It could well be the final blow for a place that can barely stand to fight.

Many of the finest towns, cities and places we know also went through long periods of decline and neglect. During these periods when there was no money to invest, there was also no money to change or destroy their original character.

But when that character is eventually recognised, the areas slowly come back up, a trickle of private funding becoming a flood as the character is revalued, restored and revealed – confidence returns.

The process is so well-documented that it is a cliché, and often the local authority plays very little part. In other cases however, public agencies actively work to halt the process or prevent it ever taking place.

Since the 1950s, the process of delivering big regeneration has consistently displaced communities, destroyed wonderful places and their identity, and created a terrible legacy of new places which have aged with frightening speed, and are now synonymous with deprivation, crime and neglect.

And now big regeneration has come to Morecambe, and the people and the local authority have a choice.

When I first heard that Urban Splash was restoring the Midland Hotel it was fantastic news – a chance for a truly great developer to create a catalyst for positive change.

I have followed the progress through the news and professional journals, and caught glimpses of the work as it progressed.

This weekend I revisited the Midland for the first time since it reopened and was astonished. Could they have missed the spirit of that iconic building more completely?

I didn't think they could, until I picked up a copy of the local newspaper and saw what they are proposing next.

Whenever new development is proposed for an area that has never allowed development before, one should expect something remarkable. Their proposals aren't.

Morecambe should be great. It's something we all know, the courage comes in actually believing it, and by acting on that courage, not to replace or ignore what is already there, but to fix it.

Perhaps we really have arrived at the point where this would be the most radical solution of all.

Delton Jackson
Chair of the UK Chapter of the Council for European Urbanism (CEU-UK)