The Peoples Promenade

The new promenade at Cleveleys was the first project to be delivered from the Wyre Flood & Coastal Defence Strategy Plan, which is a 50 year programme looking at the sea defences along the Wyre coastline, and their need for upgrading and replacement.

The first phase of works were started in November 2005, and cost £20 million. The re-building work was commissioned to protect 2700 houses and 219 businesses in Cleveleys from tidal flooding, while having the benefit of creating a new promenade at the same time – a modern and attractive tourist attraction for the 21st Century, also stimulating the regeneration of the Cleveleys area as a family orientated tourist resort for the 21st century.

The Peoples Promenade at Cleveleys is an award winning promenade, with over 20 titles to its name, including the North West Tourism Award for the Best Public Space in the North West.

The promenade was intended not just to be part of the built environment, but an integral part of life in Cleveleys, which is used and enjoyed by the visiting and local communities alike. It is an attractive draw to tourists, and has been well visited since it opened last year at Easter 2008, with an impromptu boost to tourism coming with the beaching of the Riverdance Ferry in February 2008.

To develop its use as 'The Peoples Promenade' the Seafront Partnership was born – a voluntary group of people who would have a say in how the area is used, liaise with the Council regarding it's day to day purpose, and organise a range of events to draw people to the sea front and Cleveleys as a whole.

The Work of Cleveleys Seafront Partnership

Cleveleys Seafront Partnership is a voluntary organisation, currently applying for Community INterest Company status, run and managed by a board of people from all walks of life, including representatives from Wyre Borough Council.

There are monthly board meetings for Directors, where plans and decisions are made and taken forward to organise events and resolve on-going issues. Alongside, there are meetings for Task Groups, which have been set up to work on and deliver individual projects. The groups include:

- Financial and Commercial - who oversee the structure of the company and look for grant funding sources
- Events - who organise and manage the events that the Partnership work on
- Community Arts - which draws together all the groups and schools to work on arts based projects of all types
- Membership and Recruitment - whose aim is to encourage people to join, and then keep members up to date
- Local History and Heritage - this group works with vehicle clubs and history groups, to promote the rich cultural history of the area
- Seafront Artwork - work with Stephen Broadbent on this prestigious project
- Sports and Activities - who promote all the sporty things, organised or not, that can be enjoyed on the coast

Jubilee Weekend has been celebrated in Cleveleys for many years and had to stop for the three years while the promenade was completely inaccessible due to the construction work, and it was sadly missed. The Seafront Partnership resurrected the event, and this year it will undergo another change to become the bigger and better Cleveleys Sea Festival. It's been moved forward in the calendar to 4th July - while the residents of Cleveleys are still here and haven't gone on their own holidays, the children are still at school and can be easily included, but it's the height of summer and the day trip season - hopefully the weather will be kind and we'll have a fantastic day! Our flagship event, it will draw months of work together from schools, groups and performers, into an extravaganza of arts and entertainment, the culmination of which will be a parade along the complete promenade to make its opening in 2010.

Another significant project which the Seafront Partnership is involved in is the Seafront Artworks project. The Cleveleys area is awash with legend – sunken ships (not just Riverdance), petrified forests, and sunken villages, and these will become the loose theme for the project. A children's story book is to be written with some of these facts as its basis, and then a trail of innovative public artwork will be created to illustrate the book, stretching the whole length of Cleveleys promenade and beyond. It will be a major project, involving many different groups of people, and will be a major tourist draw for Cleveleys when completed. Sea Change funding has been secured, so this project is now not just a pipe dream but a reality, and the deadline for completion of this first phase of work is December 2010.

We need your time and experience!

Members for the Partnership are sought all year round, but anyone with skills and time to offer is welcome to help. We need all sorts of people – those who can organise events and other people, those with secretarial skills, companies who would like to partner with the Partnership, sponsors, and people with enthusiasm and a love for the area – everyone is welcome!

Have a look at the list of Task Groups further up on this page and see if you have the skills and experience to join one of them. If you'd like to know more, we have an information sheet for volunteers that explains in more detail, and after a short telephone chat we'll assign you to one of our groups.

The Partnership is actively recruiting ordinary members, and if you'd like to help out on the odd occassion but don't have the time to make a regular commitment, that might be a better option for you. Members will be made aware of events where extra help is needed, and invited to come along and pitch in. You might only want to help at one event a year, but it's a big help and puts something back into your community.

For more details just get in touch with Jane Littlewood, Chair, on 0845 643 1163 or by email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Membership and Sponsorship

Membership is open to everybody:

Community Membership

For all local residents and people with an active or genuine interest in Cleveleys Seafront. An annual 'donation' of £1 per person entitles members to attend open meetings, to elect officers at the AGM and have a say in the way that the Partnership develops.

You'll get regular updates by email about what's happening and what we are working on next, and you'll be invited to help at events. We'll be introducing other benefits as the Partnership grows.
Annual Community Membership is £1 per person

Sponsorship

The work of the Partnership will bring benefit to all the businesses in Cleveleys who depend on the visitor economy, and in return the help and support of those businesses would be much appreciated. 

Local companies and businesses are invited to become a sponsor of the Seafront Partnership, and provide as much financial or practical support as they would like or feel able. What you get in return will depend on what you put in, but you can be sure that your help will be appreciated and recognised.

Contributors will become full members and will be entitled to vote at the AGM, and will be kept informed about the work of the Partnership. Recognition for sponsorship will be given in literature and through the website, along with full credit in any marketing work that we undertake.