Blackpool submits proposals for pair of investment zones

Blackpool Council has submitted two expressions of interest to take advantage of the government's new investment zones scheme.

Announced in the mini-budget by then-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, the new investment zones would aim to spark growth for businesses and councils by offering tax cuts and relaxed planning rules.

Blackpool's proposals include creating investment zones at Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone and the Central Blackpool area.

Once official guidance had been released, Blackpool Council undertook an area-by-area assessment in search of the parts of the town which it felt would benefit most from Investment Zone status.

The Central Blackpool area covers from Talbot Gateway in the north to Bloomfield Road in the south, and incorporates various sites utilised for retail, office, leisure, light industry and housing.

The boundary was chosen to incorporate many of the development sites either currently underway or earmarked for development in the near future within Blackpool’s central area.

The Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone area covers all of the existing Enterprise Zone site, and also extends the boundaries to cover new areas to the south of the runway, to the south-east of the airport’s current extent, and to the west of the existing Enterprise Zone.

Coun Lynn Williams, leader of Blackpool Council, said: "Blackpool was invited by the government to submit a proposal for an Investment Zone.

"At this stage we still don’t have the full details of what it will mean or the timescales involved. However, we welcome any opportunity to further accelerate the work that has already been achieved here in boosting the economy and growing the number of quality jobs."