Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal
City Deal has brought about the largest infrastructure investment in Central Lancashire for generations, securing the area as a great place to live, work and do business.
Signed in 2013, City Deal is a £434 million funding programme helping to transform Central Lancashire over a 10 year period by expanding transport infrastructure, supporting the creation of 20,000 jobs and generating more than 17,420 new homes. City Deal aims to increase the size of the local economy by £1 billion.
The Preston and Lancashire City Deal is an agreement between the Government and the following four local partners:
- Lancashire County Council
- Lancashire Enterprise Partnership
- Preston City Council
- South Ribble Borough Council
Improving travel infrastructure
The main transport schemes included in the City Deal are:
Preston Western Distributor (PWD)
This will link the A583/A584 to the motorway network via a new junction on the M55. This road will improve access and enable the development of the North West Preston strategic housing location which will accommodate over 4000 new homes.
South Ribble Western Distributor (SRWD)
This will double vehicle capacity between Preston City Centre and the motorway network, at the point at which the M65, M6 and M61 connect. This improvement will enable full development of, and access to, Cuerden Strategic Employment site and Lancashire Business Park. In addition, it will unlock housing schemes accommodating up to 2,700 new homes.
Broughton Bypass
This will provide critical relief to the A6, North East Preston and the M6. This new road will enable housing schemes, creating over 1,400 new homes, and the full development of new and future employment sites in East Preston creating over 5,000 new jobs.
Penwortham Bypass
This will complement SRWD capacity improvements and join the network to Ringway. It will significantly improve access between local and motorway networks and decrease congestion in Preston City Centre. In addition it will enable future housing opportunities to come forward beyond 2024. It will also define the route of the new bridge crossing of the River Ribble linking with the PWD.
Creating new jobs
Over the last decade, the central Lancashire area has enjoyed some of the best rates of new job creation in the country with more than 20,000 new private sector jobs created.
This reflects the area's superb location, skilled workforce, training and education strengths and quality of life. The City Deal is based on the premise that by transforming the core infrastructure to provide the extra capacity, there is great potential for this rate of growth to continue