AGAINST increasing jitters that recession is looming, East Lancashire's major towns, Blackburn and Burnley, stand out encouragingly today in a business survey as the best places in Lancashire to make money.

And they are prominent, too, in the national league table of the most profitable locations for firms.

But this is no real surprise to this newspaper.

We have always been aware of our region's resilience and enterprise.

For we have the skills, the willingness to work and a solid, long-standing manufacturing base that has always been prepared to adapt and diversify.

Indeed, perhaps, one reason for East Lancashire's economic robustness is the transformation its business and industry have embraced in the face of downturn in the past.

This was shown during the recession of the early 1990s which was weathered far better than in other regions because of the economic renewal and self-help initiatives we undertook in the wake of the slump of the early 1980s.

Add to this the boost now coming, in the form of new jobs and investment, through the extension of the M65 motorway and it is plain that East Lancashire's success is built on firm foundations.

We have the industries, the workers, the skills, the communications and the community that bring prosperity to businesses.

And the more of them there are making brass here, the happier are we.

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