Wyre submits £8.6m Levelling Up bid
Funds would go towards building a creative business workspace next Fleetwood Market, developing Fleetwood Port and creating a new visitor centre for Fleetwood Museum.
Wyre Council called its plans for the requested £8.56m “ambitious”, but said they would help with the town’s regeneration efforts.
“We are submitting a packaged bid, consisting of three projects for Fleetwood, designed to revitalise some of the town’s most prominent and important, economic and cultural assets – the market, the museum and of course the disused, formerly thriving port,” said Cllr Alice Collinson, planning policy and economic development portfolio holder.
She added that the projects would “position Fleetwood as a high-quality visitor destination with a distinctive and proactive town centre that capitalises on its outstanding seaside location”.
Here is a breakdown of the three schemes included in Wyre’s bid:
- Fleetwood Market: The council wants to put repurposed sustainable shipping containers on the derelict land that sits next to the market. These containers would be used as flexible start-up spaces, classroom sites, collaborative working spaces and meeting rooms. It’s hoped that this project will build on the success of other projects like Market House Studios and the outdoor food market to increase the number of visitors, footfall and high street spend.
- Fleetwood Museum: A fully accessible visitor centre is the central part of this project. This new centre will be within the existing museum footprint and link Queens Terrace and Custom House Lane. In doing so, it will look out on a new pocket park.
- Fleetwood Port: Wyre Council is working with Associated British Ports on this scheme, which aims to build up derelict waterfront land. Plans call for the creation of a modern linear coastal park, new pedestrian and cycle connections and also to improve flood defences. The council hopes the new flood defences will lead to the development of 150 homes.
If the bid is successful, work on the projects will begin either this year or next – subject to an initial delivery of Levelling Up money. All of the funding would be delivered by March 2024.
Wyre is far from the only council to apply for money from the £4.8bn Levelling Up fund. Other communities include Blackpool, which has requested £20m, and Bury, which submitted a bid for £40m. Barrow, Bolton, Bootle, Cheshire West and Chester, Crosby, and Copeland also bid for money.
