Bosses behind Hull’s ambitious £1.5bn Lagoon project have made a £20m government funding plea to continue studies into the scheme.
Tim Rix, who devised the original concept for Lagoon Hull, said on BBC Radio Humberside’s Burnsy Show on Tuesday morning that a cash injection was needed to find out whether plans for a four-lane road out into the River Humber are viable.
Lagoon Hull has been described as a transformational scheme which could ease congestion across the city centre, protect the region from flooding and create new job and business opportunities.
It could create up to 19,000 new jobs, and add an extra £1bn a year into the region's economy through improved productivity.
Speaking on BBC radio, Mr Rix said: “We need £20m to do further feasibility studies.
“We need to pursue the government to give us that money to get on with those studies, and get the project oven ready.
“Things are becoming aligned, and hopefully there is a good chance we could get that £20m.”
Mr Rix said on the Burnsy show creating Lagoon Hull – which would see a dual-carriageway start at Hessle, travel out into the estuary and come back onshore east of Victoria Dock – could create 30km of waterfront development opportunities.
The road would create a calm water lagoon, forming a new destination for waterfront living, working and visiting, and also deliver vital flood protection for the city.
The development would create a new outer harbour to expand the existing Port of Hull, providing new quayside space to support the Humber’s low carbon ambitions.
“It is not just housing on the land – you could have a floating city, you could put the cruise terminal on the outside of the lagoon, you could have a ski lift from the terminal into the centre of the city,” Mr Rix said.
“When dealing with a project like this, we can really transform the place. You have got the Fruit Market which has been revolutionary. We want to do that along the whole waterfront of the city.
“The bit of water in front of the city which would be created becomes its playground.”
Mr Rix was joined on the Burnsy show by Lagoon Hull project director Paul Hatley.
Mr Hatley said early studies had suggested building the lagoon would speed up the flow of water passing in the estuary slightly.
He said discussions had taken place about the potential to use the increased speed of estuary water to generate clean energy.
Plans for Lagoon Hull were first revealed in October last year.
Bosses behind the ambitious scheme now need £20m to continue with feasibility studies into its potential.
For more information, visit https://www.lagoonhull.co.uk/ .
