A new lease of life for Prom building?

Renovation work is being carried out at the former ice rink in Jubilee Gardens, which went into liquidation late last year.

Ward councillor John Hodgkinson said he was told the building is being turned into a trampoline centre, but said he didn’t know who was carrying out the work.

However, no plans have yet been lodged for a change of use of the venue.

“I haven’t heard any hard or fast details,” he said. “But anything to keep it open would be welcome in my opinion.”

Coun Hodgkinson said an upcoming trampoline centre in nearby Blackpool could prove to be tricky competition to one in Cleveleys, although he hopes it will go on to become successful.

Around 30 jobs will be created when buildings in Cornford Road, Marton, are transformed as part of a £700,000 project – which would see it become one of the biggest trampoline centres in the north west.

Coun Hodgkinson said: “This [a rival opening nearby] is one of the reasons why the ice rink didn’t do as well as people thought it would. They must have taken this into consideration though, so hopefully it will be worthwhile and a successful business.”

Fellow councillor Andrea Kay said she was ‘excited’ by the prospect of a trampoline centre, saying she had been ‘worried’ about the building sitting empty.

Former ice rink owner Mehdi Afshar, who took over when Kenny Hanson’s venture Sub Zero was liquidated in 2013, blamed Blackpool Council for his own closure in September 2014, after the authority gave the nod for a rival ice rink less than three miles away at the former TVR building in Bispham.

Speaking at the time, planning committee chair Coun David Owen said councillors could not reject applications on the basis of commercial competition.

The arena last closed at the end of October, with the trustee-run venue citing the need for ‘essential maintenance’.

In a statement, insolvency firm Adcroft Hilton said it had been instructed to put the company into liquidation.

A spokeswoman for Wyre Council said no application to change the building’s use has been submitted so far.

And senior planning officer Lyndsey Hayes said: “The original planning permission includes a condition restricting each of the approved buildings to be used for their original purpose and for no other purpose without planning permission.

“Since then, other applications have been forthcoming to vary the condition to allow this building, originally approved as a health and fitness club, to be used for other uses, including bingo hall, bowling alley, and most recently an ice rink.”