NWDA Conference and AGM – Liverpool 2008 JOHN SMITH, Principal, Burnley College Well, good morning everyone. It really is a genuine pleasure to have the opportunity to share with you some of the key developments that are pointing to a very positive future for Burnley and the surrounding area and very importantly, a growing contribution to the wider North West economy. Now then, our presentation is in three parts. First I want to provide a very brief backdrop in terms of key features and key challenges for Burnley, I then wish to provide some examples, a flavour if you will of the responses of the partners and stakeholders in terms of major infrastructure. Julia Cleverdon will then present some of the work being done on the ground supported by the Prince's charities. In Burnley though, we are absolutely clear that the whole is about people, about human capital. First then, some key facts. Burnley is located in Pennine Lancashire, some 21 miles north of Manchester, 19 miles west of Preston, it has Leeds 29 miles to the east. The population is a little under 90,000 although the town's natural catchment area for services is up to a quarter of a million. Burnley has a historic role as one of two major urban service centres in Pennine Lancashire, an area itself of about half a million and Burnley serves the eastern end of the area. I wish to highlight three of the major challenges we face. Two I guess will be shared with many of you in the room today. Economic re-shaping is familiar. Burnley is an area which historically has been a manufacturing dynamo but it now has to address changes in the nature and volume of manufacturing itself and the need to diversify economically. The way forward though is signposted by the existing high-value aerospace companies in Burnley. Education, skills and related enterprise requirements again will be familiar to you. We have the challenge of securing a significantly more highly qualified population at all levels including, very importantly, a higher percentage of university level skills in the population. The third challenge, while it's not unique to Burnley, isn't common to all areas. Connectivity is a major concern for us located as we are. The picture is by no means all bad. There are some good road links and rail links east and west are adequate. Rail links south however to the major regional economic driver of Manchester quite frankly unsatisfactory. What I would emphasise is that these challenges are quite obviously closely inter-related. The response of the partners and stakeholders is consciously strategic, driving significant change and development in the medium term with an emphasis on sustainability in the longer term. I could site a whole range of infrastructure plans and projects but I'll confine myself to four examples only. Completely new high school infrastructure is being created in Burnley by Lancashire County Council with an investment of £176million. The first two new schools opened at the beginning of this month and this ambitious project will complete in 2011. The goal is to provide inspirational facilities to support high and rising standards. A new college and university campus is more than half way through construction and will open for business in September 2009. It will have three distinct but inter-related features : a sixth form centre serving up to 2000 young people, a skills and adult learning centre and importantly a university campus of our partner, the University of Central Lancashire. This £81million investment is on a gateway into Burnley, on reclaimed Brownfield land and it will provide a wonderful range of facilities and opportunities both for individuals and for local businesses. A new enterprise park which is an initiative led jointly by Burnley Borough Council and the Development Agency will provide facilities for modern, future facing
businesses to grow. The park is planned to have a productive relationship with the new campus. Plans are well advanced for re-establishing a direct rail link with Manchester which will serve to more fully integrate Burnley and the surrounding area into the economy of the wider North West region. The final link through the strikingly named "Todmorden Curve" requires only modest investment to achieve major economic impact. The whole of what I have described and much more is the product of partnership working. Let me focus for a minute on one example. The new college and university campus is widely recognised as a major contribution to the regeneration and future prosperity of the area. It's a symbol of confidence in the future but it has been quite frankly an extremely challenging and complex initiative to deliver. And quite frankly, it would not have been delivered without the mutual support of the range of partners you see here. Importantly, as well as dedicating time and expertise, all partners have contributed substantially to the costs of the project. Now this approach, partnership for a tangible, real product is the way forward for Burnley and no doubt for other areas of the North West and of course the Agency is at the heart of this. Could I now ask Julia to pick up from there please.