Morecambe: The seaside town that cuts brought to a standstill

just for the record and the height of what historians may one day recall is the British spring we're in the northern seaside resort of Morcom truly anywhere but Westminster don't blame us we only work it this was suggested when we asked for ideas about where the series would go next it was the contribution of a comment it's free user called Tod he wrote this Holcomb is attempting to reinvent itself as the Deauville of the irish sea coast it's gone from boom to bust as a workers holiday town now it's trying to establish a future as a middle-class fashionable resort the town council has done what it can turbines splash have reopened the Art Deco Midland Hotel which is where I am now but where are the small-scale entrepreneurs to open the wine bars bistros and boutiques that are a big part of today's holiday what are the galleries and performance spaces that attract visitors to all sorts of places and what does all this say about changes in Britain this is the Midland Hotel it originally opened in 1933 but eventually fell into a decline and then closed but it's been restored in all its Art Deco splendor it's fair to say this place is a magnificent it shows you what regeneration can achieve but in the midst of the rest of Markham it also points up how much work there is still to do just a few minutes walk from the Midland Hotel over there is this place from tear land the occasions when I visited welcome in my childhood would always make sure we visited this place at a big roller coaster at one point it also had the biggest big wheel in Europe but now look at it this place was meant to be redeveloped but it hasn't happened local people talk about the needs of visitor attractions to bring people in the shortage of things for young people are doing more cook all we've got here or a couple of supermarkets over there and the great big mobile phone left sponsored by Polo means Morrison's brought it up because they wanted to implement this factory outlet center idea by the time they got the permission the the market for that kind of operation had really disappeared they've had permission for a mixed-use scheme or residential development hotel restaurant on the rest of the site but again that's been the victim of the recession Frontierland is actually part of what's called a loan you could call it a land bank except there it was bought for a specific purpose which didn't prove to be viable in the end and I think Morrison's as you say holding onto it until the market recovers I think this should be some sort of amusement park not a great big Alton Towers you can't have that but I think this should be something for the little ones you know just to bring in you know families the first time I ever came into this building I was 7 and my mum brought me my sister to see Cinderella and we went match up to the top to the gods was all little beautifully the theatre yeah Tommy still came quite a lot as well the Winter Gardens closed in 1977 evylyn archer has been working for 25 years to revive and reopen this amazing attraction she's been frustrated time and again not least by the promise of regeneration casts from outside sources providing the local counsel made a contribution they turned it down ten years ago people were talking about this great future for Mork and yet this building is still largely empty and still needs all this worth doing I mean do you feel hard done by I do they actually found 1.2 million to restore the exterior and put a brand new roof on it and they thought well we could leave it now but hold on that isn't that means then that's like window dressing teeth it is so it looks good from the outside bit like Morcom someone said I'd love to say that I'm optimistic that Malcolm will move forward but how do you encourage proud enterprise to come into a town that has lost its way I understand what we're evil ins coming on because she is passionate about the Winter Garden unfortunately the rest of us and the council have to think about the council taxpayers of this area and for us to port 10 12 15 million we just haven't got that sort of funding I'm afraid we just couldn't much fun that we had regeneration programme and we were meant to get 15 years of funding we actually got three it just finished that was it and whatever projects we had we were to scrimp and scrape to beg from Pete and people to just finish little bits that we what help there was four places like more come from such public bodies as regional development agencies has been drastically cut back leaving towns like this at the mercy of events and decisions far away the people of more commerce suffering people the West End in particular because they want things to change we promised them things that's a problem with regeneration you bring up people's aspirations and hopes and then they're dashed this place was wants to thrive in heart of more comes tourist trade all of these houses would have been being bees as the tourist trade declined students from Lancaster University moved in they were eventually succeeded by construction workers who were building the nuclear power station down the road when they left you got an abundance of cheap property which was used to house unemployed people who were often mentally ill and this area became a byword really for social deprivation it has benefited from the regeneration that's gone on in welcome but then you turn the corner into somewhere like chats with road what you find is very different shabby really now if you read the local councils West End master plan this is the midterm review came out about eighteen months ago you find the Chatsworth Road is one of the places which is considered to be among the lowest ranking master plan areas which apparently offers poor policy fit and should no longer be pursued as viable master plan proposals it says here the following projects have been ranked in this category chats with roads top of the list and I suppose that amounts to a technocratic way of saying sorry you've added lots of spaces around here they can't they just closed down and people that were living in them had to relocate and then they've just left them it's by the sea yep the lake districts about half an hour's drive 40 minutes drive away if that and you can get five bedroom house for a hundred thousand pound it's quite a good sales pitch look Sonya Campbell is an artist and filmmaker who moved here from London if there's going to be a next wave of residence here a creative class who might even turn it into the next Brighton she's a representative of it but it's allowed us to have the kind of life we wanted do the things we want to do creatively and not have to think every day about where money's coming from I remember being absolutely blown away by there was no adverts anyway though it was really bizarre after being in London first to let you know your roots out and like let you sort of mind breathe a bit but I think if you have an open mind and you're not looking for lots of trendy coffee shops there are a lot of people doing stuff there's a lot of creativity there just isn't galleries and there isn't an art school and that kind of thing and I think in order for that sort of culture to flourish you do need you do need good schools nearby and galleries but I would argue that there isn't the market for it do you have a at least a sort of vague vision of how Morcom could successfully develop and be different I know what I'd like it to be like you know if there was a mass of people that got together and it's a bit of a sort of hippy vision no it's just about giving up a whole lot of other things doing it for yourself a sort of modest local economy that actually then wasn't as dependent then on boom and bust and how much money people are spending in supermarkets and all of that that's your sort of vision yeah the restaurant will open two months if things stay the same how long can do you think you can remain in business one year Wow if I will knew that it will be so hard I probably I will never ever dig took this risk Eavis go in scar and her husband moved to Morgan from their native Poland and puts a lot of money and hard work into this restaurant in Warsaw she was a radiographer and he was a blacksmith now they're in charge of a business that's fighting to stay afloat we strongly believe that to be good honest and put in your profession what you are doing you can do in but this is not a wealthy place so if you have no industry should be a tourist class in my opinion it could be I don't know something like more trade that's ambitious and if you're mentioning Montreux and Switzerland then you need events concerts yes table yeah all of that why not why not it's very a good location big potential well exactly wants to be a niche market really we want something different for more and we obviously want a big retail area but coming along the seafront you want some nish nice gift shops and cafes want tables and chairs sitting out Walt attracts a more upmarket shops if you want brings me on to another thing that our user of the website says written is the vision to go from working class the middle class is that the aim I don't think that same I think it's just what people want nowadays they want different things they they've been to other countries they've been to other towns and cities in Britain of seeing what they've got to offer they want the same in their own town needs some decisions which it's in a bit busy cuz it all in the future is going to be something in more camp in the future but you know some people like me there is not that we have no time this place has been the victim of years of decline and then the big blow of recession and spending cuts which have largely snuffed out welcomes regeneration but you'd have to be mad to declare it a basket case apart from anything else it's in a beautiful location and it hasn't got the grim feel of so many faded English seaside resorts we're always here in if you want to be successful in business you've got to take risk well there's a question why don't more people take a few risks here there are people in welcome who are trying their best to put their money where their mouth is and build a local economy and society which is based on something a bit more imaginative and sustainable but that sort of lazy model away you just put up if you chain stores and hope for the best but if more can really is ever going to be another Brighton it's gonna need a lot more of them

Channel: The Guardian

Views: 80,766

Keywords: Comment, politics, cuts, Morecambe, recession, the guardian

Id: t1z1kfKwuak

Length: 10min 18sec (618 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 25 2011