Levelling Up in Lancashire: 'Like with all towns, we're struggling'

Revamping markets, protecting high streets and paying for tourist attractions have been just some of the ways Lancashire's councils have used Levelling Up funding in recent times.

Town halls in the county have received more than £300m from the initiative, which has the aim of spreading "opportunity more equally".

However, it has come against a backdrop of more than a decade of austerity.

Between 2010 and 2020, Lancashire County Council had about £600m shaved from its budget, which significantly impacted the delivery of public services, according to the public services union Unison.

Cuts to government funding and services have hit many areas of the north of England hard.

In 2022, there were complaints that Lancashire was overlooked in the levelling up strategy because it was not seen as "ambitious enough".

The county's towns have used subsequent funding rounds as an opportunity to future-proof their communities and local economies.

Chorley recently got £20m to spend on its town centre, which deputy council leader Peter Wilson said would fund "further improvements, such as a new civic square with new retail units and dwellings".

"We need to make sure that we use the £20m very wisely and make sure Chorley has a vibrant future," the Labour councillor said.

Arthur Adlam, who has worked in a DIY store in the town centre for more than four decades, said there had been a decline in its fortunes.

"The town centre's changed a lot in that time," he said.

"There's so many charity shops and e-cig shops [and] there are so many empty stores.

"It's the changing face of the high street. The internet's made a big difference."

A nearby accessories shop has tried to harness that change.

"People have come in from other parts of Lancashire because they've seen us on TikTok," content manager Fionnuala Hart said.

"I moved to Manchester for a few years, working in media production," she said.

"But I moved back home because of the cost-of-living crisis and the fact the work was precarious".

Her experience could be a blueprint for the town's population in the future, as a new generation see Chorley as a commuter town and it seeks to diversify its economy.

"It's cheaper living here and we've got good transport links," she said.

"A lot of younger people I've met, who aren't from Chorley originally, have started moving here from Manchester and Liverpool".

In Colne, a redevelopment aimed at increasing footfall has cost £4.8m, "some of which is from the Levelling Up funds", Pendle Borough Council's Labour leader Asjad Mahmood said.

Kathryn Pana, who runs a craft stall in the town, said its market "needed to be revamped, modernised and made a lot better for traders and customers".

She added that she was hopeful the work would "bring a real sense of community to Colne".

Further south, Rossendale Borough Council leader Alyson Barnes said the road to redevelopment has been a long one.

"When we took over in 2011, we had a boarded-up town centre," the Labour councillor said.

"There was a very early-1970s shopping centre on the site of the bus station.

"It was used in a drama programme as a post-apocalyptic scene."

The council will soon start work on a revamp of Rawtenstall Market, thanks to £17m in funding.

Ms Barnes said the work was desperately needed as the building was "absolutely snookered".

However, she added that the need for central government funding was linked to a decade of cuts.

"If we hadn't had 12 years' worth of austerity, we might not have to level up at all," she said.

At the other end of the county, Magdalena Majchrzak-Sczzerba has been running her café in Morecambe for three years, having moved to the town from Poland 10 years ago.

She said when she first arrived Morecambe "didn't give me the greatest feeling... but it's grown in the last few years".

"It's a beautiful town, but it's not easy to run a business on the prom," she added.

The town has secured £50m from the Levelling Up Fund for Eden Project Morecambe, an eco-tourism attraction that the locals hope will transform the seafront.

In the town's half-empty Arndale shopping centre, coffee bar owner David Waddington said everyone was waiting for its arrival, while also wondering it they can "survive until then".

"Like with all town centres at the moment, we're struggling," he said.

"People have less money to spend [and] we're all battling against rising costs.

"I don't think it's ever been this hard. We really are facing a challenge to hang on to our high streets."

A spokesman for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "We remain committed to levelling up across the whole of the United Kingdom, including Lancashire, to ensure no community is left behind.

"We recognise councils are facing challenges and that is why we recently announced an additional £600 million support package for councils across England, increasing their overall proposed funding for next year to £64.7 billion - a 7.5% increase in cash terms."

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