Project Update: Anchorsholme Park Pumping Station

United Utilities is building a new pumping station at Anchorsholme Park as part of a town-wide scheme to update infrastructure and improve the quality of the bathing water.'¨
United Utilities works at Anchorsholme ParkUnited Utilities works at Anchorsholme Park
United Utilities works at Anchorsholme Park

As part of the scheme, facilities are also being provided for the park including a cafe and bowling club, as well as a multi-use games area.
The first phase of the scheme saw a huge underground storage tank built that can hold the equivalent of five Olympic-sized swimming pools of storm water.

Revised plans are being recommended for approval when they go before Blackpool Council’s planning committee on Tuesday.
However, they involve putting the water pumps above ground in a larger building, rather than being placed underground.

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A total of 13 of residents have officially objected to the revised applications, as have the Anchorsholme ward councillors Tony Williams and Paul Galley.
They say the changes proposed by United Utilities are not in keeping with the park.
Coun Galley said instead of wooden timber fencing and walls designed to be in keeping with a park setting, “we are seeing the pump motors being installed above ground level and steel railings instead of the timber we were promised.”

United Utilities says its revised plans actually increase the amount of green space in the park, while the pumps will not be seen because they will be housed inside a building.
They say metal railings will be longer lasting than wood, and the gabian walls originally propose “are prone to vandalism.”

Town planners say the new design is acceptable and is considered to be a “sustainable development.”
They have recommended councillors to approve the application.