Council moves to safeguard future of half-built £50m Blackpool housing estate

The future of the Foxhall Village regeneration scheme has been thrown into doubt following the collapse of house-builder Hollinwood Homes.

The firm went into administration along with parent company Wyre-based Marcus Worthington after hitting financial trouble last month.

Peter Dickens and Toby Underwood of PwC have been appointed joint administrators.

Nearly half the proposed 410 new homes at Foxhall Village have been completed, with further phases of the 10-year construction programme still to be finished.

A Blackpool Council spokesman said: "We are seeking legal advice and reviewing the options available to us to ensure the project is successfully completed."

So far 194 properties have been completed, five are part-built and had been due for completion in the next 12 weeks and the foundations have been prepared for another 54 which have not been offered for sale yet.

The Foxhall Village, where roads are named after Blackpool FC's famous 1953 FA Cup winning team, was aimed at clearing failed gueshouses and replacing them with family homes.

Hollinwood Homes began work on the site in 2014 following a £15m clearance programme of the land part funded by a £2.7m government grant, with the rest of the cash coming from the Government’s New Homes Bonus scheme aimed at encouraging house building.

The council also purchased properties for the scheme after establishing a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) area, bordered by Tyldesley Road, Blundell Street, Rigby Road and Princess Street.

Planning permission was granted in June this year for the next phase of 59 houses, an apartment block of 15 flats with shops on the ground floor and an area of public space as part of the next tranche of building.

The latest phase had been due to see redevelopment along Tyldesley Road including a two-to-four storey apartment block with a roof terrace near the junction with Princess Street.

Some residents of Foxhall Village have said they have been left with no-one to turn to after finding faults with their new homes since the house-building company collapsed.