AI automation in Chorley and Euxton.
Chorley had 4,585 businesses in 2026, and 88.7% of them employ fewer than ten people.Source [1] Construction made up 7.3% of the borough's 41,000 employee jobs in 2024, above the British share of 5.0%. Health and social work made up 19.5%.Source [1]
We cover all 45 towns and villages in the district. Most of what we build is delivered remotely, so the practical question is not how far you are from us. It is whether we understand the way your trade actually works. We will come out if it helps.
Written by Sami (Sam) Swain. Local facts checked 9 October 2026.
What is happening in Chorley
Where the work is
- Strawberry Fields is an £8.4 million digital hub owned and run by Chorley Council, built with a £4.1 million European grant.Source [2]
- Strawberry Meadows Business Park in Euxton is an £11 million council scheme of 33 units from 500 to 5,000 sq ft, a short distance from Strawberry Fields.Source [3]
- Chorley Council earns income from Strawberry Meadows, Strawberry Fields and Logistics House. Its 2026/27 budget includes £44 million over several years, with £20 million from government, for the town centre transformation programme.Source [4]
Support for businesses
- On 9 October 2026 Chorley Council's grants page said all current schemes had closed while it reviewed funding for 2026/27.Source [5]
- Chorley Council advertised a launch event for a new business support and grants programme on 23 September 2026. Ask the Economic Development Team on 01257 515300 or edu@chorley.gov.uk what is open now.Source [5]Source [6]
Getting around
- Chorley sits between the M61, M6 and M65, and is on the West Coast Main Line.Source [2]
Industries that matter in Chorley
These sectors employ a bigger share of people here than they do across Great Britain, so they are where automation usually earns its keep first.
Construction and trades
Construction is 7.3% of employee jobs against 5.0% in Great Britain.Source [1]
AI for construction and tradesCare providers
Health and social work is 19.5% of employee jobs against 14.2% in Great Britain.Source [1]
AI for careHelp across Lancashire
- Boost is Lancashire's business growth hub. Its Business Support Helpdesk on 0800 488 0057 is open to every Lancashire business and to anyone planning to start one. Growth Lancashire runs the helpdesk on Boost's behalf.Source [7]
- Made Smarter North West helps small and medium manufacturing and engineering firms adopt digital technology. Firms with 249 staff or fewer and a turnover under £36 million, or a balance sheet under £18 million, can apply. It offers up to 50% match funding to a maximum of £20,000 for equipment and specialist advice, a leadership programme and funded digital internships worth up to £4,035. Boost is one of its delivery partners.Source [8]Source [9] Read our Made Smarter North West guide
- Boost's August 2026 Growth Hub Pulse reported Lancashire firms using AI for production planning, scheduling, documentation, engineering support, customer communications, reporting and administration.Source [10]
Grants and funded training that are open now are on our funding page.
Main towns in Chorley
Chorley
Town, population 36,682, PR7
Former cotton and coal town. Current employers include a FedEx North West depot, DXC Technology, Telent, Multipart Solutions and Porter Lancastrian.
Clayton-le-Woods
Village, population 15,065, PR25
Large residential village with an Asda superstore, a sports centre and two hotels, bisected by Cuerden Valley Park and the River Lostock.
Euxton
Village, population 9,993, PR7
Site of ROF Chorley, described as probably the biggest munitions filling factory in the world, which employed over 40,000 at peak before redevelopment as Buckshaw Village.
Coppull
Village, population 8,300, PR7
Former mining and manufacturing village turned commuter satellite for Chorley and Wigan. Yew Tree Dairy, Morris' bakery and Staveley's egg producer are based here.
Adlington
Town, population 6,010, PR6
Built on cotton mills and coal pits and the birthplace of construction firm Leonard Fairclough & Son. White Bear Marina on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal now drives leisure trade.
Whittle-le-Woods
Village, population 5,434, PR6
Known for its Hill Top Lane sandstone quarries. Now a popular commuter village with Shaw Hill Golf and Country Club.
Villages and smaller places we also cover
These are covered on the same terms. They are listed here rather than given a page each, because a page that only restates the district page helps nobody.
Abbey Village
Ribbon village along the A675 centred on a now-redundant cotton mill broken down into industrial units.
Anderton
British muslins were first manufactured here in 1764. The Anderton Centre is now an RYA watersports training base with access to Lower Rivington Reservoir.
Anglezarke
2,793 acres of moorland and reservoirs. Leicester Mill Quarry once produced gritstone paving flags and Anglezarke Quarry is now used for rock climbing.
Astley Village
Planned 1970s residential village beside Astley Park, which hosted the Royal Lancashire Show for several years.
Bolton Green
Botany Bay
Canalside area on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, formerly Knowley Moss, later home to industrial-revolution mills and the landmark Botany Bay retail mill
Bretherton
Once a self-sufficient agricultural community, now largely residential with most residents working in Leyland, Preston and Chorley.
Brindle
One of the more affluent areas in Lancashire with little industry. Average earnings exceed the national average by over a third.
Brinscall
Cotton and quarrying village. In 2018 Brinscall Quarry was identified as a source of stone matching that needed for Barcelona's Sagrada Familia.
Buckshaw Village
Brownfield new village on the former ROF Chorley site, with Matrix Business Park, Revolution Park and Buckshaw Link. Developers reported 10,000 jobs created by 2022.
Charnock Richard
Home of Charnock Richard motorway services on the M6 (opened 1963, run by Welcome Break) and the derelict Camelot theme park, closed in 2012.
Clayton Brook
Central Lancashire New Town estate built in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Around half of its 4,000-plus properties are rented through Places for People.
Clayton Green
Western section of Clayton-le-Woods developed between the 1960s and 1980s, bordering Leyland.
Cloverfield
One of the five named areas of Clayton-le-Woods.
Croston
Market village granted a charter by Edward I in 1283 for an annual fair and market on the village green.
Cuerden
Two riverside cotton mills employed more than 700 people in 1848. The area is now dominated by the 650-acre Cuerden Valley Park, half of it still farmed.
Duxbury
Southern district around Duxbury Park and golf course, on the former Duxbury Hall estate
Eaves Green
Residential area off Lower Burgh Way in south west Chorley, with the Catholic primary school on Eaves Green Road
Eccleston
Former agricultural and weaving settlement. The 'Old Mill' now houses an antique, collectable and nostalgia retail space.
Gillibrand
Residential district on the former Gillibrand Hall estate west of Chorley town centre
Grimeford Village
Hamlet in Anderton parish on Bolton Road, close to the Anderton Centre outdoor activity site and Rivington
Heapey
19th-century bleachworks and quarry village. A wartime ordnance factory later run by BAE Systems for ammunition storage closed in the 1990s.
Heath Charnock
Once supported brick works, stone quarries and a cotton mill. Now predominantly residential.
Heskin
Heskin Hall, once used for antique sales, is now a wedding and civil ceremony venue with a restaurant and a garden centre opened in 2010.
Heskin Green
Higher Wheelton
Village in Wheelton parish on the Chorley to Blackburn road, with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal running through it
Hoghton
Heritage tourism centres on Hoghton Tower, a fortified manor house and ancestral home of the de Hoghton family since the 12th century.
Leylandside
Western area of Clayton-le-Woods parish where it meets Leyland
Limbrick
Mawdesley
Supported willow farming and basket-making in the 19th century. Now intensively farmed moss land with a wind farm on Mawdesley Moss.
Riley Green
Rivington
Thriving tourist economy built on the Victorian reservoirs supplying Liverpool and on Lever Park, alongside continuing sheep farming.
Ulnes Walton
Home to HM Prison Garth (Category B) and HM Prison Wymott (Category C), plus the long-established J.H. Mayor and Sons sawmill.
Weld Bank
District on the southern fringe of Chorley built largely on the former Burgh Hall estate
Wheelton
One of the more affluent parts of Lancashire thanks to easy motorway access and a semi-rural setting beside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
White Coppice
Grew around a water- then steam-powered cotton mill with nearby quarries and small coal mines. Now best known for its cricket ground.
Withnell
Former cotton-mill village built around Withnell Mill, now a small rural service centre with a GP surgery, pharmacy and garage.
Withnell Fold
Model village built around a paper mill founded in 1843 that supplied newsprint to Lancashire newspapers and ran until 1967.
Wood End
One of the five constituent areas of Clayton-le-Woods, adjoining Clayton Green
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Sources
We opened and read every source below on 9 October 2026. If one has changed since, the source is right and this page is out of date, so please tell us.
- 1. ONS via Nomis, Labour market profile, Chorley (BRES 2024 employee jobs, UK Business Counts 2026).
- 2. Lancashire Business View, Chorley Hotspots, in the right direction, 10 August 2023.
- 3. Lancashire Business View, £11m industrial hub opens in Euxton, 29 November 2022.
- 4. Chorley Council, Chorley Council 2026/27 budget proposals, 27 January 2026.
- 5. Chorley Council, Business grants.
- 6. Lancashire Business View events listing, Launch Event, Business Support and Grant Programmes.
- 7. Boost, Lancashire County Council, Business Support Helpdesk.
- 8. Made Smarter, Made Smarter Adoption, North West.
- 9. Made Smarter, Made Smarter Adoption, in my region.
- 10. Boost, Lancashire County Council, Lancashire Growth Hub Pulse, August 2026, August 2026.