Masterplanner sought for GSK’s Cumbria ‘catalyst’

The council has lodged a bid for £50m from the Towns Fund to revitalise the town having already asked Government for £25m for nine town centre projects and received £8.6m from the Getting Building Fund to revamp Abingdon Street Market and extend Houndshill Shopping Centre. 

Stanley Park Golf Club’s redevelopment, construction of a 40,000 sq ft factory in the airport enterprise zone, and compulsory purchase powers to accelerate the £300m Blackpool Central leisure scheme, have been voted forward by the council.

The council aims to submit a bid to the £1bn Government fund and has outlined 11 schemes it would help fund, including the extension of Houndshill Shopping Centre and the redevelopment of the Old Post Office into a hotel.   

The Skelmersdale-based contractor fell into administration owing £11m to creditors because of the impact of Covid-19 and a string of "problem jobs", most notably Primesite Developments’ £40m The Rise scheme, which left CPUK with £3m of debt. 

Leader Paul Foster admitted “significant failings” in the council governance in recent years, including a flawed costing and tender process for Leyland’s £24m leisure centre, and promised to “put things right”.

Several towns and cities plan to tap into the Government’s latest offer of funding to progress property and infrastructure schemes, with council-led partnerships in Blackpool, Wyre, Cheshire and Warrington among those readying bids.

The council is building a strategy for how it would invest up to £25m from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Towns Fund intended to ‘level up’ the regions, and is seeking input from businesses and residents.

The 38,000 sq ft food store on Main Drive in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, has been sold out of receivership from a company owned by Marcus Worthington Group, whose construction and property arms went into administration last year.