Blackpool housing scheme moving ahead

The scheme for a parcel of land between Ryscar Way and Faraday Way was granted outline planning permission last summer.

The selected house-builder has not been named but a town hall report says they offered the best deal following a campaign to market the land.

The site is one of three which were allocated £3.1m of government funding in 2018 to unlock council-owned land for development.

The money should have been spent by the end of March this year, but the deadline has been extended to the end of September because planning permission is not yet in place for the other two sites at Blackpool Road and Bispham Road.

The latter is the site of the former Bispham High School and the application needs government approval because the land was previously used for education.

There is also a need to find alternative sports pitches because the former school playing fields would be built on.

But the council is marketing the two sites to potential developers and is confident planning permission will be approved.

A report to the executive, which is due to consider the issue when it meets on Monday says: "There is no reason why any of these sites’ planning applications should be refused, based on the investigations, discussions with planners and amendments made.

"However, if a permission is refused there is a strong likelihood of obtaining approval by way of a planning appeal and this will be actioned if required."

The government funding, which is from the Land Release Fund, can be used to install road junctions or utilities which are needed before a site can be redeveloped.

The sale of the three sites will bring in money to help fund council services, provide family homes and help the council meet its five year housing supply targets.