Blackpool agrees £40m Towns Fund spending plan

Blackpool Council’s Executive Committee has signed off a plan to invest the £39.5m received from the government's Towns Fund. 

The money will be used to fund seven projects, and work can begin once the government itself has given final approval.

Those projects are:

• The £6.95m relocation of Blackpool’s County and Magistrates Courts to make room for £300m of private sector investment at Blackpool Central
• Land assembly to enable the relocation of the Blackpool & The Fylde College’s Palatine Road campus to enable the creation of a world-class university learning environment in the town centre, which has been allocated £9m.
• The creation of a new road to open up development sites to attract jobs and investment at the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone, allocated £7m.
• The regeneration of the Revoe area, creating new sports pitches and facilities for community use, allocated £6.5m.
• Redevelopment of the existing town centre Stanley Buildings to create modern office space for new start-ups and growing businesses, and providing business advice for growth-ambitious small businesses. Allocated £4.5m.
• Upgrades to the Blackpool Illuminations, including a number of new centrepiece attractions. Allocated £4.5m.
• The development of a Youth Hub, a physical space to support people aged 16 to 24 in the town helping them to access jobs and training and to make the jump from school or unemployment into work, smoother and easier. Allocated £500,000.

Coun Lynn Williams, leader of Blackpool Council, said: "Our Town Deal proposals move another crucial step forward to turning our ambitions into reality and the team has made excellent progress on this major part of the council’s Growth and Prosperity Programme designed to secure long term benefits for Blackpool’s residents and the economy.

"An incredible amount of work has already been done to get the projects to this stage since being awarded the £39.5m and agreeing final allocations and Heads of Terms with Government in November 2020, including finalising the scheme proposals to develop Treasury compliant business cases for each scheme, appraising them with the benefit of the expertise of partners and independent appraisers, and then putting them through the approval process.

“All the hard work means that we now have seven deliverable, game-changing schemes that will make a huge difference to the town and for our residents, and will help to enable Blackpool to have a strong and thriving coastal community by 2030.”

The seven business cases have been submitted to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and a response is anticipated early in 2022. Towns have until the end of the 2025/26 financial year to spend the money.

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