Barrow leader pledges to push marina bid
Last updated at 14:05, Monday, 23 April 2012
THE fight for Barrow’s marina project goes on, despite the government tightening its purse strings.
Leader of Barrow Borough Council, Councillor Dave Pidduck, has pledged to keep the bid to redevelop Barrow’s waterfront moving in the face of a lack of funding opportunities.
Progress on the scheme has stalled after Furness Enterprise and the now closed Barrow Regeneration missed out on government money.
The council now owns the majority of land required to carry out the work and Cllr Pidduck said the hard work to boost the development continues.
He said: “It is very much wait and see. There are pots of money coming out here and there, and we will continue to put bids in, but they are such small amounts of money available.
“An example is the Porteous funding, where we have put a bid in to support Dalton and now we are obviously working with the retailers in Barrow to see if we can put a bid in for that.
“We will keep plugging away, but we are just wishing it was like before, when there was money that we could go to for big projects.”
Cllr Pidduck said the council was working with Associated British Ports to gain funding for the port and revealed that plans for the industrial side of the development were also progressing.
He said: “On the industrial side we are hoping to take control. We are having conversations with the county council about that.
“We feel it would make more sense for the district to take control of this area and to market it. We are hoping that is going to happen quite quickly.
“We are keen to make sure that the site is up to standard. We want to be in a position that if announcements like Glaxo expanding are made then we can present an opportunity that will make investors want to come here.”
Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock has said that local organisations need to work together to fight for the area.
He has called a meeting on May 11, when projects such as the marina development will be discussed.
Mr Woodcock said: “What we need for the area is to review our economic visions for the future.
“We need to speak with one voice about what is important to us and all work together in Furness to have a frank discussion about what our priorities are.”
First published at 13:19, Monday, 23 April 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
Darren cavendish brought industry for this town for working class people& for the scope of it being a good place for producing work this marina has nothing to do with this this marina is for rich well of people, many barovians won`t be able to afford places like this,it will bring more people in but push barrovians out, also by the time this is built it will be behind times,it has now got liverpool whitehaven,maryport to vie for competition, wich barrow will not be in the running as there already established, it will be a waste of money, barrow`s still small compared to other place`s,like other`s that have commented there`s other problems to sort out in this town.
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Mr Pidduck,instead of a Marina,could we not have some of those plastic Rhinos like they have in Dalton dotted around the regeneration area,it would be a lot cheaper and if they can brighten up a dull and boring place like Dalton they would work wonders down the docks.
Posted by Shirley. on 24 April 2012 at 16:29