Job losses were announced at BAE Systems Barrow last month

Ideas offered range from improving rail and air links to building advanced factories and attracting cruise ships.

Local business people gathered for a seminar on Monday to discuss how the area could cope in the light of recent mass redundancies.

Earlier this year it was announced 700 jobs were to go at BAE Systems in Barrow shipyard, and 400 at Glaxo Smithkline in Ulverston.

Economic decline

Monday's meeting was co-ordinated by the chairman of the development agency, Furness Enterprise.

Business leaders gathered for the seminar to discuss which projects were worth putting to the government for support later this year.

The seminar was told one of the main problems was a declining population.

Census figures for 2001 revealed the number of under-35's living in the area had fallen by 35% since the 1980s.

Bob Pointing of the development agency West Coast Renaissance, told the seminar Barrow's population was falling because of economic decline.

'Thriving companies'

But he added that the area could still have a good future.

He said: "It has got some very thriving companies here and I think the environment is good.

"We have got the sites, we have got one advantage which is the cheap land and the area around the port in particular.

"We have got land for inward investment, a lot of places can't say that.

"We also have a very nice town centre. There is a lot of good about Barrow... there is a lot we can build on."