Step nearer for Eden Project Morecambe as government issues key report

The council sent its proposals surrounding a transfer of land valued at £900,000 to Eden to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in late 2023.

The authority’s Subsidy Advice Unit has now issued a feedback report, highlighting considerations that could be further developed or explained.

The city council, as the accountable body for the £50m awarded to the Eden Project from the government’s Levelling-Up Fund, was required by law to submit a report and evidence, saying why public funds were required as part of the wider funding package.

Overall, the Eden Morecambe scheme needs £100m and Eden’s fundraising continues elsewhere with potential private donors and other sources.

Lancaster City Council’s evidence was looked at by the Subsidy Advice Unit against the key tests for award of subsidies.

Its report provides advice to help inform the council’s subsidy assessments and decisions around the justification of using public funds towards the Eden Project.

The assessment says the unit considers that the city council has clearly identified the change in ‘economic behaviour’ that will occur as a result of the subsidy,

However, the report suggests the council could give more careful consideration to which socio-economic issues its policy objective seeks to address and set out more clearly how it will do so. This would also assist the council in conducting the rest of the assessment.

Feedback also suggests more could be said about what would happen to the derelict site without Eden Project Morecambe going ahead. For example, the council could take likely current options for redevelopment and investment of the site more directly into account in its information, as opposed to focusing on previous failed redevelopment attempts.

The unit also suggested the city council could more clearly identify Eden Project Morecambe’s closest competitors.

The new report adds: “While we recognise the difficulty in identifying a beneficiary’s closest competitors, in cases where products are as diverse as visitor attractions, the assessment contains a number of contradictorystatements on who these are.”

The city council could also set out more clearly how it arrived at the conclusion that the benefits of Eden will outweigh the potential negatives.

But the feedback adds: “Our report is advisory only and does not directly assess whether the subsidy to Eden Project International complies with the subsidy control requirements. The report does not constitute a recommendation on whether the subsidy should be implemented by the council. We have not considered it necessary to provide any advice about how the proposed subsidy may be modified to ensure compliance with the subsidy control requirements.”

In response, Coun Catherine Potter, the city council’s cabinet member with responsibility for the visitor economy, said: “This is another important milestone in the delivery of Eden Project Morecambe. I would like to thank the Subsidy Advice Unit for its thorough assessment of the project and the supporting evidence we provided.

“We will now fully review the content of the report as part of our due diligence of the project and consider any further actions that may be necessary.”

Councillors at this week’s full council meeting generally welcomed the news.

Council leader Philip Black said: “It’s a huge step forward to delivering Eden Project Morecambe.”