Developers join council in scheme to build new hotel next to Winter Gardens

Updated plans to build a hotel next to the Winter Gardens are being drawn up - keeping hopes alive of providing dedicated overnight accommodation linked to the £30m conference centre at the complex.

Outline planning permission was granted in June 2021 for the construction of a five-storey hotel with 160 rooms and a two-storey car park with 94 spaces, but no development has yet taken place.The land, between Alfred Street, Adelaide Street and Leopold Grove, is currently used as a car park.

Blackpool Council bought the site around two years ago for an undisclosed sum after it had been marketed for sale with a £3m price tag, and it has now been revealed it is working with developers to deliver the scheme.

A planning application has been submitted to tweak the details of the outline permission in order to better reflect the work being done, after architects were brought on board.

The council has had an exclusivity agreement in place for about a year with C1 Capital Partners Ltd and Mottram Estates. The former has more than 50 years' experience in real estate, specialising in hotels and serviced apartments.

The new application is seeking to change the wording of the outline planning approval, removing details about the height, number of rooms and parking facilities.

Documents say the application seeks to vary the wording "to ensure that it sufficiently allows for alterations which may occur as a result of design evolution."

A Blackpool Council spokesperson said: “It has always been our intention for there to be a hotel connected to the Winter Gardens to cater for the growth of delegates staying overnight, and we are working with Mottram Estates and C1 Capital to consider how that could be delivered.”

According to its website, C1 Capital currently asset manages six hotels throughout the UK consisting of 1,200 bedrooms with a capital value of more than £385m and a total turnover of more than £56m. These include three in London, including Hilton London Olympia.

Current plans for a hotel on Leopold Grove include an enclosed bridge linking the second floor with the conference centre. Hotel facilities are seen as key to further developing the Winter Gardens facilities.