Senior Lancashire business leader Mo Isap delivers withering assessment of devolution dithering
Lancashire missing out on an estimated £1.4million-a-day in funding due to resistance to the idea of a mayor
Hello and welcome to The Lancashire Lead.
Earlier this week, we reported on the leader of the opposition at Lancashire County Council saying that the county’s reluctance to embrace the mayoral path was leaving us ‘stuck on the harder shoulder’.
The subject of today’s interview rather doubles down on that idea.
Those resistant to the idea of a mayor are also the same politicians who repeatedly bemoan the lack of real-world experience in politics. Mo Isap OBE has plenty of real-life business experience but is struggling to get his head around the idea of further delays while Lancashire pays the price.
Unless, as he suggests, it is all about political capital.
Lancashire briefing
🩺 Hyndburn Borough Council has approved plans to knock down a derelict historic hospital in Accrington, making way for a new health and care hub.
Victoria Community Hospital was closed down in late 2024 after serving the health needs of the community for 126 years, due to multiple issues with the site that included a collapsing ceiling, broken boilers, and asbestos.
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust moved its services out of the Haywood Road hospital over these problems, before working with a variety of organisations from the council to patient groups and MP Sarah Smith to come up with a new future for the site.
Those plans were finally revealed in March of this year, with the former hospital being demolished to make way for a new holistic approach to healthcare in Accrington.
🗳️ A delayed attempt to oust the only elected Restore Britain official in Lancashire from the chair of a key committee at Burnley Council was withdrawn on Thursday evening.
The issue of Cllr Don Whitaker’s chairmanship of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee came to a head at the last full council meeting, which was held on July 15 but was cut short just shy of a vote on the Restore politician’s future, just in time for the England v Argentina World Cup match.
The matter was the first item on the agenda when Burnley councillors reconvened the meeting on Thursday (August 6), with chief executive Lukman Patel reminding members of the motion brought forward by Labour group leader Cllr Mark Townsend and seconded by Cllr Gordon Birtwistle (Lib Dem).
That motion argued that Cllr Whitaker, who had represented the Whittlefield with Ightenhill ward as a Conservative since 2021 before turning to Restore after the May local elections, had won the chairmanship during a ‘chaotic’ appointments meeting that same month.
It argued that members had been unaware of the councillor’s new affiliation and the standard appointments process, with the meeting also appointing a vice chair to the planning committee who was not even a member.
🎒 The revival of Blackburn’s town centre has taken a major step forward, with the selection of a constructor to deliver the £45 million first phase of the wider £250 million regeneration plan.
Kier Group, the largest infrastructure and property firm of its kind in the UK, has been appointed to oversee the huge Star Square development project, which will see work start as soon as next year on a new building and pocket park on Brown Street.
Announcing that Kier would be overseeing the latest scheme to revive the heart of the town, Blackburn with Darwen Council praised the regeneration project as one of the most ‘significant’ of its kind in the county that will attract visitors and strengthen the local economy.
The anchor for this plan is Star Academies, a multi-academy education trust that became the namesake for the project when it agreed to pay £10.3 million for the freehold of the 93,000 sq ft building at the centre of this first phase.
Called 1 Star Square, when plans for this large new building on Brown Street were first submitted in 2024, the University of Lancashire had been the intended occupant.
However, as with the advanced manufacturing project in Darwen that was scrapped by the University of Sheffield in recent months, the higher education institution pulled out over concerning financial headwinds facing the sector.
But with Star Academies planning to move their headquarters into the building once it has been built, its future as a national education hub in the centre of Blackburn has been secured. The trust has previously stated that it will be used for leadership training, research, and as a focal point for innovation.
Senior Lancashire business leader Mo Isap delivers withering assessment of Lancashire’s devolution dithering
By Ed Walker
One of the county’s most senior business figures has delivered a withering assessment of its devolution journey so far - and warned the window is slipping away for any chance of Lancashire having a Mayor in place by 2028.
Chair of the Lancashire Business Board, which is part of the Lancashire Combined County Authority, Mo Isap OBE, has indicated if there are not significant steps taken towards securing a Mayoral authority then he will stand down from the role he has held since July 2024.
Speaking exclusively to The Lancashire Lead this week, the self-made multi-millionaire, who heads up IN4 and STAR Academies and is Blackburn born-and-bred, gave his verdict as councils shake-ups play out and the Prime Minister delivered a clear direction for more powers and significant funding to be pumped down into strategic authorities which have a Mayor.
While Lancashire has a strategic authority, something Isap says the county was strong at getting established relatively quickly compared to other places, without the figurehead of a Mayor it will struggle to compete as the likes of Cheshire, Cumbria, Kent and others power ahead with their new Mayoral set ups now in some cases months away from becoming a reality.
Isap said of Burnham’s recent announcement, a man he knows well having worked with the new PM while on the Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP): “It’s very consistent to what Andy said from day dot. You know, let’s be honest, he’s led the mayoral charge for devolution. He’s been very clear about increased devolution, but the point is that that can only happen., where there’s a Mayor.
“In every local subregion or every combined authority region, there are leaders of their respective councils. It’s a very democratic process, but you need a Mayor to bat for the region. It does not work any other way, because otherwise, what you’re saying to the government is we’re going to pose you a higher risk.
“What the government’s not going to do, and it doesn’t need to do, is take unnecessary risks. What Andy wants is success, and he can mitigate the risks by having a mayor that has a mandate that then has a team of local authority leadership and the governance across that to execute, but you need somebody backing for you.
“We’re in competition with every other combined authority. We’re not in some luxurious economic climate, there’s only so much money to go round and, while of course Lancashire should collaborate, it also has to compete.
“There’s a deep pecking order. Also, there’s a limited amount to be devolved. So what would you do if you were sitting there as Burnham? So what’s the safer bet? A safer bet is Steve Rotheram, my mate, who’s got everything in place. He’s got his own inside under the bonnet all sorted out. There’s no wrangles. There’s no infighting. He’s the guy I’m doing a deal with. It makes life a lot easier.
“Now, if I’m coming up to a consortia that is patchwork at best, politically completely diverse in every sense, and I’m doing deals in the hundreds of millions and billions. I’m expecting a return in three years’ time. I mean, you don’t need a business brain to understand where you would go because ultimately results are results. So if I put it into now Cheshire, Warrington or Cumbria, I’ll get a return. For me, as a leader of the country, I want a return. If something goes pear-shaped, I know who to blame too.”
The man who would be King?
Isap’s had a ringside seat to Greater Manchester’s devolution journey and economic regeneration and says it acts as a ‘blueprint’ for other places - although the task is far from finished because while the university growth corridor there may command significant wages there’s also areas just a stones throw away with extreme poverty.
Who does he think could be Mayor to kick start Lancashire’s growth? And would he stand himself?
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Lancashire Lead to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.