Blackpool hosts landmark cross-government policy sprint on visitor economy-led regeneration at Winter Gardens

Blackpool hosted a cross-government Policy Sprint, bringing together ministers, civil servants and local business leaders to develop a strategic approach to the town's regeneration through its visitor economy.

Led by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and co-hosted by Blackpool Tourism Ltd, the event addressed Blackpool's growth ambitions.

The sprint at the iconic Winter Gardens and brought together representatives from across Whitehall – including DCMS, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, HM Treasury, the Department for Transport, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office for Investment – alongside regional bodies, national tourism agencies, and Blackpool's own business and civic leaders.

The event follows two years of campaigning by Chris Webb, Labour MP for Blackpool South and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hospitality and Tourism, to secure sustained government attention for Blackpool's ambition to become a year-round, high-value visitor destination. It builds on a July meeting convened by DCMS, at which Blackpool set out its ambition to become a 365 resort, with a year-round visitor offer, and the case for backing major initiatives including Blackpool Central and Silicon Sands.

A great Blackpool summer

Yesterday’s sprint caps a summer in which Blackpool has increasingly found itself at the centre of government attention. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy visited last week for the Illuminations Switch-On, taking time beforehand to meet hospitality and entertainment apprentices in the Tower Circus.

Tourism Minister Stephanie Peacock also visited Blackpool Pleasure Beach on the penultimate day of the Great British Summer Savings offer, trying out the park's new Aviktas ride alongside Chris Webb MP.

At the beginning of the summer, Webb took Luca Vettese – whose family has run Notarianni's ice cream parlour on Waterloo Road for four generations, and who also attended the policy sprint – to Downing Street, to make sure government heard directly from a local business owner about the impact of national support schemes on small businesses.

That support included a VAT cut from 20% to 5% on children's meals, cinema and theatre tickets, and attraction entry from June 25, alongside free local bus travel throughout August for under-16s – a scheme which gave around 14,800 children in Blackpool South free travel and benefited an estimated 12,800 local families.

Webb welcomed the support over the summer but has made the case that this kind of support needs to become a year-round offer rather than a summer-only intervention.

Sprint to success

Opening the sprint, Webb drew on his own background in the town's tourism industry – he started work at 14 in a souvenir shop on Blackpool Promenade – to make the case that tourism "isn't just about people coming to visit," but is one of the most powerful drivers of jobs, opportunity and economic growth a town like Blackpool has.

He told delegates that Blackpool Council estimates £1.8 billion was lost to the town through the years of austerity, leaving high streets hollowed out, more than 1,500 buildings derelict, and dozens of former hotels standing empty along the Golden Mile. But he was clear he didn't want the day to produce "another report telling us what we already know" – the focus, he said, had to be on what happens next.

His address focused on the case for a new multi-use arena at Blackpool Central, which has already received a £20m commitment from DCMS. He described an arena not just as a venue for concerts and sport but as economic infrastructure – a way to bring in new audiences, boost overnight stays, support hotels, restaurants and taxis and help attract commercial airlines back to Blackpool Airport.

He closed with a direct challenge to the government to stop viewing coastal towns through "the lens of deprivation" and start seeing them through "the lens of potential" and to recognise that regeneration in places like Blackpool cuts across departments including transport, housing, skills, planning, culture, tourism and business investment.

"The question is not whether Blackpool can do it," he told delegates. "We are already doing it. The question is, how much more could we achieve if the government joined us in the right way?"

Delegates spent the day examining barriers and opportunities across five themes – visitor spend and year-round demand, attracting investment, supporting existing businesses, skills and employment and connectivity – before touring the Blackpool Central site and working through a policy mapping exercise to identify practical interventions for government.

The sprint drew a senior cross-section of government and industry, including Duncan Parish, DCMS Deputy Director for the Visitor Economy, who co-facilitated the day; Samuel Lamont of the joint No.10/HM Treasury Good Growth Unit, working on regional growth priorities ahead of the 2027 Spending Review; and Rachel Ashley of the Office for Investment, who leads on securing transformational investment for the North West and West Yorkshire.

National tourism leadership was represented by Andrew Stokes OBE, England Director at VisitEngland, and Charles Smith, Policy Director at Historic England, who has previously overseen heritage investment in Blackpool including at the Winter Gardens itself.

Blackpool's business community also turned out in force, with representatives from Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Coral Island, the Viva Group, various small businesses and Blackpool's Business Improvement District representatives.

Blackpool Council representatives were also in attendance.

Speaking after the event Chris Webb MP said: “Today was about getting government departments, national agencies and local businesses in one room, working through what actually needs to change.

“I've spent two years making the case that Blackpool should be a poster child for government success – not a place defined by what's gone wrong, but by what's possible. The appetite here is huge. Now we need the government to match that ambition with the right investment and the right joined-up thinking.”