HAVING, with bold and imaginative strokes, already painted a picture of East Lancashire a generation from now envisioning the thriving, attractive equivalent of a diverse parkland city, with major facilities, even its own university, vastly improved transport, well-paid, hi-tech jobs and prospects, the goals of making that future happen were put into exciting focus yesterday by future-thinkers at a major debate on our area's future.

Creating that community over the next 20 years is a hugely ambitious aim, as sober voices at the East Lancashire Tomorrow conference pointed out when confronting obstacles like the region's mass of unfit housing, poor health, lower-than-average incomes and exodus of young talent.

But daunting as these problems are, what is significant now - and was typified by the contribution to this debate from business, education and local government leaders across the region - is the cohesive, East Lancashire-wide approach to grasping and solving them, particularly so that there is the fullest recognition and effort from government and the EU towards the task.

It is an approach that did not exist and, arguably, could not have existed ten years ago.

Then, East Lancashire's towns faced the problems separately and strove, in frequent competition with each other, to grasp what outside aid was available and to bring in new investment. Now, thanks to the East Lancashire Partnership - a community-wide initiative that is the model for, and envy of, other regions - this is a common cause and is spelled out with a far more potent voice in the corridors of power.

But while the scale of the problems may be lessened through this stronger approach, the exciting goals that are combined with their being overcome - those of making our area a place where people can live, learn, work and prosper - are ones that should now embrace not just our business leaders, local government chiefs and education and training officials, but the whole community.

The fascinating blueprint for tomorrow, of that diverse-but-together "city" of 500,000 people with decent homes, real jobs and opportunities for its young people, has been spelled out.

Now it is up to everyone to make it happen, starting by embracing the concept and identity of "East Lancashire" themselves.

This can be done even in the smallest way - by people and firms, for instance, putting "East Lancashire" on their postal address so that our region achieves greater recognition in the world outside - or by workers, trade unions and businesses fighting for one of the new, larger skills and training agencies the government is creating to be based here so that a key factor in our economic regeneration remains here.

The aims may be high and the obstacles huge, but the more that people get behind the partnership to achieve and confront them, then the more likely it is that this exciting vision can become reality tomorrow.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.