Budget - place
Wyre’s great outdoors
We coordinate an extensive programme of events and activities that take place in Wyre’s great outdoors. Running all year round there are hundreds of activities to choose from including guided walks, conservation days, wildlife and nature activities, family fun and much more.
Many of the activities are free and they are a great way to explore our beautiful coast and countryside, give your wellbeing a boost and get a breath of fresh air. There is a printed guide with all the activities in which is available from our tourist information points, the Civic Centre in Poulton, Marine Hall in Fleetwood, Rossall Point Tower and the café at Wyre Estuary Country Park, Stanah.
To view the calendar and book tickets for guided walks and other activities see Great Outdoors.
Garstang Walking Festival
We run this much loved celebration of walking every year and it will return to Garstang in 2023 from 5 to 14 May. With over 40 walks for all ages and abilities, this annual festival is the perfect chance to experience the best of springtime in the countryside around Garstang, rural Wyre, the Forest of Bowland and Morecambe Bay. Choose from a huge range of walks, including the three day Wyre
Way Challenge, easy access short walks, family activities, evening walks, wildlife strolls, heritage rambles, dog friendly trails and everything in between. For the first time tickets are available to book online at Garstang Walking Festival.
We are holding a launch event for the festival called Walk This Way on Saturday 15 April, 11am – 4pm in Cherestanc Square, Garstang. Visitors can meet the team behind the festival, try some taster walks and find out more about the festival and walking in Wyre.
Our Environment
In addition to the electric vans added to our fleet and electric powered bin lifts on our refuse collection vehicles, we are providing electric charging points in our car parks to help meet government targets of making all new cars and vans transition to zero emission by 2035.
We already have five rapid charging points in Wyre Council car parks allowing drivers of electric vehicles to fully charge their vehicle in just 40 minutes to two hours, depending on the car model. We are now installing 23 fast charging stations (46 charging points) which we hope to have ready for use soon. These will give users approximately 30 miles of range per hour of charging and will allow residents without off road parking at home to still have an electric car and charge up overnight.
We have committed to planting 25,000 trees by 2025 as part of our pledge to tackle climate change. We have already planted 9,624 trees so far, with a target of 15,042 by the end of March, bringing us to 60% of our target. This climate-focused tree planting is playing a vital role in mitigating climate change, protecting and enhancing threatened biodiversity.
Wyre Beach Management Scheme
We have secured over £40m in government funding for our next major coastal defence project, the Wyre Beach Management Scheme.
We are currently in Phase 1 of the project with work expected to be complete by the end of July 2023. Phase 2 will begin following this and is expected to be completed by March 2027.
Building on the success of the completed Cleveleys and Rossall Coastal defence schemes, this project will help to significantly reduce the risk of coastal erosion and flooding to over 11,000 properties and critical infrastructure. This will be achieved by constructing rock armour groynes to help build a high stable beach. This will in turn reduce wave height and energy and the risk of overtopping and damage to the sea defences. Rock armour toe protection will also protect the existing structures from being undermined if and when beach levels drop.
Our Future Coast
We have successfully bid for £7.2m of funding to develop coastal resilience. The Our Future Coast programme aims to work with nature to safeguard coastal communities, testing and implementing nature-based solutions at 14 sites across the North West including Pilling, Knott End and Fleetwood in Wyre.
Natural interventions such as the creation of natural buffer strips around the coast, developing salt marsh, creating dune systems and intertidal lagoons and reclaiming redundant brownfield sites will help to mitigate the consequences of climate change including flood risk and the loss of biodiversity
We are supporting this project led by Wyre River’s Trust, which aims to use nature-based solutions to reduce rapid runoff during heavy rainfall reducing the flood risk to Scorton, Garstang, Churchtown, St Michael’s and Great Eccleston. We have also been working with the Rivers Trust on smaller scale interventions in the downstream catchment including flood storage areas in Thornton Cleveleys at Stanah, White Carr Lane and a development at King Georges playing fields, which will reduce flood risk and provide carbon and biodiversity benefits.