A proposal to make travel around Millom and Haverigg easier and safer will boost levels of community health and wellbeing and encourage people to visit the area.
Connecting Millom and Haverigg is one of four projects being developed as part of Millom Town Deal which has secured an offer of £20.6 million from the Government’s Towns Fund.
It aims to make it easier and safer for people to move around both Millom and Haverigg whether on foot, by bicycle or for those with limited mobility while creating a town centre that is easy to access and which draws people in.
The Connecting Millom and Haverigg project would see the creation of improved walking and cycling routes to allow people to safely access key parts of the town, including the town centre and those created as part of Millom Town Deal; The Iron Line and a new community and leisure hub.
The scheme would also seek to make the crossing of key roads easier for all users including work to make the railway bridge scheme at Haverigg Road safer along with three junction improvements; Mainsgate Road/Devonshire Road, St George’s Terrace and Poolside Junction, Haverigg.
In addition, the project – one of four that make up the £20.6 million Millom Town Deal – would develop the railway station as an attractive and welcoming gateway to the town.
Robert Morris-Eyton, chairman of the Millom Town Deal Board, said: “This project contains a number of elements that, all together, will have a very positive impact on health, wellbeing, the number of visits to our town centre and the length of time and amount of money people choose to spend there.
“It will also have an impact on wider perceptions of Millom as a great place to live, to visit, to work or as a location in which to create a new business.
“Connecting Millom and Haverigg will help to support our economy as well as making us a more inclusive community and I’m looking forward to the full business case in support of the project being delivered to Government this summer.”
Working alongside Copeland Borough Council, the Millom Town Deal Board secured the funding offer in July 2021 for projects it identified as local priorities.The money will come from the Government’s £3.6 billion Towns Fund, part of the Levelling Up agenda.
In addition to Connecting Millom and Haverigg, the other three Town Deal projects are:
Activating community health – The creation of a new, multi-purpose community and leisure hub to provide a range of facilities including a swimming pool and 3G pitch.
Reactivating Heritage Buildings – A proposal to significantly enhance Millom Town Centre by bringing derelict, vacant and underused heritage buildings back into active use to increase vitality and footfall.
The Ironline – A proposal to sensitively enhance the unique coastal lagoon into an inspiring visitor attraction which fuses ecology, heritage and art within an inclusive recreational space around the sea wall.
The Millom Town Deal projects have now reached the assurance stage which means the plans are undergoing final assessment before being submitted to the government later this year.
Further details for each of the projects will be made available after the assurance stage is complete when people will be able to comment on the proposals.
