COUNCIL bosses have called on businesses to put their hands in their pockets in the campaign for Wyre’s £55m seawall.
Blackpool and Wyre Councils lodged a joint submission to the Government last month for £80m which would protect more than 12,000 properties from the risk of flooding.
Wyre Council have received 1,536 pledges of support from members of the public for the seawall at Rossall – but now it is urging local businesses to support the project with cash pledges.
Garry Payne, chief executive at Wyre, said: “I’m delighted with the number of pledges of support received.
“The next stage of the process is to secure funding from private and third sector organisations that are set to benefit from the scheme.
“We’ve established a partnership fund and will be seeking contributions from local businesses and other organisations. A similar project in Cockermouth secured £3m locally, so I’m hopeful we can raise in excess of that sum.”
The scheme would see 1km of new defences built between Little Bispham and Kingsway at a cost of £24m. The Rossall stretch would cost £55m.
Fleetwood Town Council chairman Alan Marsh said: “It was a wonderful turn out by the people of Fleetwood
“Now we need support from the business side.”
But Derek Eaton, chairman of Fleetwood Chamber of Trade, said: “There are no small businesses in Fleetwood who could dream of giving to anything like that. Anything they gave would be insignificant.”
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