Eden Project North: Council passes plans for Morecambe attraction

Proposals to create a new eco-tourism attraction on the Lancashire coast have received planning permission.

Lancaster City Council approved the £125m plan for Eden Project North, which the charity behind it said re-imagines Morecambe "as a seaside resort for the 21st Century".

Eden Project's plans will see three seafront shell-shaped pavilions built.

The charity, based at the original Eden Project in Cornwall, hopes the new site will open in 2024.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the council's planning committee voted in favour of the planning application, which has been in the pipeline since the charity's plan for a North of England site was first announced in 2018, at a meeting in the Lancashire resort earlier.

It is hoped the site, which Eden Project said will "combine exhibits, performance, learning, play, immersive experiences, world-class horticulture, live music, art, food, beverage and retail spaces", will create hundreds of jobs in the town.

The planning application said the new site expected to get up to one million visitors every year.

A spokesman said the project had "far-reaching environmental, social and economic ambitions, but above all, it will be a day out that inspires a sense of wonder and connection with the natural world".

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