Combined County Authority

In February 2025, Parliament passed the Lancashire Combined County Authority Regulations 2025, formally establishing the Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA).

Combined Authorities are legal bodies set up using national legislation, enabling a group of two or more councils to collaborate and take collective decisions across council boundaries.
The Lancashire Combined County Authority brings together Lancashire County Council, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Blackpool Council as its Constituent Members, empowering the local leaders of the area’s Upper Tier Local Authorities with greater funding and decision-making responsibilities formerly held by central government, particularly across transport, skills and the economy. This is part of the Government’s devolution agenda and is separate to activity relating to Local Government Reorganisation, which proposes replacing County and District Councils with a smaller number of larger Unitary Authorities.
The objectives of the LCCA are:

To provide a strong, unified voice for Lancashire
To implement the Lancashire Growth Plan and other strategic frameworks to guide delivery
To compete effectively for national resources and investment to support Lancashire’s growth
To foster collaboration across public, private, and voluntary sectors to drive shared outcomes
To respond to national missions including economic growth, and further public service reform
To coordinate delivery across councils and sectors to unlock local growth and opportunity
To explore further opportunities under the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.

The activity of the LCCA is underpinned by the new and ambitious Lancashire Growth Plan for 2025-2035, along with the LCCA’s overarching vision to build upon Lancashire’s strengths to become a globally recognised, highly competitive, and sustainable region celebrated for its quality of life, connectivity, and opportunity.

Since forming in February 2025, the LCCA has been preparing to deliver key functions covered under the devolution regulations. From April 2026, the LCCA becomes the area’s Local Transport Authority, with responsibilities including the area’s Local Transport Plan (LTP), Bus Service Improvement Plan and broader public transport operational activity.

On skills, the Government is set to devolve the £41m Adult Skills Fund from the August/September 2026 academic year. This complements a new Get Lancashire Working Plan as part of the Government’s reform to employment support, bringing together skills and health support to get more people into work and to get on in work. In addition, the LCCA, via the Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub, will be responsible for the new DWP-funded Connect to Work Programme – an investment of £39m over the next 4 years providing intensive employment support for up to 12 months to help individual to overcome barriers to employment and move closer to meaningful, sustainable work.

For more information, please visit the Lancashire Combined County Authority website.