Blackpool rejigs Revoe thinking

Putting Town Deal cash to work, the council will take forward community pitches at the community sports village, allowing Blackpool FC to focus on its East Stand redevelopment.

In an item going before Blackpool Council’s executive on Monday 16 March, members will be asked to sign off recommendations from officers on how best to advance the Revoe Community Sports Village.

Four main requests in all are made. The first seeks agreement that the council should deliver the pitches (phase one) in-house; the second that the appointment of a consultancy to lead on detailed design, cost plan and planning application be authorised – as a fresh consnt is required – and the third and fourth that the head of legal services be allowed to enter into the necessary land deals with BFC.

Phase one will include two 7-a-side 3G pitches, a multi-use games area, and – conditional on the football club covering the cost – two padel courts. Among those to benefit will be BFC’s women and girls’ teams and BFC Community Trust’s Tiny Tangerines programme, along with users such as walking football groups and wheelchair sports clubs.

Initially, BFC was supposed to lead on the community scheme, but its consultants highlighted ground condition issues, reporting that uncertainties in this area threatened the viability of the project.

Hence, the council, with the benefit of Town Deal funding, has agreed to take on that burden. It is stressed in the report that phase two – the Bloomfield Road stadium’s East Stand and associated public realm – will be funded by the club, with the council taking on the cost of acquisitions on Henry Street’s western side to enable the scheme. Most of this work has been completed, with a deal now agreed for the last plot required.

As ever with government funding streams, there is an element of the clock ticking: Blackpool secured around £6.5m for Revoe sports village in 2022, only for BFC to hit the brakes in December 2024, pending a financial review based on the issues raised by consultancy Avison Young.

Although it was last year established that the land intended for the pitches would cost more to remediate than first thought, a workaround has been found, with the council able to develop on alternative land in its ownership, formerly taken up by a Mecca bingo hall.

The East Stand project is also advancing, with a programme of refurbishment works kickstarted in September 2025. Plans are expected to be submitted soon for additional works to the stand, and the surrounding public realm, to be delivered this summer.

The Revoe community sports village is part of a wider plan from the council to reinvigorate Central Drive, complementing the council’s plans to build more affordable housing at Foxhall Village, build better houses and green spaces further up Central Drive, and attract a new investment partner to the Blackpool Central development.

Cllr Mark Smith, Blackpool Council’s cabinet member for built environment and economy, said: “This council is committed to making Blackpool better and restoring Central Drive back to its heyday as an area where local people want to live and spend time in. We have a vision of local families choosing Central Drive as their go-to area of Blackpool to live in, because of all the quality housing, green space and opportunities we’ve created.

“While our housing projects are about providing better homes for people to live in, this project is about improving the healthy lifestyles of people who live centrally, by creating community sports facilities for everybody to enjoy.

“The project will also help the football club’s community trust to increase its offer to local people, while also facilitating improvements to the East Stand to make the area around the football stadium a nicer place to visit.”