Blackpool beginning to see regeneration benefits as Backlot Cinema, Holiday Inn and civil service hub make progress
While some projects have suffered major delays, work on the £100m Civil Service offices on King Street is on schedule, while detailed plans for the £300m Blackpool Central leisure development will be ready early next year.
Nick Gerrard, growth and prosperity programme director for Blackpool Council, told the Levelling Up Scrutiny Committee: “By 2027 Blackpool will have a lot better facilities in the town centre, but also it will be a lot busier place and that breeds confidence.”
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Hide AdMr Gerrard said the pace of change in the resort was already attracting more interest from private investors.
He added: “People are wanting to see what is happening in the town and we are getting a lot more people interested in Blackpool.”
Projects due to be completed by spring 2024 include the multi-storey car park on Central Drive, Houndshill phase two including the Backlot Cinema with an Imax screen, and the Holiday Inn on Talbot Road.
Blackpool Central developer Nikal is expected to submit detailed planning applications for the leisure elements of the scheme in early 2024, with a report to the committee adding construction could begin next year.
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Hide AdProperties are being purchased to clear a site around George Street for the £65m multiversity which has also received £40m of Levelling Up cash.
Meanwhile plans to convert the former Abingdon Street Post Office into a four star Indigo Hotel are also progressing, after that project was awarded £8m of Levelling Up money.
Mr Gerrard told the meeting while there had been delays to some projects, such as the Holiday Inn and tramway extension partly because of the Covid pandemic, many schemes were now coming to fruition.
He said: “2023 has been exciting as we have seen stuff already opening such as the new Abingdon Street Market, while the car park at Blackpool Central will be finished in the next few months.
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Hide Ad“The Imax opens next spring and is being fitted out now, and the Civil Service hub is well ahead of schedule.
“Plans and things under consideration are great, but it’s when they open that the economic benefits comes to the people of Blackpool and that is happening now.”