AN AMBITIOUS shopping list - including multi-million pound rail schemes and a new university - has been drawn up by council bosses working together as Pennine Lancashire'.

An early draft of the Pennine Lancashire multi-area agreement, which should one day be signed by all council leaders in the area, gives a key insight into the region's priorities for 2008 and beyond.

Whitehall is increasingly keen on basing its spending for key infrastructure and regeneration projects on several huge city or sub-regional groupings.

Pennine Lancashire encompasses the interests of unitary Blackburn with Darwen, the district councils of Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale.

Council leaders and chief executives locally are calling for a a five-year strategic investment package, covering housing renewal, transport and European funding to be made in the coming years.

This would incorporate a range of monies currently delivered through the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Housing Market Renewal Fund, European Regional Development Fund, Homes and Communities Agency and Network Rail.

Key projects include promoting three rail initiatives seen as vital in securing the economic prosperity of East Lancashire.

The partners are calling for investment to be made in upgrading the Clitheroe to Manchester line, which is currently hampered by long sections of single track between Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton stations.

Support is also being sought for the reinstatement of the Todmorden Curve, which will allow for swifter journey times between Burnley Manchester Road rail station and Manchester.

Extra funding is being requested too for the Rawtenstall to Bury line, which is run privately by East Lancashire Railways.

Another significant request states: "We ask for commitment from Government to provide this additional lane on sections of the (M65) motorway that have either reached full capacity or will reach capacity when major strategic sites come to fruition."

Council leaders say the M65's development is also central to Pennine Lancashire's economic hopes, as the motorway not only provides links to the rest of the county but employment opportunities over the border in Yorkshire.

An important project, as outlined in the agreement, is the often-discussed A56 villages bypass scheme, which would provide continuity from the end of the M65 into Yorkshire and onto Leeds and surrounding towns.

Pennine Lancashire leaders will be asking Whitehall for a commitment, by 2014, to establish a Pennine Lancashire University.

Further education colleges already have strong links with university partners countywide, and the University of Central Lancashire will soon have its own campus in Burnley.

The leaders have further asked for a commitment from London that public sector jobs, with the relocation of major quangos and other government agencies, will be earmarked for East Lancashire.