The crucial bid for £50m of government cash to make the Eden Project North a reality in Morecambe will go in on July 6, it has been confirmed.
Sir Tim Smit KBE and Tim Narey from Eden revealed the date during a chat with Beyond Radio at the Lancaster BID (Business Improvement District) Breakfast on Friday morning.
Sir Tim, co-founder of the Eden Project in Cornwall, and Mr Narey, project manager of the planned Eden attraction in Morecambe, had earlier spoken to representatives of Lancaster businesses at the event held at the Royal Kings Arms hotel in the city.
They took questions and spoke about how Eden coming to Morecambe would have a positive knock-on effect on Lancaster and the wider area.
LISTEN to Sir Tim Smit KBE and Tim Narey (pictured below) talking about the latest on plans for the Eden Project North:
The Eden Project North, planned for Morecambe's central promenade, needs to clear a final hurdle of a bid for £50m from the government's Levelling Up fund.
The project will face competition for the money from other schemes across the UK.
But if the bid is successful, work could start on the Morecambe Promenade site in late 2022/early 2023.
Sir Tim said: "I'm very excited about it, we are very confident it's all going to go ahead. Everything that I'm seeing is really optimistic.
"The date the bid goes in is July 6, the judgement is some time in the autumn. We're very hopeful.
"If we don't get the bid (money), I want to see the ones that did!"
We asked Sir Tim what would happen if the bid was not successful.
He said the Eden team would not give up on their plans to bring the project to Morecambe.
"We got to where we are today by believing in a number of things, and one of them is 'last person standing'," he said.
"If people suddenly realise that you're not going away, they will eventually pay you lots of money to keep you well occupied!"
There were concerns raised at the BID meeting about whether the local area could cope with the volume of traffic generated by the extra estimated 1m visitors per year, and if enough visitors would also travel to Lancaster, as well as Morecambe.
Mr Narey explained the 'time-ticketing system' used at Eden in Cornwall which he said helps to reduce the impact of traffic.
"You can book a window to arrive (in Cornwall) and it's got amazing benefits. So I'm confident that early morning school traffic, we're not going to make an impact on those rush hours. We can manage our visitors in the windows in between.
"There's going to be much more interest and footfall in the area.
"I think it's a win-win for everyone. I know there's a lot of talk about traffic but we've done a lot of work on that. It will be a catalyst for some public transport improvements to benefit everyone."
Mr Narey also said the Eden Project had a formal agreement with Lancaster City Council to ensure that a minimum of 80 per cent of the suppliers to the project would be local.
Beyond Radio also spoke to some of the representatives of Lancaster businesses and organisations who were at the BID breakfast, for their reaction to what they'd heard from the Eden team.
LISTEN to our interview with Caroline Rayner from Baines Wilson law firm and Jonnet Middleton from the Closing Loops project at the Storey (pictured below):
The planned Eden Project North will combine indoor and outdoor attractions, themed around Morecambe Bay, and will include plants, art and interactive exhibits, a concert area for live music events, three cafe/restaurants and a visitor centre.
The scheme was given planning permission in January.
Private and philanthropic funding is in place for the project, which Eden is planning in partnership with Lancaster City Council, Lancashire County Council, Lancaster University and Lancashire Enterprise Partnership.
The Eden Project eco-visitor attraction in Cornwall has transformed the region's economy since opening in 2000.
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