'We’re committed to attracting a world-class leisure development' as demolition team gets ready to clear site

Work will begin in the new year to clear the buildings following the appointment of DSM Demolition. Clearance will also include the Chapel Street car park and the former joke shop on Central Drive, and is expected to take up to six months to complete.

In the meantime the 15 acre council-owned site will be marketed globally in a bid to find new investors following the collapse of previous developer Nikal which had been lined up to build hotels, restaurants and indoor theme parks.

The council has formally ended its previous land sale agreement with Nikal, but will keep £4.5m it received from the deal which was signed in January 2020.

Blackpool has also benefited from the opening of a 1,306 space multi-storey car park on the site and the council has the option to acquire the car park for a nominal sum in the future.

Blackpool Council leader Coun Lynn Williams said: “Blackpool Central sits right at the heart of our plans to make Blackpool better for everybody. We’re committed to attracting a world-class leisure development that creates jobs for our local people, extends our tourism season to be all year round and supports our local economy to grow.

"In the last five years at Blackpool Central, we’ve made more progress on this site than the 50 years before it since the Blackpool Central train station closed in the 1960s, largely paid for by the private sector without risking council tax payer’s money."

But she admitted the council had faced difficulties in progressing the scheme. She added: "The road to regeneration isn’t always smooth but we will not stand still. We will continue our plans to demolish the courts and the police station early in the new year, in order to create a shovel ready site for a new leisure attraction.

"We have very high standards for the type of attraction which this site needs and any future scheme will have to match those ambitions. To deliver on that we need serious investors and we will be heavily marketing this opportunity to get that international calibre of attraction."

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The cost for the demolition will be met from the £6.95m allocated to the scheme as part of the previous government's Levelling Up fund. According to reports Nikal went into administration after Ballast Nedam, the contractor that built the multi-storey car park, won a £4.6m claim against the developer.

Bonny Street police station, which has been empty since 2018, has recently been targeted by urban explorers. York-based explorer team MARKOEXPLORES and URBEXLEW gained access to the police station and courthouse, posting photographs in November of disused courts, custody suites, cells and offices.