Unanimous support for Blackpool’s £50m Govt hub 

Leaders from across the region have signed a letter urging Chancellor Rishi Sunak to allocate a significant chunk of the £125m required to build the Morecambe attraction. 

Consultations are underway on four competing bids to reorganise local government in Cumbria and parts of Lancashire, to improve service delivery and simplify boundaries between councils and places.

Nikal’s £300m Blackpool Central leisure scheme, a link road at the town's airport enterprise zone and a community sports village in Revoe are among the projects earmarked to benefit from the £39.5m of Government funding.

Stanley Park golf course in Blackpool is to be reduced to nine holes in September from 18, as Holmes Investment Properties prepares to redevelop 39 acres into a £45m indoor adventure park. 

Steve Fogg is to step down as chairman of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, and will be replaced on an interim basis by David Taylor.

Preston, South Ribble and Chorley's councils are closer to adopting a combined Local Plan, as officers progress towards a preferred options consultation this summer.

The future of the city council's leadership structure is to be discussed at an extraordinary council meeting on Wednesday, as Liberal Democrat councillors called for a full consultation on the city’s governance following the arrest of mayor Joe Anderson in December.

The council intends to exercise compulsory purchase powers to acquire the final two properties within the Griffin regeneration zone to advance its redevelopment into 140 homes. 

The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership has committed £1.2m to help cover costs as a planning application is progressed for the Morecambe attraction.