Cabinet Office Minister Esther McVey MP recently visited Morecambe to hear more about our Eden Project and to hear about the improvements needed to the Morecambe to Lancaster rail line to prepare for extra visitors.
The visit from the Minister came as the Local Transport fund was launched which reallocated savings from HS2. Lancashire County Council are due to receive over £494 million and Westmorland and Furness Council over £128 million.
David Morris MP said: 'Thank you to Esther for coming to Morecambe to meet with stakeholders of the Eden Project, to hear about the benefits of the project across all sectors including Cultural, Education, local businesses and Tourism, and also for confirming that the funding for the construction stage of the Project is ready to go from Government with the final steps of the process being completed by Eden themselves.
In anticipation for the Eden Project opening, I will be bidding for improvements to the Morecambe to Lancaster rail line to be carried out. Improving carriages and extending services, improving the type of trains that are used and improving the stations in both Morecambe and Lancaster to help visitors to the area access Eden Project Morecambe.'
Cabinet Office Minister Esther McVey said: “Eden Project Morecambe is exactly what the Levelling Up fund was designed for. Its a visionary project which will put Morecambe on the map and create hundreds of jobs and hundreds of millions of pounds for the local economy.
“With Lancashire also receiving almost half a billion pounds from our new local transport fund, announced today, we are also investing in the local links needed to make the Eden Project a success.”
Blair Parkin, the Eden Project's Chief Experience Development Officer, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Esther McVey MP to the future home of Eden Project Morecambe today and we’re grateful she has taken the time to visit us. It was a fantastic opportunity to highlight our exciting plans for the project, as well as the community work our team are already delivering in the region.
“It has been a busy time for the project recently. Our team has been working hard on finalising the remaining £50m needed to deliver the project and we hope to be in the position to provide positive updates on that soon.”
