‘Eden will go ahead’ says MP

The government is weeks away from delivering the £50million needed to fully fund Eden Project Morecambe, according to the town’s MP.

Lizzi Collinge, the Labour MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, has told the BBC: “£50m is in the bag and Eden Project Morecambe is going ahead.”

She said paperwork between the project partners Lancaster City Council and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government would likely be signed-off in the coming weeks.

Her comments follow a senior Lancashire County Council official welcoming the government’s “positive mood music” around the transformational project.

Simon Lawrence, director of growth and regeneration at County Hall, told Lancashire Business View’s 2024 Lancashire Built Environment Conference: “We just need government to continue to demonstrate a commitment to that and that will happen over the next few weeks.”

The previous Conservative government promised £50m for the project from its levelling up funds, with Eden having to match that. Simon told the conference in September that Eden had effectively reached that target through private sector funding.

He said the planned visitor eco-attraction was a “once in a lifetime generational investment opportunity” and a “catalyst for significant regeneration

There was speculation that there would be an announcement on funding in Rachel Reeves Budget yesterday but there was no mention of the project.

In her interview with BBC Radio Lancashire, Lizzi Collinge said Eden Morecambe, which is set to be completed in 2027 or 2028, would provide 1,400 local jobs and attract “nearly one million visitors every year” to the town.

And she said the project represented a “transformation for Morecambe”, which she said had been "left behind for years".

The project’s director of transformation, Si Bellamy, has said a final business plan was submitted to the government at the end of August.