Blackpool signs off £16m Multiversity loan among raft of approvals 

Resolutions to approve the use of compulsory purchase powers to unlock the construction of a town centre car park and a new East Stand for the town’s football club were also rubber-stamped by the council’s executive this week. 

Multiversity loan 

Hawkins\Brown is behind designs for the campus. Credit: Blackpool Council

Blackpool Council met on Monday to approve a £16m facility to support the construction of the 190,000 sq ft Multiversity. 

The loan is the final piece of the funding puzzle to deliver the £65m Multiversity project.  

So far, Blackpool has been awarded £49m of state funding; £40m from the Levelling Up Fund and £9m from the Town Deal for the acquisition of three acres close to Blackpool North train station, where the scheme will be located. 

Designed by Hawkins\Brown and supported by Lancaster University, the Multiversity project is intended to boost skills growth in Lancashire through the provision of a technical and professional curriculum.  

Once complete, the Multiversity would accommodate up to 3,600 students and will see the relocation of Blackpool and Fylde College’s Park Road campus into the town centre. 

Syndicate car park 

Syndicate was demolished in 2014. The site is occupied by a car park and temporary dentists. Credit: Google Earth

A 700-space multistorey car park is planned for a town centre plot that previously housed Syndicate, one of the largest nightclubs in the country that was demolished nearly a decade ago. 

On Monday, Blackpool Council signed off a decision to use CPO powers to unlock the Church Street site should negotiations with property owners be unsuccessful. 

The council says the car park is required to cope with increasing demand for town centre spaces prompted by various redevelopment projects that are coming forward or nearing completion.  

As well as a car park, the site could also accommodate a discount food store but this would depend on commercial interest, a report to the council’s executive states. 

Blackpool FC’s new East Stand 

Work on the other three stands has already completed. Credit: Google Earth

The council has also approved in principle the use of CPO powers to take control of land needed to deliver a new East Stand at Bloomfield Road.

A report to the council’s executive states that CPOs might be needed to unlock the site for redevelopment if negotiations with third-party owners are unsuccessful.  

There are 27 properties that need to be acquired in order to facilitate the East Stand project. 

A planning application for the 4,000-capacity stand is expected this spring. 

Blackpool FC’s new East Stand forms the second phase of a wider redevelopment of land around its Bloomfield Road stadium.  

Blackpool Council granted planning approval in February for phase one, the creation of Revoe Sports Village on land previously earmarked for housing as part of Foxhall Village.  

The East Stand is the final part of the expansion of Bloomfield Road. The redevelopment of the other three stands completed in 2010. 

Whitegate Manor redevelopment 

The building would be demolished to make way for the residential scheme. Credit: Google Earth

The council has progressed plans to redevelop part of its estate, an office complex off Whitegate Drive, into a sheltered accommodation development for over-55s. 

At Monday’s meeting, the council approved a recommendation to progress design development for the 20-30 apartment scheme, which would see Whitegate Manor demolished. 

The scheme, which benefits from brownfield funding that must be spent by the end of March 2024, is required to meet an increasing demand for sheltered accommodation in Blackpool. 

A report to the council’s executive states that much of the existing sheltered housing stock in Blackpool is “no longer fit for purpose due to its age and typology”. 

Cassidy + Ashton is leading on the design of the Whitegate Manor scheme and a planning application is due to be submitted this year. 

The design team is being led by will be led by Cassidy + Ashton.