CHANGING Lancaster's name to include Morecambe and transforming Lancaster castle into a tourist attraction are two headline ideas designed to put the area on the map.

The new name City of Lancaster and Morecambe' will redefine what it means to live in a city and bring the district into the 21st Century.

That's the belief of civic chiefs following a 12-month study by the district's Vision Board'.

Dr Joy Grayson, environmental co-ordinator, says the ideas all come thanks to locals who penned suggestions on how the future of the area should be shaped.

Says Dr Grayson: "The vision will form the basis of a rigorous delivery plan, will trigger bids for funding, and should prove to be the starting point for a renaissance of the city.

"We have something so distinctive that we should be considered to be one of the most desirable places to live and work in the whole of the North of England."

The team behind the research believes that the area is often overlooked when it comes to grants and investment.

Vision board chair Professor Paul Wellings, vice chancellor of Lanc-aster University, says: "In Lancaster and Morecambe, we could redefine what it means to live in a city to benefit from the central facilities and services, economic power and plentiful quality, highly paid jobs that an urban centre inevitably offers but with the quality of life that the sea, the hills and the human scale of this city bestow."

But to become a fully-functioning' city people have to stop seeing Lancaster and Morecambe as two different places.

Says Dr Grayson: "The physical fracture can only be fixed by improving transport links between the two centres, easing congestion and speeding up the time it takes to drive or hop between the two.

"The psychological divide can only be overcome by adopting a less separatist view of Lancaster and Morecambe and to achieve this we believe we need to re-brand it as The City of Lancaster and Morecambe."

Other focuses are the security of jobs at Heysham power station, a new recycling industry and bringing visitors to the area.

Improving Morecambe, improving grot spots and marketing rural areas are some of the musts' on the table.

But Dr Grayson adds: "We suggest that in order to truly put us on the map in terms of attracting people to visit and stay in the city, the castle is our principal world class asset and should be a substantial visitor attraction."