PRIME Minister Gordon Brown referred to Blackpool's bids for other schemes as part of its regeneration package when he told the House of Commons that he wanted to look at alternative ways of rejuvenating hard-up towns.
Cash for trams, hopes of becoming home to a national theatre museum and ambitions for a conference centre were all name-checked by the PM.
But when, and if, are these likely to become a reality?
TramsBLACKPOOL could hear in
the next two weeks whether or not its bid for a total of £77m to upgrade the tramway and pay for a fleet of modern trams is successful.
The resort was allocated £11.8m last year for emergency repairs, some of which were completed last winter.
New track has been laid between Manchester Square and South Pier – the worst part of the line.
This winter, the whole of the track from Squires Gate to Fleetwood will be closed to allow further repairs to the Pleasure Beach loop, between Manchester Square and Central Pier, and between Uncle Tom's Cabin and Bispham.
But transport bosses are still pressing for the rest of the money which would pay for a full upgrade of the system – including a new depot and modern super-trams.
National Theatre MuseumA BID to become home to the UK's national theatre museum was launched last December by Blackpool.
The National Museum of the Performing Arts needs to find a new base. Its current home in London's Covent Garden has now closed.
Blackpool Council is working with the Victoria and Albert Museum in the capital on a feasibility study to see whether a move north would be workable.
The museum is home to a collection of original costumes, designs, manuscripts, books and moving images, which chart the history of the theatre.
Coun leader Coun Peter Callow has suggested a new museum, which if it went ahead, could even be located within the Abingdon Street Post Office – a listed building – which will become vacant when the counter services move to WH Smith's.
Conference CentreTHE need for a new state-of-the-art conference centre is becoming an ever stronger priority because the Winter Gardens is not deemed up to the job any more.
This autumn's Conservative Party Conference in the resort is likely to be the last by any of the three big political parties for some time, as they choose modern facilities in the likes of Manchester ahead of Blackpool's Victorian venue.
But new conference facilities are on the so-called "wish list" being drawn up by a regeneration task force which has been set up to look at Blackpool's needs.
Senior civil servants and the head of the North West Development Agency are among those attending meetings of the task force and are believed to have briefed Gordon Brown on what Blackpool wants.
