Blackpool seeking £63m towards new university, an Indigo boutique hotel and town centre traffic plans

After having a £20m bid rejected in the first round of Levelling Up last October, the resort will this month submit ambitious proposals asking for three times as much money.

Blackpool has teamed up with neighbouring Wyre Council to assemble a £40m bid towards building a multiversity at a total cost of £65m.

It will also resubmit a separate bid, this time for £8m, towards the £26m cost of transforming the former Abingdon Street Post Office into a boutique hotel.

Meanwhile a third bid hopes to secure £15.4m towards a town centre access scheme, which would include pedestrianising the area around the multiversity.

A council report says three separate bids are permitted because they cover each of Blackpool's parliamentary constituencies (Blackpool South and Blackpool North and Cleveleys), as well as a separate, stand-alone transport bid.

The multiversity has the support of neighbouring Wyre and Fylde councils because it will benefit the whole Fylde coast.

The report adds: "The council has been at the forefront of Blackpool’s ongoing regeneration for over a decade now, leading on a number of major development projects across the town that are catalysing longer term economic growth."

It says the three projects provide "major redevelopment opportunities", and should the bids be successful "the additional funding will accelerate these three priority schemes significantly."

The three schemes are -

MultiversityThe total development cost of £65m would be met by £40m from the Levelling Up Fund, £9m site assembly costs already approved as part of the Town Deal, and £16m from a Blackpool Council loan to be prudentially borrowed and repaid by Blackpool and the Fylde College via a lease.

It would be delivered through a partnership between the council and the college in association with Lancaster University offering skills training to meet the needs of local, regional and national employers and able to accommodate around 2,700 students.

Refurbishment of former Post Office and conversion into a Hotel Indigo

Total development cost is £26m which would include £8m of Levelling Up grant, £2.9m from developers Ashall Projects, and up to £15.1m from a council loan to be prudentially borrowed and repaid by the developer.

The scheme would rescue the Grade II listed building from decay and convert it into a new four star 144 room Indigo hotel, including 48 family suites.

A council report says the scheme "has a significant viability gap given the complex nature of the works", but would create new jobs, link in with transport routes and "help Blackpool break its current dependency on short-stay tourism and will attract visitors with greater spending power".

Town Centre Access SchemeThe total development cost is £17.1m which would be met by £15.4m from the Levelling Up Fund and £1.7m from the Local Transport Plan.

The scheme aims to provide "better traffic circulation within an improved public realm, benefiting walking, cycling and bus access and will improve the transport interchange whilst also incorporating additional bus priority measures."

Plans would complement other parts of the bid, and include pedestrian areas around the multiversity campus.