Eden Project seeks funds for Morecambe attraction

BBC Eden ProjectBBC
The Eden Project opened near St Austell in a former china clay pit

The Eden Project said it will open a version of its Cornish visitor attraction in Lancashire after carrying out a feasibility study.

The company announced earlier this year it was in talks to bring the attraction to the resort of Morecambe.

It is now looking for funding and support to move the project on.

Simon Bellamy, head of Eden Project International, said the vision is to "re-imagine what the 21st century seaside resort could look like".

He said it will be different from the Cornish site.

"The Eden Project in Cornwall is about the connection with plants, this is about the connection with this wonderful environment here in Morecambe, the bay," he said.

Andrew Atherton, deputy vice-chancellor of Lancaster University which is one of the partners on the project, said it would be both a regeneration project and a tourist attraction.

The Eden Project opened near St Austell in Cornwall in 2001.

It had more than one million visitors in 2017, according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.