Plans to rejuvenate a dilapidated former funfair site in Morecambe – once dubbed ‘Bradford by the sea’ – have been unveiled.

Opus North, an Ilkley-based property development and investment company, wants to build a £17 million retail and leisure park on the site of the former Frontierland funfair on Morecambe’s seafront.

It has unveiled plans for a 100,000 sq ft complex of fashion shops, a hotel, restaurants, a family pub and 376 parking spaces on the ten-acre site. If approved by planners, the new Bay Shopping Park, adjacent to a 70,000 sq ft Morrisons store, will create 500 jobs.

Two public exhibitions of the plans have been held and Opus North will submit a planning application to Lancaster City Council at the end of this month.

Andrew Duncan, Opus North managing director, said several leading fashion stores were interested in taking space at the new retail and leisure park.

He said: “We are proud to be bringing forward major investment in a well-known but disused site. It is our intention to create a lasting legacy of jobs and investment for Morecambe.

“The reaction of local Morecambe residents, when we exhibited our plans, was extremely positive – 87 per cent of those who commented on our proposals were in favour of them, which is very encouraging.

“This is the only retail development of a comparable size which is scheduled to open in the Morecambe and Lancaster region before 2017. It will provide a massive boost to the local economy and regenerate an area of the bay which has fallen into disrepair in recent years.”

Frontierland, part of the Blackpool Pleasure Beach empire, closed in 2000, and has since become an eyesore.

Mr Duncan said Bradford-based Morrisons bought the land in 2001 with plans to open a Freeport-style shopping complex, but the project never came to fruition. A Next, Homebase and gym and sports shop opened in 2008 but the rest of the land remained vacant.

Mr Duncan added: “For the past 12 years, this site has proved difficult to develop. Now, however, we believe we have devised plans which will create a thriving retail and leisure park of which Morecambe can be proud.”

The company is also redeveloping the derelict 30,000 sq ft Tudno Castle Hotel in Llandudno in a joint venture with Mostyn Estates. The partners are developing Tudno Point, a flagship retail and leisure scheme, which will feature a new 63-bed hotel, three restaurant units and a retail unit.