Application tweaks Frontierland plans

Lancaster City Council is due to approve amends to a planning application for the £17m redevelopment of Morecambe’s 7.6-acre former Frontierland amusement park, previously consented in 2014.

The proposals from developer Opus North include 120,000 sq ft of retail space, 15,000 sq ft for restaurants, pubs and cafes, a 62-bedroom hotel and 336 car parking spaces. The scheme will be known as Bay Shopping Park.

Opus North, which is backed by Palmer Capital, first announced plans to redevelop the site in November 2013. The site is owned by supermarket chain Morrison’s, which is partnering with Opus on the project.

The plans were approved in November 2014, and at the time councillors called for Opus to get retailers in place as quickly as possible in order to ensure the viability of the scheme.

Since the application was approved activity on the site is yet to progress. The revised planning application seeks sign-off for the removal of a proposed mezzanine, and slight changes in roof height and windows in the retail element “to take account of the proposed tenant’s requirements”. No occupier name has been announced as yet.

All that remains of the former Wild West theme park is the Ranch House pub and the Polo tower, which is used as a telecommunications mast.

An application from Morrison’s and the Thompson family, owner of Blackpool Pleasure Beach, for a mixed-use development at the site including homes, hotel and leisure and retail, was approved in 2006, but did not start on site.

Lancaster City Council’s planning committee will meet today to discuss the application.