“We aim to catalyse an upturn in the fortunes of Portland and Weymouth which, like so many coastal communities, has long been in need of investment.” [MEMO Project Director Sebastian Brooke]
PLUS: a public consultation, with visits and exhibitions and meetings happening this coming week
“If we were looking for business opportunities for Sidmouth and the Jurassic Coast, this would be right up there!” [comment]
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Way back when, in 2018 to be precise, a Vision Group for Sidmouth report was published by the House of Lords committee on ‘Regenerating seaside towns and communities’ – although it was safely buried amidst all the other evidence collected at the time.
As the intro to the report suggested:
One of the challenges for coastal towns is “attracting younger generations and new visitors” – and this is an area which local authorities have sought to address through regeneration projects. However, there are challenges to coastal communities which are beyond the remit or capacities of local government, but which are nevertheless of growing concern – including the challenges of climate change and the effects on infrastructure, as well as an ageing population providing “a major challenge for the health service”.
These ‘challenges’ are very much with us today – and perhaps we need to be reviving seaside towns with a little imagination.
This is very much the point in a new initiative coming out of the far end of Lyme Bay, as covered in a piece in today’s Express looking at the £30m tourist attraction that will revive forgotten seaside town:
An incredible £30m tourist attraction celebrating the Jurassic Coast would revive two UK seaside towns that have “long been in need of investment”. Plans for MEMO Portland attraction (commonly known as Eden Portland) were first submitted in 2018 with the ambition to transform and regenerate the exhausted quarry by turning the hollow hillside into a theatre of science that would be unlike anywhere else.
Speaking to The Express, MEMO Project Director Sebastian Brooke said the project would create around 600 jobs in Weymouth and Portland who are facing some of the steepest economic decline out of the UK’s coastal communities.
A 2022 report by South Dorset Research Group concluded that Weymouth and Portland were stuck in a vicious circle of “poor job prospects and low earnings”. Meanwhile a report made three years ago called ‘Forgotten Towns – Weymouth, Portland and the coastal economy’ states a fragile economy, shrinking job opportunities and rising costs are placing increasing pressure on communities with few opportunities for young people.
“Very simply the project has two aims. We want to engage the widest public imaginable with the wonders of the natural world – and also the extinction challenges which the world’s biologists say we are now facing.
“And by doing this we aim to catalyse an upturn in the fortunes of Portland and Weymouth which, like so many coastal communities, has long been in need of investment. After a couple of thousand years of open cast quarrying on Portland, mining underground on the island is only 20 years old. The spaces left behind have vast charisma. It’s like an industrial Indiana Jones set down there.”
The MEMO Portland website showcases the plans – plus details of its public consultation, with visits and exhibitions and meetings happening this coming week – and with a vision of what the attraction might look like:
As a commentator in Sidmouth suggests:
“It would be an excellent opportunity for a business (like Stuart Line) to coast hop via Sidmouth past Abbotsbury to Portland. Or for Jurassic Coast Museums to have links (either live or recorded tours), or the Cinema to link with them like they do with live ballet etc or…
“If we were looking for business opportunities this would be right up there!”
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