The Northwest is the United Kingdom's 'academopolis', boasting the highest concentration of students in Europe. Harriet Swain and Alison Utley look at how institutions are working to give the region's economy a boost.
It was not as much as some lottery winners have already splashed out on cars, holidays and new girlfriends.
But the Pounds 8 million awarded to the University of Central Lancashire, in Preston, for an outdoor multisport complex is much more likely to bring communities together. And there was more to it than luck.
The award, the largest ever made by the Sports Fund, was 65 per cent of the bid's total capital cost and therefore the maximum it could receive.
So many colleges and universities have been in contact with the successful team of university managers, designers and council officers to find out how they did it that they organised a conference earlier this summer to pass on a few tips.
The secret, according to David Walsh, pro vice chancellor and team leader, was proving that the scheme would benefit the community as well as the university and was based on partnership. This meant carrying out extensive consultation and acting on the results.
The Pounds 12.5 million complex, set to be completed by April 1999, is based at Cottam, north west of Preston. It will include an all-weather athletics arena, five rugby pitches, five football pitches, an all-weather grassed area for football or hockey, hard-surface tennis courts, a cricket square and archery range. A cycle ring was added at the suggestion of cycle clubs and police concerned at cyclist accident levels in Preston.
The university, borough council and North West Sports Council will monitor the amount the community uses the 60-acre complex to ensure it gets an average of 40 hours per week.