£25m plan for Morecambe’s town centre, railway station, and promenade revealed

Last week, Morecambe made it through to the next phase of the government’s £675m Future High Streets Fund.

It was one of 50 towns out of 400 chosen to develop plans for the future of its “high street”, and has been awarded up to £150,000 to support this.

In March 2019, Lancaster City Council submitted an expression of interest for the £25m - the maximum allowed per place - and following the announcement by High Streets minister Jake Berry last week, it can now move forward with developing five project business cases.

These are:

Project 1. Arrival.

Make a welcoming arrival experience for people by reconfiguring land use and redevelopment around the train station to make place.

Project 2. Making a Contemporary Heart.

Reimagining and redeveloping land to make a contemporary heart for Morecambe. Scope to make place, to incorporate iconic buildings such as the Winter Gardens and the Platform.

Project 3. Victoria Street – New Main Street.

To strengthen the emergent main street.

Project 4. Morecambe Arndale.

To reinforce the Arndale area as a community hub and place for business, markets and leisure.

Project 5. Promenade Park.

Changes to further enliven the seafront recreation offer, attune it to Eden North, and improve connectivity to the town centre.

Lancaster City Council’s submission included information about defining the place and the geographical area, focusing on the linear nature of Morecambe.

It also included information about the population and links to the wider economic area, setting out the challenges of Morecambe in terms of economic and social data, the rationale for selecting Morecambe based on the challenges, the strategic vision for the town centre and the ambition for change, letters of support for the vision from key partners, and an estimate of revenue funding needed to support the second stage to build the business case for the five major projects.