New bid unveiled for 160 room hotel next to Blackpool's Winter Gardens

The revised scheme is the fourth application to come forward for the site between Leopold Grove, Alfred Street and Adelaide Street in the past decade.

Each previous proposal has been approved by town hall planners, but has subsequently stalled, leaving the land to be used mainly as a town centre car park.

But it is hoped the completion of the new conference centre at the Winter Gardens next year will revive investment in a hotel.

Applicant Kewdeal is seeking permission for a four storey building with 160 bedrooms, a cafe and bar on the ground floor and a double level car park with 95 spaces.

The hotel would occupy half of the site, including a landscaped garden separating it from the car park and be designed in an art deco style.

It is also hoped to create an enclosed bridge linking the second floor of the hotel with the conference centre – an aspiration which was included in the previous application.

Leopold Grove could also be partially pedestrianised.

A planning statement accompanying the application says: “Development at this site with a high-quality building will contribute to the regeneration of this area, complementing the undergoing construction of the adjacent Winter Gardens conference facility and contributing to national and economic recovery in the Covid-19 world.”

In March this year the site was put up for sale with a £2.5m price tag, but it is believed to have remained in the hands of the original owner who wants to press ahead with development.

Blackpool Council has agreed to sell land it owns on Leopold Grove, which is currently used as a site compound for the conference centre construction, to Kewdeal so it can be included in the proposed development site.

The first hotel application for the site was for a building up to six storeys in height with 156 rooms which was approved in 2011, followed by a further approval in 2016, and a third plan was agreed in 2018 for up to 203 rooms.

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