Coastal Parkplan to be Investigated (part2)

A study which will include a look at the possibilities for a regional park on the West Cumbrian coast is one of the first major items in Cumbria County Council's expanded land reclamation programme. The in-depth study, approved today by the county council's Cabinet, will look at a wide range of issues relating to land reclamation and development in West Cumbria. The Cabinet also approved cash help from the programme for the Furness Greenways Initiative. 

County Councillor Lawson Short, Cabinet member with responsibility for environmental issues and economic regeneration, said: 

"Reclamation of old industrial or neglected sites and derelict land has a large part to play in improving the environment, the quality of life and the economy in many parts of Cumbria, as we have seen at Barrow and Kingmoor in Carlisle. These schemes approved today are the forerunners of many more to come in the next five years." 

Cumbria County Council has taken the lead this year in a vastly expanded programme of land reclamation in all parts of Cumbria in partnership with the North West Development Agency, the district councils, Lake District National Park Authority, Capita and others. For the coming five years, the value of the county council's reclamation programme has risen from £1 million a year to £8 million a year with the NWDA alone. 

Today, in one of the first steps in getting the programme underway, Cabinet approved putting £159,824 from the land reclamation programme towards a Coastal Beacons study. This will investigate key sites for reclamation along the West Cumbria coast outside the Lake District National Park and the links between the sites. It will also look at the potential for tourism and how the environment can be sustained. The study will also consider whether the area could be designated as a regional park, which would give opportunities for a wide range of initiatives and partnerships to support the physical, economic, environmental and community development of the area. 

Sites covered by the study and listed for possible reclamation include Maryport Coastal Park; River Ellen corridor, Maryport; River Derwent corridor, Workington; Oldside; Harrington Northshore; Micklam Brickworks and Lowca Slagbank; south Whitehaven coast. 

Cabinet also approved contributing £367,500 towards Furness Greenways, one of the national pilot projects for setting up quiet leisure and utility routes for pedestrians, disabled users, cyclists and horse riders. The money will go towards the Westfield Trail between Salthouse and Rampside at Barrow and Rope Wall at Distington. 

Another £458.131 was approved for geo-technical and ecological surveys on other sites in the land reclamation programme so that detailed schemes for them can be prepared in good time.