Traditionally a Labour stronghold, the balance of power shifted this summer as the Conservatives seized back control of Lancashire County Council for the first time in over 20 years. But for new council leader Geoff Driver there has been little time to bask in his party’s electoral glory. Instead, he is looking to tackle the economic problems head on. He talks to Ben Briggs.
He may have risen to the peak of political power in Lancashire but Geoff Driver is not a man to forget his roots.
The son of a textile worker, he was born and raised in the Weavers Triangle area of Burnley in the shadow of its once thriving mills.
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Council leader Geoff Driver, 64
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Maybe it is that understanding that led Coun Driver to earmark £11million of cash in his party’s election manifesto specifically to help out Lancashire businesses.
He said: “I know that there are people who are struggling. That is one of the reasons we included an item in our manifesto that we would use the £11m that is sitting in the Lancashire County Developments Ltd account to provide short term finance to companies that are commercially and economically viable but can’t get credit at the moment.
“We want to bring LCDL much more back in to the mainstream of the county council. We have an economic development officer and he will be part of a team of officers under the chief executive and we will do more focused work on improving the economy.”
From his office in the labyrinthine building that is Preston’s County Hall, the new council leader looks out over an economic landscape that is being buffeted by the recession and he is convinced that any help he can give could make a difference to companies.
And he believes that bringing in a meeting structure that enables the business community to make their voices heard, rather than having to listen to the thoughts of politicians, would be a major step forward.
“We [LCC] are not a business, we are a political organisation, but we can be business-like and when we decide what we want to do we will do it in the best way so that we get value for money out of it,” he explained.
“I’m totally committed to working with the business community, but you will not get businessmen and women involved if they only chew the fat with politicians. If you want to get them in you have to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. I want them to see the worth of it and want them to be involved.
“The other thing is recognising who the big players are in the county. There are the recognised big players already, but there are big players who are just getting on with playing big and no one knows about them.
“We need to make contact with them and see how they can help us to help other people. And it works both ways. If they help us we can help them to grow and employ even more people.
“There are recognised big players out there like BAE Systems, but there are those just under radar that we need to tap in to.”
Coun Driver is also impassioned about what he sees as a skills shortage amongst the county’s youngsters and he believes it could have a detrimental impact when it comes to their future role in the Lancashire workplace.
“One of the challenges is that we have to make sure that people have the right skills and one of our main policies is that we want to improve the standard of education in schools.
“One way to do that is to improve discipline so that those who want to learn can learn and are not disrupted.
“There is a social problem that those who don’t want to learn might come from a background were their parents are not concerned if their children are learning in school or not. We have to tackle that problem otherwise we will never have the skills base that is vital for the county.”
Leading the fourth biggest local authority outside London, it is good to know that Coun Driver describes himself as “proud Lancastrian” in a county that has “a lot to be proud of.”
And he hopes now to see his former home town of Burnley rise in the same way as its football team.
He added: “What’s going on in Burnley is close to my heart and I am very pleased because there’s a lot happening in the town, which is good to see, but there’s a lot more that needs to be done. I hope the Weavers Triangle regeneration gets off the ground because the alternative is not acceptable.”
