West Lancashire Borough Council shares 2024/25 annual report
West Lancashire Borough Council’s 2024/25 Annual Report has been presented to elected members at a meeting of Full Council on 15 October. The report highlights achievements made during a year of economic pressures and transformation.
Leader of West Lancashire Borough Council, Councillor Yvonne Gagen, said: “Councillors and officers work together every day with one objective in mind – to make the lives of our residents better. This is rarely easy. Resources and financial challenges can make progress difficult, but despite this, we have managed to achieve so much in the last financial year.
“I’d like to thank my fellow councillors, officers and West Lancashire's incredible communities for all of their hard work. On reading the annual report, it’s clear we are a dynamic and ambitious Borough and we will continue to strive for prosperity and progress together.”
The report sets out how the Council has continued to act in the best interests of its residents, with all decisions based around four guiding priorities:
Creating a clean and environmentally sustainable borough:
Protecting and enhancing our Borough’s outstanding green spaces is a top priority for the Council, as is reducing the effects of climate change - a view shared by our residents.
Greenspace improvement projects with external investment totaling in excess of £240,000 were carried out across the Borough in 2024/25. Tawd Valley Park (Skelmersdale) benefited from the installation of new wetland and all of our council homes are on track to achieve a ‘C’ rating in energy performance by 2030.
Residents’ feedback also helped allocate £360,000 Community Infrastructure Levy to five projects to be delivered 2025-2027 for projects including upgrading play areas and environmental improvements.
Fostering inclusive and healthy communities
Reducing health and wellbeing inequalities, providing services around our communities and providing quality, safe homes as a social landlord are duties we take very seriously. We continued to work towards these responsibilities:
We remain one of only a few councils building their own homes. Tawd Valley Developments Ltd. (TVDL) have continued to build quality homes for local people over the last 12 months. The Council was recently awarded the top C1 grading by the government’s social housing regulator.
The opening of the newly refurbished Burscough Wellbeing and Leisure Hub’s £3.3m refurbishment has created modern facilities and services for the community, including a new state-of-the-art gym, spin room and upgraded sports hall, squash courts and community rooms.
The go-ahead for the Skelmersdale Masterplan was also approved as were plans for £4.2m in funding to support our businesses and communities with a further £300K of UKSPF funding secured for this current year.
Generating prosperity in our Borough
West Lancashire has huge potential for growth. As well as steering the Skelmersdale Masterplan, TVDL began developing the Council’s approved plans for a major new business park at Junction 4 of the M58 – a major boost for local businesses. A new solar farm development in the same area, also being managed by TVDL on behalf of the Council, is a promising source of income and sustainable energy.
Managing a resilient, financially strong Council
We continued to revise the Medium-Term Financial Forecast to take account of the changing financial landscape and savings requirement for the Council. In February 2025, a balanced budget was agreed and further savings of approximately £900k were approved at a full Council meeting in March 2025. It was agreed at the meeting that the current subsidy relating to Nye Bevan and Park Pool leisure centres would continue as the decision was taken that these facilities should remain open.
These are just some of the achievements detailed in the report. You can read the Council Annual Report in full here to see how we’re building a better West Lancashire together.
