Lancashire’s strengths bring certainty in uncertain times

In reality, the property market topped out two to three years ago in London and, whilst the recovery continued elsewhere, the regional property market was generally still pretty tough in the lead up to the EU referendum on June 23.

By Stephen Chalcraft, head of Slater and Gordon’s public sector and regeneration team and an honorary fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The referendum result shone a spotlight on trading conditions that were probably harsher than people had previously wanted to accept, and also created uncertainty. Our long-held framework with Europe was likely to change fundamentally, and no one really knew what UK plc was going to look like.

However, none of this means that the property sector will stop in its tracks. Significant progress has been made in Lancashire with its shadow combined authority, and that will engender confidence and provide long-term stable governance; a key ingredient for growth in the real estate sector.

The county has a distinctive offering in areas such as tourism - leisure is one of the stronger real estate sectors – and critical mass in engineering and advanced manufacturing, with 25 per cent of the UK’s aerospace cluster based in Lancashire.

In addition, the county has significant potential in the energy sector and a large reservoir of talent backed by its leading universities.

These assets, together with improving infrastructure and connectivity, point to future growth in the regional economy - and that will drive growth in the real estate market.

Furthermore, Westminster is committed to devolution and to rebalancing the economy, and that means a continued focus on growth in regions such as Lancashire.

The previous administration was probably too focused on growing financial and professional services in our northern cities, but it is now recognised that we need to use devolution to do more by facilitating growth in areas such as energy and advanced manufacturing, which lie outside our major cities - and this will play to Lancashire’s strengths.

It is essential that the public sector and its key stakeholders continue to focus on long-term co-operation and delivery. Devolution will empower local government and lead to more effective public and private co-operation.

This, when combined with new opportunities in the financial technology (fintech) sector and longer term funding solutions such as the local retention of business rates, will create a solid platform for the sustainable economic growth that we need to drive our real estate sector. There has in the past been much criticism of an overt industrial strategy, but the place-based industrial strategy proposed by our current government is better than a piecemeal approach to economic growth, and will again play to Lancashire’s economic strengths. That in turn is good for real estate.