Morecambe Eden Project latest as Government report on £100m plan issued

Advice on Lancaster City Council plans to support the Eden Project’s development in Morecambe has been given by a government-backed competition authority.

Information on specific social-economic challenges, rival visitor attractions and what might happen to land if Eden did not come to Morecambe are topics which could be further developed by the city council, the feedback suggests. The city council sent its proposals surrounding a transfer of land valued at £900,000 to Eden, as its contribution, to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in late 2013.

Now the authority’s Subsidy Advice Unit has replied with a feedback report, highlighting some Eden considerations that could be further-developed or explained. The city council, as the accountable body for the £50million awarded to the Eden project from the government’s Levelling-Up Fund, was required to submit a report and evidence under the law, saying why public funds are required as part of the wider funding package.

Overall, the Eden Morecambe scheme needs £100million and Eden’s fund-raising continues elsewhere with potential donors and other sources.

Lancaster City Council’s evidence was looked at by the Subsidy Advice Unit against the key tests for award of subsidies. Its feedback report provides advice to help inform the council’s subsidy assessments and decisions around the justification of using public funds towards the Eden project.

The assessment says the Subsidy Advice Unit considers that the city council has clearly identified the change in ‘economic behaviour’ that will occur as a result of the subsidy, The feedback report adds: “We note in particular the use of the existing Eden Project Cornwall as a case study to provide supporting evidence, as well as a range of relevant third-party studies, public surveys and consultations prepared for the Levelling-Up Fund application for Eden Project Morecambe.

“However, while some of the information from the Levelling-Up Fund application is relevant, the assessment could be improved by focusing the information and supporting evidence more clearly on the specific requirements of the subsidy control principles. In addition, we consider that the council could strengthen parts of its assessment.”

How the Eden Project could look when it arrives in Morecambe

In particular, the Subsidy Advice Unit suggests the city council could give more careful consideration to which socio-economic issues its policy objective seeks to address and set-out more clearly how it will do so. This would also assist the council in conducting the rest of the assessment.

Feedback also suggests more could be said about what would happen to the derelict site without Eden Project Morecambe going ahead. For example, the council could take likely current options for redevelopment and investment of the site more directly into account in its information, as opposed to focusing on previous failed redevelopment attempts.

The unit also suggested the city council could more-clearly identify Eden Project Morecambe’s closest competitors. The new report adds: “While we recognise the difficulty in identifying a beneficiary’s closest competitors, in cases where products are as diverse as visitor attractions, the assessment contains a number of contradictory statements on who these are.”

The city council could also set-out more clearly how it arrived at the conclusion that the benefits of Eden will outweigh the potential negatives. But the feedback adds: ” Our report is advisory only and does not directly assess whether the subsidy to Eden Project International complies with the subsidy control requirements. The report does not constitute a recommendation on whether the subsidy should be implemented by the Council. We have not considered it necessary to provide any advice about how the proposed subsidy may be modified to ensure compliance with the subsidy control requirements.”

In response, Coun Catherine Potter, the city council’s cabinet member with responsibility for the visitor economy,, said: “This is another important milestone in the delivery of Eden Project Morecambe. I would like to thank the Subsidy Advice Unit for its thorough assessment of the project and the supporting evidence we provided.

“We will now fully review the content of the report as part of our due diligence of the project and consider any further actions that may be necessary.”

Councillors at this week’s full council meeting generally welcomed the news. Labour Coun Philip Black, leader of Lancaster City Council, said: “The competition authority’s report has come back, supporting the council’s evidence to give assurances that this is a proper use of public money. It’s a huge step forward to delivering Eden Project Morecambe.”

Conservative Coun Andrew Gardiner said Morecambe MP David Morris deserved thanks for his role in promoting Eden Morecambe at Westminster.