The government is making an extra £100m available to England’s 24 enterprise zones, including the Preston-based Lancashire Enterprise Partnership. This is aimed to speed up job creation, following frustration that they have been slow to develop. The cash, on top of nearly £700m of existing public money, will fund projects such as road building and land clearance to unlock areas currently idle.

“This is long overdue” says Neil Darby.  “We need a lot of infrastructure development in this country, but it needs to be done in an orderly fashion.”