Lancaster launches Frontierland development opportunity 

Having acquired the site of the former theme park from Morrisons last year, the city council is seeking expressions of interest from developers to overhaul what it calls “one of most prominent prime seafront locations in Morecambe”. 

Located close to the Midland Hotel and the proposed £125m Eden Project North, the 7.4-acre Frontierland site has been vacant since the theme park closed in 1999. 

Several redevelopment attempts have come and gone in the intervening 23 years. 

Most recently, developer Opus North won approval for a £17m mixed-use scheme known as Bay Shopping Park in 2014.  

The proposals included 120,000 sq ft of retail space, 15,000 sq ft of restaurants, pubs and cafes, a 62-bedroom hotel and 336 car parking spaces.   

However, the project never materialised and planning consent has now expired. 

Following its purchase of the site, Lancaster City Council is keeping an open mind as to how the plot might be redeveloped, seeking expressions of interest from “all sectors of the market”, according to a tender notice. 

In a briefing description on Proactis, the city council said it plans to draw up a comprehensive development brief for the site that will identify “how respective uses can be brought together to deliver an imaginative high quality, sustainable development which is appropriate to the transformational nature of the opportunity and the surroundings”. 

The brief will form the basis of a formal procurement exercise for the opportunity. 

The opportunity ID for the project on Proactis is DN633253.