MP congratulates Morecambe Bay Partnership for securing £1.9 million

Morecambe Bay Partnership has secured £1.9 million of funding for a major new initiative to protect and celebrate the Bay's rich heritage. Local MP Tim Farron has praised the team behind the bid and said he was delighted to have supported their work over the last 18 months.

Communities, natural habitats and historic sites around MorecambeBay are set to benefit over the next five years, thanks to a £1.9 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Tim has supported the bid over the last 18 months.

The funding has been confirmed for Morecambe Bay Partnership's Headlands to Headspace scheme, which will support communities to restore, enhance and celebrate the natural and cultural heritage of MorecambeBay and boost the local economy.

The project will create local jobs and apprenticeships and will have a positive knock-on affect for local businesses.

Projects planned around MorecambeBay's stunning coastline and headlands over the next five years include:

• Connecting and signing 200km of family friendly cycling routes to create a new Bay Cycle Way, stretching from Walney in Barrow to Glasson in Lancaster.

• Collecting and sharing stories through oral history projects looking especially at local fishing communities and traditions.

• A major programme of community archaeology training to unearth our hidden past.

• Looking after the Bay's precious natural habitats and tidal islands, helping to make natural places better connected and better able to resist climate change.

• Creating unique maps of the area which will open up the Bay to new visitors and explore the richness and variety of our hidden assets and histories.

Tim said: "Heritage is the mainstay of the visitor economy and one of Cumbria's key sectors with potential for sustainable growth. I am delighted to have helped Morecambe Bay Partnership secure this award. This imaginative scheme will help to open up the Bay area, not least through the development of a Bay Cycle Route, and also provide visitors with more information and a greater overall visitor experience. This investment will boost trade and benefit the whole Bay area."