Developer sought for Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone plots
With work already under way on an £18m access road, the council is seeking a development partner for the 323,000 sq ft site.
Plots with capacity for units ranging from 15,000 sq ft to 75,000 sq ft will be released from summer 2025.
They will be targeted for industrial and warehouse use according to Blackpool Council, specifically aimed at advanced manufacturing, energy, food and drink production, and digital technology sectors.
Planning permission has already been granted for employment use at the site.
The highway is being delivered by George Cox & Sons and work on it is expected to finish in the latter part of next year, with land to be released slightly earlier for construction.
Once the road is open the site will be accessible to cars and HGVs.
Eastern Gateway plots will have bell mouths off the highway, landscaping, and access to individual secondary substations, the authority has confirmed.
Sustainable cycleways and transport routes, as well as green drainage, will also be available across the wider site.
The location will have access to some of the world’s fastest and most reliable internet speeds due to the enterprise zone hosting the ‘North Atlantic Loop’ subsea cable, which carries up to a third of the world’s internet traffic.
A data centre quarter, Silicon Sands, is being developed at a separate site on within the enterprise zone in the coming years.
Cllr Mark Smith, cabinet member for levelling up (place) at Blackpool Council, said: “The Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone is becoming a premier business destination for the North West, with a number of leading national and international manufacturing companies already located here.
“For developers, we have made great progress on the infrastructure, with power, internet and water being delivered to the site, and a brand-new landscaped access road available next year.
“With a large element of the risk taken out of the site, this allows a developer to work with us to realise our ambitions of creating more high quality jobs in the local area over the next few years.”
The full Expression of Interest document can be found on the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone website, and developers are asked to submit proposals by July 1 this summer.
Finance to develop the access road has been sourced via a £7.5m grant from the government’s Town Fund. Architectural support has been provided by Cassidy + Ashton and Wildes Consulting.
