THING OF THE WEEK

TALL TALES… A fiery meeting of Blackpool Council’s budget committee this week was the scene of some impressive scaremongering as Conservative group leader Cllr Paul Galley attacked the Labour-led administration’s plans to sell off some public-owned assets.

Galley suggested the authority might be willing to sell off the town’s most famous asset, Blackpool Tower, setting hares running on local Facebook groups across the Fylde coast. Labour Leader Cllr Lynn Williams has described this as “alarmist speculation”. The tower was bought by Blackpool Council for close to £40m from Trevor Hemmings in 2010. What it is worth today in monetary terms is anyone’s guess, what is certain is that, in the eyes of Blackpudlians of all political stripes, its priceless.

The wall earmarked for the mural will one day be blocked by a 34-storey hotel. Credit: via consultation documents

MURAL… A historic building in Manchester is getting a sporty makeover ahead of two major events later this year. A blank elevation of 12 Piccadilly, a grade two-listed former bank, is to be given a lick of paint in April that will celebrate Manchester’s running culture ahead of the city’s Marathon. Once the medals have been handed out and spent gel packets swept up, the mural will be replaced with one celebrating Manchester’s football heritage ahead of the World Cup as part of a partnership with the National Football Museum, according to planning documents. Longer term, the building is due to be encompassed into a scheme that also features a 34-storey hotel on a neighbouring site.

The 2026 Labour Party Conference will now be held at LEX. Credit: PNW

LEXICON… Liverpool ACC at Kings Dock has been rebranded in what the organisation is calling a “confident step forward”. The new name, Liverpool Experience Campus, or LEX for short, captures the three venues that make up the complex: the Convention Centre, Exhibition Centre, and M&S Bank Arena, the firm said. Like with any rebrand, only time will tell if the name catches on. Just ask the MEN Arena.

Credit: via Merseyside PCC

KEY… The branch of Timpsons that employs the BFG has been busy again, cutting enormous keys for brand spanking new buildings across the North West. Newton-le-Willows’s new fire station and a complex of 29 apartments in Chorlton have both had huge keys bestowed upon them. In a market where viability is tight, it beggars belief why developers don’t just opt for smaller doors to keep costs down.

The picturesque Trefor Bay. Credit: Neil Mark Thomas via Unsplash

WELSH… A housing scheme in Wales could be approved with a planning condition stipulating that residents must be able to speak Welsh. The local community council in Trefor and Llanaelhaearn is pushing for the condition, describing it as a “golden opportunity to be truly progressive and innovative”. The scheme is located in the largely Welsh-speaking village of Trefor, which is so alluring in its remote beauty that it makes you want to pick up a geiriadur (that’s a Welsh dictionary  by the way). The final decision will be made by Gwynedd Council.