Seaside businesses at Felixstowe are being encouraged to bid for part of a £3million fund to launch new tourist attractions and “unlock the economic potential” of the seafront.

Suffolk Coastal MP Therese Coffey organised and chaired a Seafront Summit to bring together a number of key players to discuss what has been done to upgrade the resort’s seafront, look at future projects, and how they could gain cash from the Government’s new Coastal Revival Fund for more improvements.

Attending the meeting was Andrew Green, operations manager for Pier Amusements Ltd, which owns Felixstowe Pier, Chris Cooper, operations manager for Premier Inn, Andy Smith, Felixstowe councillor and district cabinet member for economic development, and Ash Tadjrishi, Felixstowe town clerk.

Premier Inn are about to start work on a new hotel in Undercliff Road West, while Pier Amusements have been granted consent for a multi-million pound scheme to rebuild the pier.

Suffolk Coastal has plans to revamp the old boating lake area and also the donkey run site alongside the prom.

Dr Coffey said: “A lot of effort has been put into redeveloping Felixstowe seafront and I wanted to bring together key players to take advantage of future opportunities.

“It was useful to recap, particularly for Chris Cooper from Premier Inn, on what had been achieved so far and possible moves on the Spa Pavilion, the Spa Gardens and the pier as well as other proposals for properties currently not used.

“I was particularly pleased to welcome the operations manager of Premier Inn to Felixstowe as the company is investing in a new hotel, which will bring new tourists to Felixstowe and provide good permanent jobs.

“We had a useful discussion on the tourism offer of our town and I am particularly excited to think how their marketing expertise could help us reap wider benefits.

“There are impressive proposals for the pier and I am ready to offer my support on how to accelerate these. It was a very constructive meeting and I will continue the focus on improvements for Felixstowe.”

She said the Coastal Revival Fund was a “perfect opportunity” for Felixstowe to “unlock the economic potential” of the seafront.

The fund is specifically designed to help seaside towns become year-round destinations, supporting the tourism sector and sustaining jobs.