The big issues to shape Lancashire in 2025

Plus: the latest headlines from across the county

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Jan 08, 2025

Hello and welcome to the 83rd edition of The Lancashire Lead.

It had been my intention that the first issue of the year would look ahead to what’s to come in 2025 but the heavy rain and subsequent flooding meant it was only right to focus on that instead. Incidentally, I’d like to offer a friendly welcome to all the new subscribers who’ve signed up in recent days and say thanks for all the generous feedback - please do keep in touch with any thoughts, comments or suggestions you have.

As we move in to 2025, everyone at The Lead is keen to ensure our reporting is as strong and impactful as possible and you can help support that by taking a paid subscription. In return, you’ll be helping support in-depth reporting on the county and doing so without being exposed to disruptive adverts and irrelevant content. You’ll also help to ensure we can continue offering a free option for those who may be unable to pay.

In lieu of my original plan, it’s today’s issue which instead looks ahead to what will change and shape the county in the coming year - take a read and then feel free to let me know what you think will be the defining subjects affecting Lancashire in 2025.

What to expect across Lancashire in 2025

Across regeneration; housing and commercial developments; political change and environmental challenges, there’s a significant amount of change coming over the next year. Here are some of the key issues The Lancashire Lead expects to have an impact on the county in 2025.

Housing

Anyone who picked up a copy of the recent run of our print editions will have a good understanding of the state of the housing crisis across the country. Lancashire is no stranger to that and even those areas where leaders believe they are doing well must respond to increased house-building targets brought in under the Labour government.

Among those to express concern West Lancashire Borough Council has stressed the need to protect its farmlands while others remain concerned the new numbers required remain too high. But ultimately more homes are needed and those of us (OK, me) who regularly check the agendas for planning committee meetings and new applications will see lots more developments being considered (we only need to look as far as tomorrow for an example).

Among those which will see construction move forward are plans for 300 new homes in Poulton, 550 in Blackburn, and 600 across two sites in Preston. And that is only a very small selection.

At the same time as quantity, the quality of housing is of paramount importance. The government’s promises to protect tenants’ rights will be tested, as will the authorities’ ability and desire to tackle rogue landlords. Part of Blackpool Council’s arguments in favour of creating its Multiversity development was to remove low quality housing and encourage a wider regeneration which provides better homes for residents.

Environment

As discussed in the last edition of this newsletter, we are already seeing the effects of climate change. Increased risks of flooding, record breaking heat and other extreme weather are already threatening us and will likely prove a significant challenge to our infrastructure in 2025 and beyond.

Efforts will be made to tackle the root causes and to minimise the impacts on communities. A key element of this is the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energy but that won’t come without its own problems.

Plans to build an offshore windfarm off the Fylde coast were allowed to move forward by the Government late last year but continue to be the source of unhappiness from those living in the areas where underground cabling will be installed.

Further planning permission is still needed to allow the Morgan and Morecambe Offshore Windfarm project - which involves cables running all the way to Penwortham substation - to become a reality and the likes of Fylde MP Andrew Snowden, the local council, and protest groups have promised to keep challenging the plans.

Other planned developments expected to see significant movement include a project to protect Anchorsholme beach from rising sea levels to begin with £11m of funding from the Environment Agency and the development of new sea defence schemes which include £57m for the Blackpool Central Area Beach Nourishment Scheme, and £61m for the Little Bispham to Bispham Coast Protection Scheme, and the Gynn Square to Cocker Square Coast Protection Scheme.

Over in Preston, more changes are being made to the road network to favour buses as council bosses seek to make the city centre less car-friendly and encourage other methods of transport. Such schemes always face opposition and how well they are implemented will often impact people’s views on the wider need for them.

Meanwhile plans are being drawn up to redesign Lancaster’s city centre and avoid the regular congestion on the one way network which is both costing time and affecting air quality. Conversely, Pendle Borough Council this week announced it is launching a consultation on its Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) which was introduced in response to high Nitrogen Dioxide levels associated with motor traffic.

The council says the AQMA has been successful in improving air quality and rather than maintaining it for these benefits, argues it is no longer needed and is seeking to remove the associated restrictions. You can find out more directly from the council here.

Politics - the rise of the far-right?

As discussed in Kevin Gopal’s excellent piece for The Lancashire Lead on the BNP’s move into Burnley two decades ago, Lancashire is not generally a hotbed of a far-right activity but its pockets of deprivation, disillusion and detachment can provide somewhat of a welcoming home for it.

The riots in Southport - which this week saw a Lancashire man receive the largest sentence so far for his involvement in organising the disorder - displayed the undercurrent of anger and hatred which not only exists, but is actively waiting for an outlet. The more people feel ignored and unrepresented, the greater the risk that populist figures can capitalise on that anger and direct it towards their own ambitions.

We can already see that happening as people such as the opinions and extreme comments of the likes of Elon Musk move away from social media and into mainstream discourse, altering the agenda and plainly distorting facts for many who are willing to listen.

In the same way Kevin’s article explains that not all BNP supporters were attracted to a racist ideology, parties such as Reform will attract voters who don’t necessarily align with the views of Nigel Farage and many of the problematic candidates who were selected for the 2024 General Election. However, when they lend their support to such parties, they may find themselves helping to fuel hatred which unveils itself further down the line.

With elections still due to be held at Lancashire County Council and various others at borough level this year, this element will add to the test Labour already faces in its first year of local elections since it won control of the Government.

Devolution

Looking at a more local level, the main political issue to affect specifically Lancashire is the devolution issue. An historic deal was finally signed off last year but before the ink was dry, Labour MPs were plotting alternative plans which would see all the existing councils abolished and replaced by three new ones.

The Government agrees this is the best approach for the county and ultimately all of this would put Lancashire closer to having its first ever elected mayor and with it more funding and powers. Expect the arguments around this issue to become louder over the coming year.

Eden Project Morecambe

After years of delays to get the funding agreement over the line, everything is now in place to make Eden Project Morecambe a reality. The Government has formally agreed to provide the £50m of funding which will be matched by private investors to allow the non-profit Eden Project to create its new site on the Morecambe Bay.

Once complete, the attraction is expected to attract up an average 750,000 visitors to the resort each year, providing a desperately needed boost to a town whose fortunes appeared to be long in the past. The influx of visitors is set to add millions to the town’s economy and trigger a wider investment as businesses seek to take advantage of the Morecambe’s new found popularity.

The coming year will see action move from meeting rooms to the seafront as building work begins and people finally get to see action happening on of the county’s most significant regeneration projects.

Multiversity, Animate, and much more

There’s plenty more major developments happening across the county as well. The iconic Botany Bay in Chorley is having a business park built around it before it is transformed into offices and storage space, while Preston City Council’s Animate cinema and leisure complex is due to open this year with bowling and dining options included.

Elsewhere, Blackpool’s Talbot Gateway project continues with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) staff expected to move into the new £100m civil service hub in the spring. Before that, a decision is due on the Multiversity scheme following a public inquiry into whether the council should be allowed to buy and demolish homes to make way for a scheme it considers to be of great significance to its regeneration plans.