AS it celebrated its 25th anniversary the annual Warrington Property Review heard how despite challenging times, the town continued to attract £200m of investment a year over the past 10 years.
Business leaders from across the town and further afield gathered at the “sell-out” event at the Park Royal Hotel to hear how there had been £2 billion worth of public and private sector investment in Warrington over the past decade.
Warrington Borough Council’s Director of Growth Steve Park said partnerships had been one of three key successes in delivering the council’s visions.
Speaking at the event he said: “It’s been four years since I last spoke at a Property Review, and although today marks the 25th anniversary, unbelievably it marks 10 years since I first stood in front of you and described my thoughts on transforming Warrington and the renewed focus on economic growth and regeneration.
And what a decade it’s been. I think we’d all agree it’s not been without its economic challenges. We’ve had Brexit, a global pandemic, we’ve had Trump, 5 prime ministers, Trussonomics, debt crisis in Greece, and I know that many argue that we never actually recovered from the financial crisis in 2008. We’ve had a boom in logistics, and a bust in retail.
“These economic shocks have created some significant and ongoing turbulence in the UK, but I’d argue that Warrington has managed to fly above most of it and it’s not by chance either.”
Meanwhile, John Laverick, Managing Director of Warrington & Co. said: “We have had some successes over the past year with significant developments. But we understand that there is significant pressure on development and ongoing business vibility. There has been good progress but the financial headwinds are making this more challenging.
“When this happens it is our role to find ways of continuing to deliver regeneration and this generally means finding additional funding.”
