable methods of distribution.

At Basford in Crewe, the NWDA is working with Crewe and Nantwich Borough and Cheshire County Councils to prepare development briefs for two parcels of land located about a mile from Crewe’s major rail station and about four miles from the M6. Basford West, which stretches over 55 hectares (135 acres), is expected to become a warehouse and distribution park. The 43 hectare (106 acre) Basford East is allocated for industrial and business development and a planning application for four distribution warehouses is currently under consideration.

Proposals for the Ditton Strategic Rail Freight Park were supported by the Inspector at the Inquiry into Halton’s Unitary Plan. It is centred on three parcels of land along the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line.

A private sector led consortium is working up the proposals for 200,000 sq metres of rail-linked warehouses on the park, which will build on the existing Widnes Intermodal Rail Depot and the Widnes International Freight Terminal.

315° 24

25

Garden capital of Britain Record numbers of green-fingered enthusiasts flocked to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Sixth Flower Show at Tatton Park, Cheshire, firmly establishing it as one of the region’s premier visitor experiences.

1

2

1

2

Wow factor Guide lists region’s key garden attractions Flower power RHS Show achieved record attendance Tranquil beauty Japanese garden, Tatton Park

Opened by Princess Alexandra, the event provided the 114,000 visitors with a wealth of inspirational ideas from classic show gardens to more affordable designs. A special feature this year was the use of recycled materials.

The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) reaffirmed its strong support for the show by again sponsoring the Central Plaza, choosing a theme that invited visitors to discover, and reflect upon, elements of water connecting England’s Northwest.

Designed and developed by The Landscape Design Group of Salford City Council, in partnership with the Casey Group of Companies, the plaza earned praise from show judges for its interpretive originality and won a Special Merit Award.

Sam Youd, Head Gardener at Tatton, praised the “stunning” quality of the back-to-back garden designs, which won gold medals for Macclesfield Borough Council and Andrew Loudon Traditional and Decorative Stonework of Coniston in Cumbria.

“They give people ideas that are affordable and it showed that despite the miserable weather we have had you can still grow good plants in the North and display them properly.” He detected a shift in the show back to traditional gardens, to wildflowers and more natural planting.

This year’s event provided the perfect setting for the launch of a new NWDA visitor marketing campaign to focus attention on the glories of the region’s gardens, parks and horticultural attractions.

The campaign was supported by publication of a lavishly illustrated 48-page guide signposting visitors to nearly 80 of the region’s gardening treasures from the National Wildflower Centre at Knowsley’s Court Hey Park to the idiosyncratic topiary garden at Levens Hall in Cumbria.

‘Gardens of England’s Northwest’ also provides garden lovers with information on where to eat, drink, stay and where to find specialist nurseries and garden suppliers.

The campaign was launched with strong media and website support with visitors able to download discount vouchers for reduced entry to a wide range of garden attractions. The campaign has already generated 12,000 enquiries from all over the UK. Peter Mearns, NWDA Director of Marketing said he hoped the new guide would encourage visitors to explore and rediscover the region’s rich gardening heritage and “help to cement the Northwest as the garden capital of the UK.” For further information: www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com

Region to star as top events venue An action plan has been unveiled by the Northwest Regional Development Agency to help the region win a bigger slice of the major events business, which is worth £1 billion a year in the UK.

1

1

Sporting stamina Triathlon events project good image of Northwest

Sporting spectaculars are a priority target and bids are currently under way to attract the 2008 World Short Course Swimming Championships and develop a Paraplegics World Cup. The British Open Golf Championship is already booked for the Royal Liverpool GC in 2006.

The economic value of staging major events in the region was underlined by a Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) study, which showed that 300,000 extra visitors are attracted to the Northwest every year as a result of the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, generating an additional £12 million spend.

After consulting more than 300 people and organisations an expert team has developed a comprehensive strategy to position the region as a world-class venue for “a diverse, inspirational and exciting range of international sporting, cultural and business events.”

NWDA Chief Executive Steven Broomhead launched the policy document at the region’s first tourism conference at Tatton Park. The Agency has established a 3-year budget to develop a rolling calendar of major events and will play a lead coordinating role.

In its overview the strategy cautions that “major events do not offer the Northwest a panacea for economic change, but represent part of the solution.” It does point out, however, that events are a catalyst for the development of urban venues such as Liverpool’s £300 million Kings Dock scheme, which includes a convention centre and stadium.

Peter Mearns, the NWDA’s Director of Marketing, believes that major events are important for two reasons. They bring people into the region who spend money and they help project a good image of the Northwest, particularly those that are televised.

“A good example is the Countryside Properties Salford Triathlon ITU World Event because the route takes in the restored Salford Docks and some of the most iconic buildings in the region.”

Special efforts would be made to support and add more value to existing events such as the Grand National and the Liverpool Biennial, the only event of its kind in Britain which Mearns wants to see start to “rival Venice.”

He said the Agency and its partners are also taking a more proactive stance in bidding for events that move around the world. The NWDA has joined Marketing Manchester in bidding for the 2008 World Short Course Swimming Championships.

An example of early success in bidding in the decision by the American Guild of Travel Writers is to hold its 52nd Annual Convention in Manchester in 2007.

Negotiations have also started to develop a Paraplegics World Cup, the first in the world, for 2006, and there are plans for more home-grown events including a new Manchester International Festival (Manchester Firsts).

Business tourism is regarded as another priority and a regional Conference Bidding Unit, funded by the Agency and hosted by Marketing Manchester, has been set up to increase the Northwest’s share of the thousands of small and medium size conferences held every year.

315° 26

27

Liverpool joins elite heritage club Daniel Defoe described Liverpool as “one of the wonders of Britain” - and 300 years later UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee members extended his accolade worldwide.

They officially approved Liverpool’s bid forWorld Heritage Status (WHS) granting the city membership of an exclusive club, which already boasts the Great Barrier Reef, Stonehenge, Hadrian’s Wall and Westminster Palace.

The city’s bid was based on Liverpool as a maritime mercantile city, reflecting its significance as a commercial port at the time of Britain’s greatest global influence.

The area covered by its new-found status takes in the waterfront, including the Pier Head and historic docks, the commercial district of warehouses and merchants’ houses around Duke Street and the cultural quarter around William Brown Street.

Liverpool was first linked with the idea ofWorld Heritage Status in the late 1990s when former Culture Secretary Chris Smith and chairman of English Heritage Sir Neil Cossons drew up a “wish list” of possible future sites.

In 2001, John Hinchliffe, who attended the announcement in China on July 2, was appointed Liverpool’s World Heritage officer. He says the three main tests forWHS are that the place is of outstanding universal value, that it is authentic and that there are adequate arrangements for the site’s proper conservation and management.

“For me, our responsibility comes down to conservation and management,” he says. “That includes encouraging new development of appropriate quality and design in the right place.”

John said the decision to award Liverpool such an illustrious designation demonstrates what can be achieved when many different organisations work together. Key among them has been English Heritage, who formed a partnership with Liverpool City Council in 2001, and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) who first identified the city as a potential heritage priority in 2000.

Sir Neil Cossons, a former student of Liverpool University, believes “in the long-term this is going to be more significant than European Capital of Culture. This is something Liverpool can enjoy forever”.

Ian Wray, NWDA’s Chief Planner, a member of the steering group responsible for putting together the successful bid, and taking the project forward, also believes that World Heritage Sites could become the central focus of a new form of elite tourism.

“My view is that increasingly educated and discriminating world tourists, including those who have chosen early retirement, will look for a short list of places they must see in their lifetime,” he says.

The NWDA has invested over £6 million in the restoration of historic and listed buildings in Liverpool City Centre and over £9 million towards public realm improvements.

Building projects include £2.6 million towards the restoration of the Grade ll listed former Collegiate building for residential development and £1.9 million for the refurbishment of the Walker Art Gallery and Liverpool Museum.

New direction for tourism A thriving tourism sector has a major role to play in regenerating parts of the Northwest that have seen a decline in more traditional industries such as Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cumbria’s coastal towns and Lancashire mill towns.

Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), highlighted the industry’s importance in terms of jobs and wealth creation when he addressed the first regional tourism conference held at Tatton Park, Cheshire.

“Your business really does matter”, he told the 200 conference delegates, reminding them that the sector contributes £7 billion to the local economy, is the source of one in ten jobs and sustains 18,000 businesses.

Outlining the Agency’s vision and support for the industry he added: “Our aim is to position the Northwest as the best tourism destination in Britain, and make the region an increasingly important business tourism location in Europe.”

He detailed some of the newer projects that have been launched to attract more visitors, including a £100,000 marketing campaign to promote the region’s world-class coastal golf courses and a drive to get more people to visit the Northwest’s garden and horticultural treasures.

Major changes have taken place in the past year in the way the industry is managed. The Agency itself has assumed strategic responsibility for the sector and following wide consultation with partners has produced a 10-year strategy rich in ideas on how to realise the sector’s true potential.

There has also been a radical shake-up of the industry’s support structures leading to the creation of five separate tourist boards.

Action to improve the range and quality of the Northwest’s tourism product is being coordinated by a newly created Tourism Forum, a powerful group of industry experts led by former NWDA Board Member and BBC broadcaster Felicity Goodey.

She joined other distinguished conference speakers, including Tom Wright, Chief Executive of

VisitBritain, international branding guru Wally Olins and travel writer Sally Shalam, in both championing the region’s tourism assets and identifying industry shortcomings.

“All our wonderful attractions and heritage will count for nothing if people find it difficult to obtain information, if our streets and our cities are not clean, and frankly, if our loos are not up to scratch. It’s as basic as that.”

Our aim is to position the Northwest as the best tourism destination in Britain Tourism, she stressed, was everyone’s business, a mantra widely adopted by the industry. She highlighted skill quality and skill shortages as dominant concerns within the industry indicating that the industry would need to recruit another 30,000 people by the end of the year.

“We cannot allow the jobs in our industry to have a reputation for low status and low pay. Twenty per cent of Northwest tourism businesses fail to achieve their business objectives through lack of skills in the workforce and we are working in partnership with the Learning and Skills Councils to address this issue.”

Branding expert Wally Olins had some useful tips for the industry on developing a marketable identity. “Brands have a quite remarkable emotional power and you have to pay obsessive attention to detail. If the service is not right then everything is wrong.”

The conference was organised to coincide with the Royal Horticultural Society’s sixth Flower Show, which has emerged as one of the region’s star events.

News

Tourists visiting Appleby are using a global satellite positioning system (GPS) to find their way to the town’s various visitor attractions. Personal digital assistance (PDA) units, available to visitors through local hotels, feature three tours around the town. The project is funded under the North Pennine LEADER+ initiative...

A ‘splash’ statue and fountain immortalising the moment when Sir Tom Finney controlled a pass from colleague Tommy Docherty in atrociously wet conditions at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge in 1956 has been unveiled outside Preston North End’s ground. The project was completed with £80,000 funding from the NWDA...

The NWDA is supporting Manchester City Council’s bid to stage the World Short Course (25m) Swimming Championships in 2008. If Manchester is selected the NWDA will contribute £750,000 to the cost of running the event with the council providing £1.2 million and UK Sport £950,000.

A decision is expected in October...

Paintings selected by Jarvis Cocker, a house on the Mersey dedicated to ABBA, a bomb suspended above a street, dancing in the infinity ballroom and a new commission from Yoko Ono are among the highlights of Liverpool Biennial 2004 which runs from September 18 until November 28...

315° 28

29

News

English Heritage has removed 11 Grade I and Grade II* properties and ancient monuments from the Buildings at Risk Register including Manchester’s Heaton Park Temple and Lodges and Stockport’s 15th century Staircase House...

Five Northwest organisations have received grants worth nearly £60,000 from the DTI’s Small Business Service to help them set up business incubators. The recipients include University College, Chester, and the Tung Sing Housing Association, Manchester...

Northwest householders helped recycle and compost 11.2% of the region’s waste, up 2% on the previous year. Chester was among the top 10 authorities whose recycling rate rose the most in 2003-04 (to 26% recycled compared to 17% the year before)...

Arts Minister Estelle Morris has announced that five Northwest museums and galleries will share £500,000 to improve the quality of their displays, access for disabled visitors and environmental controls.

The biggest award of £187,000 goes to National Museums Liverpool for improvements to Sudley House...

Five Northwest nanotechnology projects valued at over £4 million have been awarded funding support from the DTI’s £15 million national fund. Organisations benefiting include Unilever (East Bebington) InsightFaraday (Runcorn), Forge Europa (Ulverston) and Micap plc (Newton-le-Willows)...

Whitehall despatches Consultation on new toll expressway The success of the new M6 Toll has prompted Transport Secretary Alistair Darling to publish a consultation paper seeking views on the development of a high quality tolled dual-lane Expressway between Manchester and Birmingham.

‘M6: Giving motorists a choice: a consultation’ coincides with the first three-month analysis of traffic levels on the M6 Toll (north of Birmingham) which showed that the new road carries 40,000 vehicles a day and can save drivers half an hour on their journey times.

Widening the M6 by one lane each would take eight years of road works and cost 10% more than an expressway with two lanes each way. A careful assessment will be made of the wider social, economic and environmental impacts before any decisions are taken. The consultation period ends on October 21.

Brain power funding New funding awards worth £185 million have been announced by the Government to support knowledge transfer from English universities to business and the wider community.

Over the next two years, nine Northwest education institutions will receive £12 million of the total pot to pursue activities which will boost the region’s and the UK’s innovation performance and productivity.

Three universities - Lancaster, Liverpool and Manchester - will each receive £2.4 million. Other recipients include Liverpool John Moores (£1.5million) and Cumbria institute for the Arts (£300,000).

Awards for collaborative projects have also gone to Salford, Manchester Metropolitan and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

Sustainable communities summit Manchester is the venue for the government’s first Sustainable Communities Summit, the largest event of its kind ever held in the UK. Over 2,000 delegates from the UK, Europe and the wider world are expected to attend the three-day conference (Jan 31- Feb 2) at GMEX, Manchester.

The Summit will explore progress in the delivery of the Deputy Prime Minister’s £22 billion Sustainable Communities Plan published in February 2003, and create opportunities for developing and sharing best practice.

John Prescott recently announced an additional £16 billion funding package to speed up the economic renaissance of the North and tackle housing shortages. The settlement means more support for the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s efforts to reduce the growth gap with other regions.

Event highlights

Sep 18 - Nov 28

Sep 24

3rd Liverpool Biennial International Festival of Contemporary Art Various venues, Liverpool

Northwest Regional Development Agency Annual Conference Keynote speaker Sir Bobby Charlton MICC, Manchester

Oct 11

Oct 12

Nov 04

Nov 01

Northwest Tourism Awards First-ever regional tourism awards Imperial War Museum, Manchester

Living Innovation 2004 DTI’s video-linked premier innovation event Palm House, Sefton Park, Liverpool

Michael E Porter Competitive Strategy Workshop advice from the world’s leading business intellectual MICC, Manchester

Manufacturing Summit Annual event featuring leading edge manufacturing companies Reebok Stadium, Bolton

Nov 11

Nov 17-18

Nov 18

Nov 19

2004 Northwest Excellence Awards Recognising excellence across the region St Georges Hall, Liverpool

Business Enterprise Xchange 2004 Major networking event for entrepreneurs.

MICC, Manchester

Manufacturing Institute Annual Dinner and Awards Honouring the region’s manufacturing heroes Radisson Edwardian, Manchester

Mersey Basin Annual Conference Keynote speaker EU environment supremo Catherine Day Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Dec 03

Dec 08

Dec 14

Jan 31-Feb 02

CBI North West Business Awards Accolades for the region’s top businesses Midland Crown Plaza, Manchester

BBC North West Sports Awards Toasting the region’s sporting heroes Midland Hotel, Manchester

UK Energy Policy Conference “Will our lights go out?”

Lancaster University, Lancaster

Delivering Sustainable Communities Summit The government’s premier regeneration event GMEX, Manchester

Other key events October

November

December

Oct 14 Positive Action Awards Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington

Nov 12 Northwest Royal Television Society Awards Radisson Edwardian, Manchester

Dec 11-18 Partially Sighted World Football Championships Velodrome, Manchester

Oct 21 The Business of Culture Conference Rheged Centre, Penrith

Nov 12 TV for the Nations and Regions Conference The Lowry, Salford

For further information: www.nwda.co.uk

315° 30

Viewpoint

Winning ways “If you’re starting out in business, you really have to enjoy your chosen subject and research it thoroughly. I love what I do and because I believe in training by example, I want all my staff to enjoy their jobs.

I’ve always believed in education and encouragement. It’s partly why we opened our own training centre, away from head office, which now offers over 80 different courses, covering every aspect of the business. I wanted to provide a facility where staff would be stimulated, where they could fulfil their own individual potential, as well as achieving the highest standards.

When a company grows to a size like ours, there are times when you have to bring in outside expertise to fill a particular skills gap or to move the business forward.

Carole Nash founded the UK and Ireland’s largest motorcycle insurance specialist on her dining room table in Timperley. Now Carole Nash Insurance, the independent, familyowned business that also offers classic and modern car insurance, has seen its premium income (the value of policies sold) rise from £30,000 in 1985 to £52.4 million in 2003. In the latest of her awards, executive chairman Carole – who still loves being ‘ nanny Nash’ to her grandchildren – was described as a “truly inspirational businesswoman” by judges of Winning Women 2004.

Although when we’re recruiting, we are always looking for ‘Carole Nash people’ we do not employ stereotypes. We allow each one to develop from their own individual personalities, to ultimately work in the area that suits them best. Not everybody wants to move on from the shop floor and if they’re good in their particular role and feel fulfilled, that’s fine.

On the other hand my three most senior managers all started at ground level. And they have all been with me for more than ten years, which must say something about us. It’s also important for staff to know their subject – I encourage all of them to take the motorcycle test so they have that extra understanding when they are talking to clients. But it’s not compulsory.

When I started I knew nothing about motorcycles. But when I took over the vintage motorcycle club account, I began to learn fast. I called them the ‘old boys with the old bikes’, and I struck up a rapport with them. They were soon inviting me to their bike shows.

But when a company grows to a size like ours, there are times when you have to bring in outside expertise to fill a particular skills gap or to move the business forward. It was difficult for me at first – delegating and letting go – but it was absolutely the right thing to do. And the people involved have always become part of the ‘family’ and blended in well.

I respect my staff and hopefully they respect me. I know that for women in particular, balancing family and work can be difficult – after all by the time I started my business I had experience of part-time working and looking after a husband and two children. It’s like balancing a bag of balls – one slips and the rest fall out of place. It’s why we offer flexibility – staff can accumulate or bank time so they can take weeks off in school holidays as long as it does not damage the business.

And I still make sure all my female staff receive a tied bunch of flowers on their birthdays – the men 12 cans of lager. And I send them all an Easter egg.”

The Northwest Regional Development Agency manages all operations from its Headquarters at: PO Box 37 Renaissance House Centre Park Warrington WA1 1XB Tel: +44 (0)1925 400 100 Fax: +44 (0)1925 400 400 e-mail: information@nwda.co.uk

In addition, there are five area offices for the implementation of local activities as follows:

Designed by Creative Lynx Ltd www.creativelynx.co.uk CL/Sep 04/1000GM

Greater Manchester Giants Basin Potato Wharf Castlefield Manchester M3 4NB Tel: +44 (0)161 817 7400 Fax: +44 (0)161 831 7051

Cumbria Gillan Way Penrith 40 Business Park Penrith Cumbria CA11 9BP Tel: +44 (0)1768 867 294 Fax: +44 (0)1768 895 477

Merseyside Station House Mercury Court Tithebarn Street Liverpool L2 2QP Tel: +44 (0)1925 400 100 Fax: +44 (0)151 236 3731

Lancashire 13 Winckley Street Preston Lancashire PR1 2AA Tel: +44 (0)1772 206 000 Fax: +44 (0)1772 200 049

Cheshire Brew House Wilderspool Park Greenalls Avenue Warrington WA4 6HL Tel: +44 (0)1925 644 220 Fax: +44 (0)1925 644 222 Visit: www.nwda.co.uk & www.englandsnorthwest.com

Cover: Challenger Laser Matt is totally chlorine free and acquired only from suppliers operating sustainable forest reserves Text:

Cyclus Offset is manufactured using only 100% recycled post consumer waste

To order your free guide to Gardens in England’s Northwest click on www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com or call 0845 600 6040 National Trust & RHS gardens National Garden Scheme gardens Parks & open spaces Alfresco dining & drinking Places to stay for garden lovers Specialist nurseries & garden suppliers Outdoor events

in England’s Northwest www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com