Blackpool set to get share of more than £2bn of HS2 money to improve transport links

Blackpool is set to get a windfall of cash to improve transport links.

People living and working across Blackpool will see better public transport, reduced congestion and upgraded bus and rail stations as part of billions of pounds of investment into towns, smaller cities, and rural areas across the North. 

On Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to reveal how more than £2bn of reallocated HS2 funding will go to local authorities across the North, including Blackpool, to spend on local transport improvements.

Local authorities will be able to choose which local transport improvements to invest in, including refurbishing bus stations, filling potholes and installing more electric vehicle charging points.

This will be part of more than £4bn due to be announced for local councils across the North and Midlands and will be available from 2025, giving local authorities time to draw up plans and be ready to go when the funding arrives.  

This money will go to local authorities covering rural communities, towns and smaller cities.

A senior Government source said: "This money will be a huge boost for people in Blackpool. It will be local people, rather than ministers in Whitehall, who will be able to decide what local transport improvements they spend this funding on.

"This is part of the Prime Minister's plan to improve local transport, compared to a Labour Party who can’t say what they’d do to improve local transport because they don’t have a plan.  Labour can’t even decide whether they support the decision to scrap phase 2 of HS2 and reallocate the savings into local transport improvements. 

"This Conservative Government’s plan to reallocate HS2 funding into local transport improvements will benefit more people in more places, more quickly.”