Collaboration, or rather the lack of it, is something that we in the private sector in Lancashire often berate our public sector colleagues about. The opposition that Preston City Council faced from Blackburn in respect of the Tithebarn project, the myriad of local authorities that operate across the county and the unseemly spats that occurred during negotiations for Lancashire’s Local Enterprise Partnership are all cited as examples of the business community’s frustration with our politicians and decision makers.

If only they could work more closely together, and adopt a more mature approach to co-operation, then surely the whole county would benefit.

At Downtown’s recently held Lancashire Business Week, there was much talk about the advantages of collaboration in the world of business too. Identifying alternative funders to the banks has seen SME’s turn to private equity and Venture Capitalists, leading to new relationships and partnerships being formed. Entrepreneurs who had recently visited Silicon Valley brought back their experiences of businesses in the States sharing ideas, information, data and skills to grow their own company in tandem with others. The attitude there seems to be much more about owning 50% of a decent sized cake worth eating, than 100% of a cake that is past its sell by date!

Lancashire businesses have started to form strategic alliances with complimentary companies, and ‘bartering’ has become more common place, with businesses more open to the idea of exchanging services rather than cash.

The biggest message to come out of Business Week was that we must collaborate – or face the consequences. The public sector had not been good at collaboration in Lancashire. However, there are signs that the Local Enterprise Partnership will help sort this out.

However, what collaboration exists between the diverse range of private sector organisations that operate in Lancashire? The county has three Chambers of Commerce, the FSB, Downtown and several others. It is healthy that a business community that is 44,000 strong has a choice as to what type of group (or groups) they want to belong to. However, surely it is also reasonable for politicians to ask that for the good of the county, we as private sector representatives should do some collaborating of our own.

There also appears to be a falsehood being peddled that business groups outside of chambers represent ‘only’ lifestyle businesses. This is neither true, nor relevant. Downtown has members from a diverse range of industry sectors, manufacturing among them. But the traditional sectors are not where future growth will necessarily come from. Digital, media, eco businesses and what we describe for shorthand as the ‘knowledge economy’ is where the smart money is being invested by smart cities. 

Downtown co-exists and collaborates very comfortably with other business organisations elsewhere in the North West. The lack of interest, indeed the outright opposition among some, to a similar approach here in Lancashire is shocking. I would go as far as to say that partnership working to some business leaders is heresy.  

Downtown is open to the idea of working alongside other organisations when it makes sense to do so and when such an arrangement can add value to the business friendly agenda we are all striving to secure.  I hope the change in attitude that appears to be emerging from politicians on the LEP can be taken on board by private sector partners too. Collaboration, not garlic bread, is the future.   

This article first appeared in Lancashire Business View, July/August edition

Almost inevitably the news that John Lewis had scrapped its plans to establish a flagship store in the now seemingly defunct Tithebarn project, only to announce they are setting up a satellite unit in Deepdale has met with a mixed response. Some have expressed relief that it is at least a sign of some investment into Preston, whilst others have highlighted the fact that such a move further discredits the city centre as an attractive location in which to invest.

Certainly, one can sympathise with Preston City Council wanting to welcome any type of investment and jobs as record unemployment figures were announced last week. However, it does make one wonder whether the abandonment of a fully staffed Preston Vision also signalled the end of a real vision for Preston?

If we are to develop a city that is worthy of the name, then a blueprint that is pragmatic yet ambitious, affordable and deliverable has to be articulated sooner rather than later. A fanfare welcome for another out of town retailer does not offer much hope or confidence to either existing downtown Preston retailers or potential developers.

If you currently own a shopping  mall or retail unit in city centre Preston, would you feel comfortable expending significant sums of cash on refurbishment, without a clear idea of what the plans for the future of the city were going forward? Equally, without a master plan to work to, what are we to tell inward investors when they ask what opportunities exist?

These are the questions that our political leaders need to answer as a matter of urgency. Whilst every other region in the UK has accepted that cities and city centres in particular are where it’s at when it comes to economic growth and development, we are sat on the hard won city status badge, not quite knowing what to do with it. That is frustrating, and if it continues beyond 2011, unacceptable too.

The news that John Lewis had decided to pull out of the planned £700 million Tithebarn project was a big disappointment to anyone who genuinely cares about the future of Preston, but in all honesty few of us were surprised when the news came through on Wednesday afternoon.

The plans for this hugely ambitious scheme were first hatched back in 1999. Since then the project has been clouded in controversy. The local heritage lobby objected strongly to proposals that would have seen the bus station re-located. Three years ago the original preferred developer, Grosvenor, withdrew from the scheme. And in the background a fierce battle raged between Preston City Council and it’s local authority neighbours in Blackpool and Blackburn.

By the time the final legal challenge to Tithebarn had been overcome, in June this year, we were in the middle of the worst economic downturn for a generation, and a major regeneration initiative such as that proposed in the middle of an economic boom twelve years ago now looked risky to many, and absolute madness to others.

In some quarters there will now be a desire to navel gaze, indulge in a ‘blame game’ and, from the cynics who always said Tithebarn would never happen, a temptation to say ‘we told you so.’

Aside from the fact that the seeds of this projects problems were sewn by civic leaders who have now left the stage, the debate as to whose fault all of this is takes us nowhere fast.

Preston City Council, It’s partners and the business community must work together to find an alternative solution to regenerate what is a declining city. Investment, renewal and jobs are desperately needed, and that can only be done with the genuine engagement of the private sector.

Downtown has brought two significant and serious investors to Preston. The reception they received was, to say the least, lukewarm. Perhaps there will be more appetite from the city’s senior decision makers to have a more constructive dialogue with interested parties in the future.

It should also be said that it is not all doom and gloom. The planning permissions that have been won will be a useful carrot to dangle for potential future developers. A private sector led community interest group is exploring ways in which Winckley Square can be revived. Commercial offices will be developed in the city centre. And surely the current city leadership will see the sense in offering a solution that is more practical, realistic and deliverable.

The one thing we should demand of them is that they do this quickly. Preston cannot afford another decade of stagnation.

As we prepare for the Downtown summer ‘recess’ I thought this would be a good time to reflect on what has been happening in the county during the first part of 2011.

It would be fair to say that the year did not start too auspiciously for Lancashire with the spats over the structure of the new Local Economic Partnership (LEP) and the planning wrangle between Preston and Blackburn over Tithebarn dominating the headlines.

At one stage it looked as though we could end up with three LEP’s, then it appeared that Blackburn was about to declare UDI, but then at the eleventh hour, common sense prevailed, and a single LEP, which includes Blackpool and Blackburn, was agreed.

Tithebarn, too, has finally been resolved, though not as amicably. Following protracted, and expensive, appeals and counter appeals, planning permission for the multi million pound retail, office and leisure development has been approved, but the likelihood of the scheme being delivered on the scale as initially proposed, or indeed anytime soon given the current economic climate, is remote.

However, despite all these difficulties, the summer period has seen peace break out across the Red Rose county. The LEP agreed on a BAE led Enterprise Zone bid; it has also agreed a multi million pound regeneration bid for Pennine Lancashire as reported elsewhere in this bulletin.

Conversations with LEP Board members and leading politicians suggest that there is a new found spirit of unity and a sense of purpose to ‘do the right thing’. Finally, a recognition that collaboration rather than acrimony is the best way forward for Lancashire. Long may this culture of co-operation continue. We may just be on the cusp of the sleeping giant that is Lancashire finally waking up!