AN eleventh hour bid is under way to sway the case for East Lancashire to have its own training and education body.

Businesses, local councils, colleges and other groups have joined forces to fight for the area to have its own Learning and Skills Council - the new bodies being set up to replace Training and Enterprise Councils.

Similar organisations in North and West Lancashire also agree that they should have their own LSC.

But Lancashire County Council and economic development firm Enterprise plc believe there should be just one covering the whole of the county.

Both sides have already put their cases to the North West Regional Development Agency and on Thursday it will meet to decide on its final recommendations to the DfEE who will make the decision.

One sticking point for the East Lancashire case is that the DfEE has said that its strong preference is that areas for LSCs should follow local education authority boundaries.

But supporters of the East Lancashire case argue that the area has distinct and special needs that mean it justifies being an exception.

Compared with the rest of the county for example, East Lancashire has an economy more heavily dependent on manufacturing, has lower skill levels than other parts of the North West and has a higher ethnic population.

The success of initiatives like the East Lancashire Partnership mean that the area already has a strong identity and experience of various agencies working together successfully.

With a population of just over 500,000 it also comes within the minimum size of an area the Government wants to see for LSCs to cover. Home Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw has written to the Education Secretary David Blunkett over the issue.

Phil Watson, chief executive of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, who is fronting the battle for East Lancashire to have its own LSC, said the RDA could not ignore the level of support for their case.

"Every other organisation involved in this, apart from two, supports the case for East Lancashire.

"It is not that we don't want to change but given East Lancashire's special case we feel it would be foolish not to listen to the overwhelming body of support for our case."

And the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, which represents businesses employing hundreds of thousands of people in the area, last week wrote to the RDA urging it to go for the "common sense option".

Lancashire County Council argues that a single LSC will mean less bureaucracy and have lower running costs than two separate ones.

"A single pan-Lancashire Learning and Skills council will ensure the County can punch its weight within the North West region," said county councillor Frank McKenna, deputy leader.

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