Concerns have been raised over the viability of two Blackpool regeneration schemes amid fears funding may not be able to be spent in time to meet government deadlines.
Minutes from the latest meeting of the Blackpool Town Deal Board warn proposals to restore the former Post Office building on Abingdon Street remain in the balance while structural surveys take place.
The scheme to convert the building into a hotel as part of the Indigo Hotel chain has been granted £8m from the former government’s Levelling Up Fund.
But minutes published following the Town Deal meeting in June say “the grant expenditure is at risk until the results of intrusive structural surveys to be undertaken within the Post Office building are understood”.
They add that until “consequent design measures have been proposed and tendered, it cannot be finally confirmed that the scheme is viable”.
The Grade II former Post Office building has been empty since 2007 and has since fallen into disrepair.
A £15m contribution from the Levelling Up Fund towards a new town centre access scheme in Blackpool is also reportedly under threat as the money needs to be spent by the end of March 2026.
The Town Deal meeting minutes say the scheme cannot be delivered by that deadline as “such extensive works being delivered at one time would have a major negative impact on the flow of traffic in the town centre”.
The council is seeking to extend the deadline for the money to be spent by to the end of March 2028.
Blackpool Council leader Coun Lynn Williams has previously said she is confident Blackpool’s regeneration strategy is safe.
She said: “The majority of our Levelling Up projects are now underway, they have formal contracts and funding agreements in place and we don’t believe they will be affected.”
Coun Paul Galley, leader of the Conservative group at Blackpool Council, said: “These two key schemes join a long list of Blackpool council-run building projects which suffered significant delays, including the Winter Gardens Conference Centre which over-ran by three years, the tram extension which took five years longer than planned, the Holiday Inn scheme that was almost 12 months late (with the surrounding area still unfinished) and the Sands Venue Hotel complex.”
He added: “The delay in these schemes has cost millions of pounds and now to hear we could risk losing the money for these two important Levelling-up funded town centre development schemes is shocking and totally unacceptable.
“The only way Blackpool Council will stand any chance of restoring its ability to deliver building projects will be for it to stop out-sourcing key roles to the private sector and instead restore its Capital Projects Division, with all the key knowledge and expertise needed to deliver building projects on time and within budget.”
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