RE:CONNECTING MILLOM
Millom is a small coastal town to the west of the peninsular between the Lake District and Morecambe Bay. This region has several different landscapes, ranging from the tall Black Combe Mountains to the flat salt marshes near the SSSI site of the Duddon estuary.
The remote geographical location makes it difficult to connect it to the rest of the Lake District. This makes it harder for tourists to visit as well as forcing residents to move out in search of employment due to limited job opportunities. Improving transport and communication will bring more tourists along with helping the local community become self-sustainable.
Creating a model that would help both tourists and the community would be the main focus of the project; ‘Productive Landscapes.’ The idea would centre on a path, extending the existing strategic cycle and walking routes, to reconnect the coastal area of the Millom peninsula, open up and offer a wide range of landscapes and ecosystems to explore. This would help attract tourists and nature enthusiasts, - while creating a strong link between Millom and the smaller settlements located around the town and eventually to the other parts of the Lake District like Ulverston and Cartmel.
The path would not only help create an environment for sustainable tourism but also employment opportunities. A series of facilities would be strung along the route at strategic locations, including cafes, pubs, galleries, restaurants, visitor centres, observation towers, gardens and links to smaller local footpath networks allowing access to sites of historic or ecological interest.
Building on the idea of sustainability, the project would also include the introduction of agroforestry, replacing existing monoculture techniques. The biodiverse salt marshes can be extended to act as a buffer to prevent damage from rising sea levels. They could in turn, bring economic returns through tourism as well as oyster farming.
