I VE just sent this to Cllr Ferrari of Dorset Council, and the MP whose support is vital: I strongly urge Dorset Council to seek funding for the Eden Portland project. This remarkable scheme has already passed major hurdles with flying colours. Exciting is a much-used word, but in this context that is certainly what Eden Portland is. I ask that the council takes the full opportunity to support it by applying for the maximum from the Levelling-Up Fund. No over-cautious or half-hearted approach would convey its potential importance to an area far beyond Portland. It cannot be right that the LG reorganisation has resulted in Portland and Weymouth being drawn into Dorset s Tier 3 priority, whereas the former W&P Borough with its pockets of high deprivation would have put us in the highest Priority 1. I hope this will be argued vigorously as it is a special case.
I write as a very concerned resident of Weymouth, but also as a keen supporter of the Eden Portland project, which would be so timely given the concerns for climate change and loss of biodiversity, and would provide an inspirational visitor attraction and catalyst for economic regeneration for Dorset. My concerns for Weymouth and Portland are that in the years we have known the area since moving here in 1977 it has faced blow after blow economically with the loss of the Dorset Institute of Higher Education, closure of the Portland Naval Base, the Admiralty Research Establishment, the reduction in jobs at Winfrith, HM Land Registry and many local firms, plus the reduction in local government employment in the area as a result of joint working with other councils followed by unitary status.