South Ribble leading the way on growth

New figures show that South Ribble is leading the way in economic growth in the North West.

This is underpinned by recent figures from the Business Register Employment Survey, which showed that South Ribble enjoyed by far the highest growth of employee numbers in Lancashire in the last five years, with a rise of 11.6%.

South Ribble’s economy has also shown great resilience in recent years. The biggest blaze in Lancashire in a decade ravaged and destroyed Lancashire Business Park in Farington in December 2011. Rather than fall into dereliction, the site was immediately rebuilt and repopulated, in a clear demonstration of the high demand for commercial space in South Ribble.

South Ribble Borough Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for regeneration, leisure and healthy communities, councillor Phil Smith, said: “We’ve been saying for a long time that South Ribble has been weathering the economic storm better than most, and these remarkable figures suggest that has been an understatement. They show that South Ribble is already at the heart of the North of England’s economic powerhouse, and we can be even stronger in the future through working with businesses and our partners to support growth.

“South Ribble is very much open for business, with a thriving commercial community and sites identified for companies to develop and grow. There are many more exciting opportunities on the horizon, with the Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal bringing forward 30 years of growth in the next decade. It will provide infrastructure to unlock the development potential of key sites, so we can look forward to thousands more jobs being created in the borough over the next few years.”