MP backs Morecambe Bay funding plan
South Lakes MP Tim Farron has today backed a plan to bid for £1.7m funding to reinvigorate Morecambe Bay as a visitor destination from the Coastal Communities Fund.
If the Coastal Communities Fund (CCF) is successful, the work in 2015 and 2016 will:
- Make Morecambe Bay one of the UK's fastest growing destinations
- Deliver more than 400 new jobs and safeguard more than 10,000 others
- Strengthen the brand of Morecambe Bay so the 15 million people a year who visit the Bay area have the sense they're coming to a single, unified destination
- Boost tourism revenue by £22m, more than 13 times the original investment
The Government's announcement on the Coastal Communities Fund is expected in February 2015 and, if successful, Destination Morecambe Bay will start immediately. The programme will be delivered by the Morecambe Bay Partnership and last until December 2016.
Tim said: "I have repeatedly urged local authorities to bid for funding and so I praise Cumbria County Council for their ambition on this project. I am signing on to help them in any way I can. I will be banging on the doors of senior ministers in the days and weeks ahead to ask them to back the bid.
"This funding will help our community and create jobs, leverage in further investment and boost apprenticeships. I will do everything within my power to help."