Equality | The Lead

Introducing: The Lead North

Lead Editor (North) and Senior Editor (North) join to launch new newsletters and coverage for The Lead in Blackpool, Bolton, Stoke-on-Trent and Teesside.

By Dimi Reider

Get in the sea: Boss of United Utilities urged to reconsider position as a Blackpool ambassador

A warning at Blackpool North is expected to advise against swimming for the remainder of the 2024 bathing season. So why is the boss of water firm United Utilities in a position as an ambassador for the town?

By Michael Holmes

Blackpool's Multiversity project risks pushing residents right to the edge

Residents living in some of the 72 properties set to be demolished speak with The Blackpool Lead about the harsh reality of the challenges they face as a direct result of the Multiversity project

By Michael Holmes

Blackpool's largest council estate Grange Park has just got bigger

133 new social properties have been finished in a £20million scheme

By Ed Walker

Councillors to debate £75,000 spend on cultural plan for Blackpool

Blackpool Council wants the town to be the UK’s Coastal Capital of Creativity by 2030

By Shelagh Parkinson

'Right balance of old and new' for £10m cultural hub for Blackpool

Funding still needs to be found but councillors have given the green light to proposals for a major revamp of the Grundy and Central Library

By Shelagh Parkinson

Where the government fails, people in Blackpool step up: Inside Bispham's warm bank

There are around 1,300 spaces like Kilmory Community Centre in Bispham keeping people out of the cold. But their future is far from secure and their reason for existing in the first place points to a failure of government and politicians.

By Antonia Charlesworth Stack

Blackpool general election result will show if town has had enough of Conservatives

Chris Webb is heavy favourite to be re-elected in Blackpool South with a tight contest for second place, while Blackpool North and Cleveleys will see Labour hope to claim the seat from the Conservatives

By Michael Holmes

Three men charged and named by police after Blackpool protests

Police have released details of charges to three men in Blackpool after town centre disorder from the far-right

By Luke Beardsworth

Young Blackpool man in balaclava threw chairs, bottles and cans into crowds during disorder

Ethan Miles, 21, has been jailed for 30 months for his part in the events of 3 August

By Luke Beardsworth

The two-child benefit cap is indefensible. It's got to go.

There is no excuse to retain Osborne's performative cruelty. Even electorally, keeping it can only alienate any Tories who might yet vote Labour—and it makes no social, moral or economic sense either.

By Dimi Reider

Lancashire Constabulary faces payout for treatment of Blackpool officer with PTSD, anxiety and depression

The woman had her PTSD likened to a broken leg by Superintendent Chris Hardy, one of the force’s most senior officers, documents say.

By Michael Holmes

Metropole asylum seekers need more than 'board and lodgings'

Blackpool charity share how they've organised trips out for those within the hotel - as one of the town's two MPs calls for the government to stop using the Metropole Hotel

By Ed Walker

Metropole Hotel 'wholly inadequate' to house refugees but has been their home for three years instead of three months

Webb believes more appropriate accommodation than the hotel chain named worst in the UK for 11 consecutive years should be found

By Shelagh Parkinson

Extension to Household Support Fund welcomed in Blackpool

It was set to be axed by the end of September

By Shelagh Parkinson

Funeral date set for murdered Blackpool toddler Damion Russell over a year after his death

Mystery still surrounds the reason for the 13-month delay in burying the infant

By Paul Faulkner

Why did Blackpool riot?

Some, but not all, in Blackpool chose to respond to a wicked act in Southport with violence instead of support. But the search for answers as to why isn't straightforward

By Michael Holmes

Young Blackpool man in balaclava threw chairs, bottles and cans into crowds during disorder

Ethan Miles, 21, has been jailed for 30 months for his part in the events of 3 August

By Luke Beardsworth

'Dad 1' sent to prison for ringleading role in far-right protest in Blackpool

Roger Haywood, who was described as a ringleader, was sent to prison for a total of 30 months.

By Luke Beardsworth

Blackpool Victoria Hospital staff failed to properly examine heavily pregnant woman before giving her drug

Giving the heavily pregnant mother the drug was proved to be negligent - but it was deemed insufficient to prove a connection between the negligience and complications suffered during birth

By Michael Holmes

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