The site of a former theme park which first opened in 1909 but has been derelict for more than two decades has been sold with the aim of kick starting its regeneration.
Lancaster City Council has purchased Morecambe’s Frontierland site for an undisclosed sum.
The land was previously home to the theme park which closed in 1999 and has since been the subject a number of failed re-development attempts by the private sector.
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The Western-style theme park on Marine Road West closed and later purchased by Morrisons, which operates a supermarket store adjacent to the land.
Most recently, a retail-led scheme with a restaurant, pub, and hotel was proposed and approved by the city council.
However, planning permission has since expired, leaving the "real possibility that the site would again be left to languish", the council said.
Councillor Tricia Heath, cabinet member with responsibility for economic recovery, said: "Following the failure of the most recent private sector plans to redevelop Frontierland there was a real possibility that the site could once again be mothballed.
"It has been left to decay for long enough already, so the council felt it had to step in and pursue its own redevelopment plans to provide long lasting economic, social, and environmental improvements.
"By owning the land, we now have the potential to use the site to help drive the reinvention of the town and there are a number of options available that provide the opportunity to capitalise on the renewed interest that developers are showing in Morecambe.
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"We also want to make sure that the community is at the heart of the vision for the site and will be providing Morecambe’s communities with the opportunity to give us their views throughout the process of designing our plans."
