Plans to find a developer to work on the long-derelict Frontierland site are "in the final stages", says a leading councillor.
Lancaster City Council, owners of the Marine Road land formerly home to the Wild West theme park, began a tender process to find a development partner in 2024.
The council invited bids from commercial leisure, hospitality and mixed-use developers "to promote and develop a comprehensive leisure and hospitality-led development".
The estimated contract start date was December 2025, at the time. This has now been revised to August 2026.
This week, Councillor Martin Bottoms, Cabinet member with responsibility for Morecambe Regeneration and the Local Economy, said: “The council is in the final stages of the procurement process to find the right partner to help bring this important site back into use.
Councillor Martin Bottoms
"Our objective is to bring forward a leisure and hospitality‑led development that helps reinvigorate this part of the seafront and supports Morecambe’s wider regeneration.
"Once the relevant decisions have been taken through the council’s formal processes, we’ll be able to share more details publicly, including the preferred development partner and their proposals for the site.
"Further updates will be provided in due course.”
The site has been mainly empty since Frontierland closed more than 25 years ago.
The boarded-up Frontierland site pictured in May 2026. Photo: Beyond Radio
Over the past few years the council - who bought the land in 2021 - has invited expressions of interest from would-be developers, drew up a list of objectives for the site, did a public consultation, and held a tour of the land for prospective partners.
In 2023, the council published a list of 'draft objectives' for the land.
The number one objective was a leisure-led redevelopment, which may also include hotels and/or apartments, public spaces for events and festivals, and only a "modest amount" of shops, with minimal housing only as a last resort if needed to financially support the other objectives.
Ever since the fairground closed in 2000, there have been calls for the 7.5 acre site overlooking Morecambe Bay to be developed, including two failed attempts to open a shopping park on the land.
The Ranch House Bar on the site, which closed in January 2016, was destroyed in a fire that summer.
Read more: Developers invited to bid for Frontierland regeneration project in Morecambe - Beyond Radio
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