Following a large funding investment, work at Barrow Waterfront will commence once again next week. The plans to regenerate the iconic part of the town have faced many hurdles so far, after a lack of budget led to the project being abandoned for six years.
On Monday 22nd August, workmen will move in to begin work on the site, which covers an area of 400 acres. The initial work will include site clearance and levelling, decontamination work, the removal of industrial debris, provision of utilities, landscaping and raised earthworks for flooding protection measures.
The plans for the development, which will boast a 650 home marina village, a 350 berth yacht marina, a yacht entrance canal and a business park, were put forward in 2003. However, the 2010 incoming Coalition Government axed the local government funding that the development relied on, meaning the project was abandoned.
Following a recent cash injection from Cumbria’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the plans are now going ahead. Director of the LEP, Graham Haywood said “This is an important step forward in our plans for Barrow’s Waterfront Business Park and the development of this site will play a key role in meeting our strategic priority of achieving faster growth in the county’s advanced manufacturing capabilities.”
David Haughian, the project lead for Cumbria County Council, said he was pleased to see the project getting underway once again.
“The whole area was called Barrow Waterfront and when the North West Development Agency was around quite a lot of investment was thrown at the port area and Cumbria County Council acquired quite a bit of land from British Ports and Barrow Borough Council acquired some of the land for housing.”
Local man Mr Haughian is pleased to see the project taking shape in his home town. “It would give the area a real lift,” he said.
“We are going to go from a situation where nothing has happened for a number of years and then suddenly there is going to be a real surge of activity.”
