EAST Lancashire business boss Mike Damms is ready to consider a new role to rescue the county’s crisis-hit ‘skills city’.

Yesterday the Lancashire Telegraph revealed the ambitious plans for a multi-million pound enterprise zone creating 6,000 hi-tech jobs had been branded ‘the worst in the country’ by government ministers.

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They said the Lancashire Enterprise Zone, based around BAE Systems’ Samlesbury and Warton plants, was the only one in England to have attracted no new businesses or produced any new jobs. This compares to the other 23 which have generated more than 12,500 jobs and attracted over 400 new businesses.

Growth Minister Penny Mordaunt and her skills counterpart Greg Clark have told the chairman of the council/business partnership behind the scheme that the government has ‘lost confidence’ in its ability to ‘deliver the enterprise zone successfully’.

In the letter dated November 27, they gave Lancashire Enterprise Partnership chairman Edwin Booth a checklist of major changes required, including giving Mr Damms, left, responsibility for the scheme.

Other items included securing a deal on the land at Samlesbury between Lancashire County Council and BAE Systems by a deadline of December 10 .

They demanded a monthly update on progress and recruiting a dedicated programme manager.

In a key paragraph, the minster said: “We believe it would be of value to assign one of your LEP board members responsibility for the oversight of the Enterprise Zone. We understand that Mike Damms, the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce chief executive, has expressed an interest in this role.”

The land deal has now been signed.

Mr Damms said: “I am happy to do anything I can to help this important project. I am not sure my taking overall responsibility is the right solution. I shall be discussing this with my colleagues on the LEP board.

“This is a vital scheme for the aerospace and hi-tech industries in East Lancashire and right across the county.”

The LEP board will now hold talks with Mr Damms before management of the project is discussed at its January meeting.

A spokesman said: “As we move into the construction phase of the Enterprise Zone we will be reviewing its governance arrangements, as planned.”

Ms Mordaunt said last night: “I recently wrote to Lancashire council and the local enterprise partnership to raise serious concerns about the progress on the enterprise zone and asked for certain conditions to be met. I have had constructive dialogue with them and have been pleased with recent progress, notably the agreement of the land deal.”

* Chancellor George Osborne yesterday confirmed the financial arrangements for the LEP to borrow the cash for the controversial new access road from the A59 and A677 to the Samlesbury site.