Next steps for £300m Blackpool Central after administration of previous developer

Blackpool Council’s executive committee has agreed to appoint new commercial marketing agents to promote the £300m Blackpool Central site to international leisure investors.

The appointment would reopen the site to fresh investment and terminate the previous agreement with Nikal.

In October, Begbies Traynor was appointed as administrator to the Manchester-based company.

Once the world’s busiest train station, Blackpool Central closed in 1964 and is set to be transformed into a new year-round, world class leisure destination for the whole family.

One of the UK’s most important regeneration projects, it will be the largest single investment in Blackpool for more than a century. It will create up to 1,000 jobs, bring an estimated 600,000 additional visitors each year, and boost annual spend in the town by £75m.

The first stage of the Blackpool Central development completed earlier this year, with the opening of a 1,306 space multi-storey car park.

A contractor, DSM Demolition has also been appointed to demolish the old police station, municipal courts and the old joke shop on Central Drive, starting early in the new year.

The cost for the demolition will be met from funding allocated by the Government as part of the Blackpool Town Deal, which was announced in 2022.

The Blackpool Central site sits in the shadow of The Blackpool Tower, next to the Promenade and with a direct driving route from the motorway into the new multi-storey car park.

The almost 15 acre site is an attractive location for a new leisure attraction to add to the town’s £1.7bn visitor economy and create more jobs for local people.

Cllr Lynn Williams, leader of Blackpool Council, said: “Blackpool Central sits right at the heart of our plans to make Blackpool better for everybody. We’re committed to attracting a world class leisure development that creates jobs for our local people, extends our tourism season to be all year round and supports our local economy to grow.

“In the last five years at Blackpool Central, we’ve made more progress on this site than the 50 years before it since the Blackpool Central train station closed in the 1960s, largely paid for by the private sector without risking council tax payer’s money.”

She added: “The road to regeneration isn’t always smooth but we will not stand still. We will continue our plans to demolish the courts and the police station early in the new year, in order to create a shovel ready site for a new leisure attraction.

“We have very high standards for the type of attraction which this site needs and any future scheme will have to match those ambitions.

“To deliver on that we need serious investors and we will be heavily marketing this opportunity to get that international calibre of attraction.”

While the council is assembling the land at Blackpool Central, with the support of grants from the Government, the previous agreement with Nikal ensured that the car park was built with private sector investment.

The council received £4.5m from the land agreement with Nikal, used to help support council finances and local services. As well as the land receipt, the council also has the option to acquire the car park for a nominal sum in the future.

In addition to protecting the council’s finances, this agreement means that the vast majority of the Blackpool Central land is still owned by the council and available to develop, without risking council tax payers’ money.

In the new year, the council will look to appoint international marketing agents to help promote the site and find investors and developers who could bring forward a new leisure attraction using private sector investment.