Blackpool opens first promenades along £73m coastal defence
New parades to the north and south of St Chad's headland will be opened up to the public next week as work progresses on a coastal protection scheme in Blackpool.
Central Seafront is a £73m coastal protection scheme funded by Government, the North West Development Agency and the European Regional Development Fund. The project is being led by ReBlackpool, the urban regeneration company.
The four-year building programme is Blackpool's biggest-ever civil engineering project and is being delivered by contractor Birse Coastal. It will see the rebuilding of the 3.2km of promenade and sea wall between the Sandcastle and North Pier. Six new headlands are also being created to improve public access to the beach and promenade.
Cllr Maxine Callow, cabinet member for tourism and regeneration, said: "The multi-million pound scheme along Blackpool's famous promenade is both replacing our 100-year-old seawall with state-of-the-art coastal defences and transforming the seafront into a desirable, modern place to explore and really making the most of showcasing our beach.
"The new sections feature the finished sand-coloured concrete and not the temporary grey tarmac surface used on St Chad's headland, which has been open since summer 2008. This means visitors to the new sections of promenade will start to really get a feel for the quality of the completed sea defence and of how the promenade expansion scheme will shape up."
