Raw sewage was released into open water on the Fylde Coast more than 1,500 times in 2022. The result is Blackpool's hard-fought status as a safe place to swim is in jeopardy.
Cinema was once an important piece of Blackpool’s allure of affordable glamour, with seventeen movie theatres operating in the town at its peak. Now, almost a year after the final Odeon has gone dark, the local council is opening a nine-screen multiplex of its own.
Scott Benton, Conservative MP for Blackpool South, said his constituents could “only dream” of being as “well-cared” for as detained asylum seekers. Have 12 years of Tory rule left his town that destitute? We went to find out.
Scott Benton's resignation, which comes with a recall petition process already underway, will trigger a by-election for Blackpool South
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.
The Talbot social club admits it was due to host the two day event that was cancelled following an investigation into the gig promoter behind it
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.
The Blackpool South by-election follows five others since October where Labour has won Conservative seats.
Private rentals in Blackpool and the growing mould problems
A landlord has been served a hazard awareness notice after The Blackpool Lead shared photos of Jade’s mouldy home with the council. But it's a problem in every one of the town’s 18,000 privately rented houses.
The government's legal obligations to disabled people's rights are patchy, allowing for years of violent political, rhetorical and bureaucratic abuse. There's a ready-made charter that can protect us - and it should be adapted into law.
1.4 million workers in the UK are living in a constant state of economic “double jeopardy”. Millennials are the most likely to find themselves in this situation - but precarity is not something we can afford to tolerate as a fact of life.
3,700 stately homes are being preserved for the nation - but the heritage of the people who actually built the country is being allowed to crumble. Applying for dedicated funding schemes requires expensive expertise, and one in eight applications is rejected.
From policing to prosecution, this was the British justice system at its most incompetent and culturally confused.
Three in four women in Cheltenham report feeling unsafe during the annual races and the accompanying Festival. Justice Secretary Alex Chalk MP and local authorities blame pop-up strip clubs, but are they going after the easy scapegoats?
It's official: we have a two-tier, racist regime where some Britons face far greater penalties than others - and journalists and protesters could be particularly at risk.
Wayne Couzens - Sarah Everard's killer - was not "one bad apple", but a symptom of widespread rot. People of colour and other minoritised groups have been warning about police failings for decades.
We hear a lot about the "boomerang generation": people who leave their parental home only to move back in with them. But care leavers like myself often don't have anywhere to boomerang to. Our support system needs to change.
The new data on rising infant illness and mortality is shocking. It is the direct result of a decade of state services rollback - and as the mother of two young children, I’ve witnessed the effects first-hand.
My dad discovered he had cancer in similar circumstances to King Charles. But unlike the King, he wasn’t diagnosed or commencing treatment within two weeks - it took months. He died within a year of his diagnosis.