58 BLACKPOOL AND FYLDE COAST
A COMMITMENT TO AMBITION
Nick Gerrard believes Blackpool has a “really exciting story to tell” and is hoping that central government will do more than listen.
The local authority is looking to access £25m of funding through the Future High Streets Fund. However, as far as Nick is concerned that is only the start of its ambitions once the UK emerges from the immediate impact of Covid-19.
Blackpool’s growth and prosperity programme director says: “We have written to ministers telling them we are ready to deliver major projects that will help the recovery post-coronavirus.
“We are ready to go; we’re asking them to give us what we need to dip into the total commitment there is in Blackpool to ensure we turn this place round for the benefit of residents and visitors.
“The importance of this has grown in recent weeks. The message we are giving government is we are getting ourselves in a position to be ready for recovery as soon as someone presses the button.”
Nick, who started his Blackpool role in 2017, has plenty of experience when it comes to regeneration and inward investment. His CV includes senior roles with the Trafford Park Development Corporation and the old North West Regional Development Agency.
However, he is relishing his latest job as he plays a key role in delivering Blackpool’s ambitious £1bn ‘Growth and Prosperity Programme’.
Nick says: “It’s a great place to work because of the commitment of the council and the supportive atmosphere. There is complete commitment from politicians and the executive.
“And we have a really enthusiastic and committed team focused on the future prosperity
of the town. The challenges are enormous, and have been ramped up again by recent events, but the strategy remains unchanged.”
That strategy includes delivering major regeneration projects, attracting investment and raising the business profile of the town and the surrounding areas.
The local authority is billing Blackpool as “The Place for Business”. Its plan is built maximising growth and opportunities across the town, creating stronger communities and increasing resilience.
He also speaks with enthusiasm about the projects that will be real game-changers for the town, including the next phase of Talbot Gateway, the extension of the Houndshill shopping complex with its Imax Cinema and Blackpool Central.
Nick believes that bringing in more office investment into the town is also one of the keys to delivering a more mixed and balanced economy. He adds: “We need more footfall, more spending power.”
He says the £300m Blackpool Central project will “break the cycle” of seasonality and tourism by creating a year-round attraction.”
The new conference centre at the Winter Gardens is “massive”. “People want to come back,” he adds. “Especially when you combine it with the new hotels we have now got coming forward.”
Business investment work is also vital to the strategy, harnessing the local strength of key sectors such as aerospace and energy. Here the emerging airport enterprise zone will play an important role.
Nick Gerrard
It is a strategy that goes beyond boosting the economy and looks to improve the “lifestyle of the community” and provide more jobs for local people.
Nick spells out Blackpool’s long-recognised challenges: “Lack of investment, seasonality of tourism and undue dependency on tourism along with lack of awareness about what Blackpool has to offer externally.”
He says: “It offers huge opportunities, and we’re investing £28m in essential infrastructure.
Nick says: “We already got 1,500 jobs created or safeguarded. We want to get to at least 5,000. It is about focusing on the growth sectors and how we can get highly paid, sustainable jobs here.
“The aim is to provide sustainable and diverse future for the economy of the whole Fylde coast.
“People do not know what we have to offer and we need to make sure the business community does.”
ENGINEERING A CLEANER FUTURE
An enormous pipe stretching almost four kilometres out into the Irish Sea and a storage tank the size of an Olympic swimming pool carved out deep underground, the engineering work carried out just metres from Blackpool’s golden sands is impressive.
It is all part of a vast £80m United Utilities (UU) wastewater project to enhance Blackpool’s sewer system and improve its bathing waters.
For the past five years engineers from UU have been a regular presence above and below ground in the resort’s Anchorsholme Park. Their aim has been to improve overall water quality across the Fylde coast.
The massive storage tank will stop dirty storm water going into the sea so UU can put it back into the network and treat it. The new outfall pipe will also play its part to ensure the bathing waters off the beach are cleaner.
However, the project has also been what goes on above ground as much as below. Now the large-scale construction and engineering
work on the site has been completed and the cranes have departed a new-look park is being handed back to the local community.
A new café, outdoor seating areas, children’s playground and sports area are just some of the new facilities that visitors will be able to enjoy once coronavirus restrictions are lifted.
Getting to this stage has not been easy,
involving a tremendous amount of hard work and co-operation
Steve Wong, area stakeholder manager for UU, says the local community have been very patient during the lengthy construction work.
He says: “Getting to this stage has not been easy, involving a tremendous amount of hard work from our engineers and a
tremendous amount of understanding and co-operation from the people living close to Anchorsholme Park.
“We have always said we want to leave a lasting legacy, not only what we deliver underground, but also above ground for people of all ages to use and enjoy.”
“We hope when people see the revamped park, it will have been worth the wait. We are very proud of the fantastic asset we are handing back to the community and Blackpool Council, and we look forward to seeing the park go from strength to strength for many years to come.”
Blackpool North and Cleveleys MP Paul Maynard has been impressed with the scale of the project.
He says: “The scale of the works which have been taking place at Anchorsholme Park are clear and I know many local residents are eagerly awaiting completion of this project which will not only improve the quality of local bathing waters, but will deliver a brand new park for our community.”
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