The news of the publication of a report from Lancashire County Council regarding the harmful impact of the Jameson Road landfill has been welcomed - but campaigners say it does not go far enough.

The report vindicates what residents have now been saying for a substantial period of time, which is positive and frustrating in equal measure.

They say that the conversation now needs to switch to planning the closure of the site - and that given the evidence in the report, it is unhelpful to describe toxic harm as ‘unlikely’ in its wording.

And then, shortly before publication, came the news that Wyre Council will face Transwaste in court.

We’ve been reporting extensively on the campaign against the Jameson Road landfill since the beginning. We have been able to do so thanks to paying subscribers and we hope you can join in support us today.

Blackpool briefing

🛎️ Owners of a Blackpool hotel where a child died after suffering an electric shock in the lobby have been fined £120,000 over health and safety offences. Blackpool Council successfully brought charges against Y7 Hotels Ltd, owner of the Tiffany Hotel on North Promenade, following the incident in September 2023. Jack Piper-Sheach, 10, suffered an electric shock in the reception area of the hotel and died in hospital four days later. He and his family had been visiting Blackpool from Lincolnshire. Investigations were launched by Lancashire Police and Blackpool Council. Lancashire Police found no criminal case to answer relating to the death. Blackpool Council later brought charges against Y7 Hotels Ltd for offences contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. None of the charges related to the death of the child. Representatives of the business attended Preston Crown Court on Wednesday 15 April 2026 and entered a guilty plea to two offences, in relation to the Tiffany Hotel, Blackpool. At a sentencing hearing on Friday 26 June, Y7 Hotels Ltd was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £24,000 costs to Blackpool Council.

🎵 The government has committed £20m towards the development of an arena at the Blackpool Central site after successful lobbying from the area’s MP Chris Webb. This is not a ‘deal to build a huge £20m indoor arena’ as has been reported elsewhere - that is getting far too giddy about things. Instead, it will fund the next stage of work which includes assessing any arena’s feasibility, developing a business case and seeking private-sector investment. The funding comes from Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy. Webb said: “This funding gives Blackpool the opportunity to properly test whether the project is commercially viable and put us in the strongest possible position to attract an experienced private-sector partner with the expertise to develop, operate and programme a world-class venue. “If an arena is to succeed, it must be the right arena, with the right operator and the right business case. That means bringing major concerts, sporting events, e-sports, comedy, exhibitions and live entertainment to Blackpool while complementing, not competing with, our existing attractions and cultural venues.”

🥟 Blackpool’s oldest pier has been sold - with the new owners vowing a £10m investment package to restore it. North Pier, which opened in 1863 and is Grade-II listed, has been purchased by London-based Okken Limited after being listed for sale last year. The company said it would given the structure the refurbishment it clearly needs, while improving the theatre and opening a new bar. More on this in future editions.

Share

Wyre Council braced for court battle with Transwaste over Jameson Road landfill

By Luke Beardsworth

Wyre Council will face the operator of the Jameson Road landfill - Transwaste - in court after the firm appealed an abatement notice.

The authority issues the abatement notice to Transwaste on 30 April with it legally requiring them to stop unwanted odour from impacting residents by the deadline of the end of June.

But The Blackpool Lead has learned that Transwaste has appealed the terms of that abatement notice and that Wyre Council will present the evidence it has gathered - driven by those in the community affected - in court.

A decision is expected within the next few months. Separately, Wyre Council will be undertaking a review to determine whether the nuisance has abated over the previous 60 days or not with a view to reaching a ‘robust and defensible’ decision.

The news comes after the publication of a report that concludes the landfill is having a significant impact on the lives of people in Fleetwood.

The Environment Agency, who advised The Blackpool Lead for the first time in May that closure of the landfill that has impacted residents for over two years was being seriously considered, have now said that they intend to treat closure as a ‘last resort’.

And that follows the publication of a community impact report by Lancashire County Council last week (26 June) which found that the odour from the site was having a ‘significant and ongoing impact on health and wellbeing’ in Fleetwood. That report, while positive in acknowledging the impact, stopped short of recommending the closure of the site and instead recommends ‘strengthened action’ and ‘transparent communication’.

Subscribe now

It means that the residents of Fleetwood have been told by two public bodies that they will need to continue to live with the odours of the landfill - and the symptoms that include nausea, headaches, respiratory issues and nausea - something one campaigner described as ‘pathetic’.

Jess Brown, from Action Against Jameson Road Landfill, told The Blackpool Lead: “There are definitely some positives [from the LCC report]. The report finally shows what we’ve all been saying for the last two years.

“But it doesn’t go far enough. The report recommends that no additional waste should be brought into Jameson Road until the odour problems are effectively managed.

Read more

On Wednesday, we reported that the cases of Preston Davey and Damion Russell had deeply concerning parallels - most notably that Damion had been seen at Blackpool Victoria Hospital the day before Preston Davey was treated there. In both instances, the hospital did not raise the alarm despite opportunities to do so. In both instances, the children would go on to be murdered.

Our reporting ultimately led that evening’s BBC North West Tonight bulletin at 6.30pm and we thank the BBC for mentioning that it was The Blackpool Lead who uncovered these facts.

It was also picked up - without mentioning who did the work and the research - by The Gazette, Daily Mail, LancsLive, Daily Express, Mirror and Daily Star.

We felt strongly that the reporting was important and crucial to any campaign work to bring about any change to ensure children get the protection they are owed - that’s why we made it free for everyone to read.

But it’s an important reminder of the need to support investigative journalism at its source. This story was reported because of our work - and we hope you can take a paid subscription to back what we do.

Subscribe now

Blackpool briefing

🚗 Blackpool Council has spent nearly £6 million improving road surfaces across the town, including repairing potholes, since the end of last year. The council’s highways department have fixed more than 50 roads, with more repairs on the way. But a councillor has called on the authority to be more pro-active in dealing with erosion, to prevent the roads developing potholes in the first place Cllr Julie Sloman said the issue was particularly urgent in the case of the Fylde coast’s cyclists, who risk serious injury when they encounter potholes. She has asked the council to consider dealing with repairs whilst they are minor rather than for them to breach the minimum 40 mm intervention threshold. The scale of the council’s effort to improve roads was highlighted in a report by Cllr Paula Burdess, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Street Scene and Neighbourhoods, who presented a report to Full Council on Wednesday.

🚧 Work is finally set to start on a multi-million pound project to build a seven-storey block of luxury apartments on Blackpool seafront. The project is based on the site of the former Ambassador Hotel, on the Promenade at North Shore, which was demolished in 2020 after it was deemed unsafe after a huge blaze there in 2018. The ambitious proposals entail plans for a development of 26 two-bedroom, “5-star luxury” serviced apartments for holiday rentals after planners gave the seven-storey scheme the green light. It was initially anticipated that work would begin in early 2023, with a spring 2024 launch, but three years down the line there was no sign of that. However, this week one of the leading figures involved with the scheme said progress would get underway very soon. The project, officially named “The New Ambassador”, is being led by the Dutch investment group Ciconia, with Cifra Solutions has been involved in cost planning, design coordination, and managing approvals. As the site currently stands, hoardings are advertising that the holiday let project will be “coming soon in 2027”.

🩺 Blackpool Council has released a statement clarifying its involvement with the Preston Davey case. Preston became the subject of a national tragedy after he was physically abused, sexually assaulted, and then murdered by his prospective adoptive father, Jamie Varley, in July 2023. Varley, 38, was handed a whole life term last week after a lengthy trial. He was found guilty of murder and a raft of child sex offences, while partner John McGowan Fazakerley was given a 25 year term for allowing the death of a child, child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child. The pair were living in Grimsargh at the time of their arrest. Blackpool Council says that while its thoughts continue to be with Preston’s devastated family, it is also keen to clarify its involvement with the case which, although linked to Blackpool, did not directly involve the council. The authority says that Preston was not known to Blackpool Council during his short life, as the care and adoption proceedings of his case were undertaken by Oldham Children’s Services. Additionally, the council says the couple who adopted him and went on to cause his death, Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley, lived within the Lancashire County Council area.

Share

Carnival atmosphere forecast for Tour of Britain’s time in Blackpool

By Michael Holmes

A “carnival atmosphere” is expected to descend on Blackpool when it hosts the Tour of Britain’s Women’s race later this summer.

The elite race’s second stage will come to an end at the Solaris Centre on the Prom in South Shore, with millions expected to tune in to see some of cycling’s finest female athletes speeding along the seafront towards their destination.

Town hall bosses, who have pledged £50,000 to the cause, hope to showcase the “pinnacle of women’s professional road racing” and give the resort’s economy and reputation a welcome boost.

They also hope the publicity and buzz around the five-stage event, which will arrive in Blackpool on August 20, will spark a love of cycling in local women and girls.

“The women’s tour provides visible role models at the very highest level of sport, helping to break down barriers and show what’s possible,” a council spokesperson told The Blackpool Lead.

Subscribe now

They added: “It brings a major sporting event right into the heart of the resort, highlighting iconic locations and creating a vibrant atmosphere for residents and visitors alike.

“It also reinforces Blackpool’s position as a destination for world-class events.

“The tour is designed to bring communities together and create moments of civic pride, while showcasing local character to a wider broadcast audience.”

About 2,000 resort hotel beds will be needed to accommodate the event entourage - plus more for spectators.

Read more

The death of Preston Davey made national headlines and there have rightly been calls - led by The Post and The Gazette - for an inquiry into the failures that allowed such prolonged and cruel abuse to take place despite opportunities from both adoption services and Blackpool Victoria Hospital to raise the alarm.

Our investigation, published today, shows that Preston was not the first. The day before an opportunity was missed to save Preston, another child was taken into Blackpool Victoria Hospital. He had a bruise on his head, the alarm wasn’t raised. That child, too, was later murdered.

The Blackpool Lead can only continue to publish investigations like today’s if we have paying subscribers. We are ad-free and clickbait free - only the news that matters most before everyone else gets to it. Consider taking a paid subscription here - for less than £1 per week - and keep independent journalism thriving in Blackpool.

This edition of particular importance and, for that reason, we have made it completely free for all readers.

Blackpool briefing

🗳️ Both Blackpool MPs have thrown their weight behind Andy Burnham to become the new leader of the Labour Party - and Prime Minister - after the news of Keir Starmer’s resignation. Chris Webb, for Blackpool South, said: “Andy Burnham has my full support. I voted for Andy in both the 2010 and 2015 leadership contests because I believed then, as I do now, that he understands the challenges facing working people and communities like ours. He has the ability to connect with the public, to inspire hope and to honestly articulate why difficult decisions sometimes need to be made.” While Lorraine Beavers, for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, said: “Communities like mine, who have been decimated by years of austerity and privatisation, still feel unheard. This is why I called for his resignation. For too long, the voice of the North has been drowned out by a Westminster too focussed on London – and I know that other communities across the country feel the same. Andy Burnham ran a campaign in Makerfield based on hope, fairness, justice and a redistribution of power, securing an overwhelming victory. His success proves that these are the values people want to see and, as the Labour Party, we must now work to the same goal.”

⛪ A funding problem has hit ambitious plans for a vital new youth amenity in an area of Blackpool. The proposals for a new Youth & Skills Space at Layton Methodist Church are approved and ready to move into the construction phase. However, rising costs have created a final funding gap which must be closed before work can begin. The project has been developed over the past three years through conversations with young people, families, residents and local partners. At the recent Layton Youth Forum, young people again highlighted the importance of somewhere welcoming to meet, practical activities to take part in, trusted adults around them and clearer routes into skills, training and work. The Youth & Skills Space will respond to that remit. It will create a dedicated, accessible base for activities, digital learning, cookery, mentoring, wellbeing support, volunteering and support into training, apprenticeships and employment.

🍴 An empty site within Blackpool town centre could feature a shiny aluminium hot food kiosk, if plans get the go ahead. The “visually distinct” American Airstream-style unit would be sited at a vacant plot on the corner of East Topping Street and Deangate. An application has been submitted to planners for use of land for the siting of a catering trailer – with associated generator – for the sale of refreshments and installation of hard surfacing, planters, and 2.4m security fencing. The applicant is listed as Mr Paul Wilson, of the company Location Sensation Ltd. A heritage statement submitted in support of the proposals notes that the site falls within the Blackpool Extended Town Centre Conservation Area.

Share

Blackpool Victoria Hospital saw two children, later murdered, in 24 hours and failed to raise alarm

By Michael Holmes

Medics at Blackpool Victoria Hospital failed to flag a suspicious injury to another child murder victim just hours before a crucial missed opportunity to save Preston Davey, it can be revealed.

Healthcare workers noticed a bruise on two-year-old Damion Russell’s head but did not ask his father how it had happened, despite safeguarding rules requiring them to do so.

Less than eight weeks later, Damion was dead, killed in a “horrifically violent” attack by his father Daniel Hardcastle.

Damion’s Vic visit came on June 29 2023 - a day before a poorly Preston was taken to A&E with bruising that also failed to trigger an intervention.

A month later, Preston was murdered by his adoptive father, 37-year-old South Shore Academy teacher Jamie Varley.

It was the second of three A&E trips in the run-up to the 13-month-old’s slaying.

Today’s revelation, which follows a Blackpool Lead investigation, raises more questions about safeguarding at the Vic.

Subscribe now

Blackpool South’s Labour MP Chris Webb said: “We need to do better, and we know that the state has been failing these young kids, young babies.”

Damion was born in July 2021 and spent his first 10 months with his mother before being taken into care.

He then lived for almost nine months with foster parents, who described him as a “delight” who would “light up any room with his smile and his chuckle”.

After a DNA test proved he was Damion’s father, Hardcastle was granted sole custody and the pair moved into a Central Drive flat in May 2023.

He died three months later from a brain injury after being attacked by Hardcastle, whose murder trial was told the boy was “covered in injuries, top to toe and front to back”.

They included an adult bite mark, broken ribs, bruising and a tear inside his lip as if a drinking bottle had been shoved into his mouth.

Hardcastle claimed Damion had fallen and banged his head on a coffee table - but his trial was told the defendant had either forcefully shaken the child and banged his head or smacked it against a solid object.

Hardcastle is now serving a jail term of at least 22 years, with Preston Crown Court told he had googled several times for how to treat bruising in children and how long it lasts.

A later child protection review by Blackpool Council, similar to the one now being carried out into Preston’s life and death by Oldham Council, said Damion was seen with bruising four times between going to live with his father and his death.

A family support worker on a weekly visit saw a small bruise on the boy’s head on May 20 2023 and raised it with Hardcastle, who blamed his son for being unsteady on his feet.

Six days later, Damion was seen with a “small, faded bruise” on his head at the Home-Start toddler group. After being challenged, Hardcastle again blamed Damion’s lack of balance.

And on May 31, the support worker saw bruises on the child’s head that appeared to be “fading” - with Hardcastle telling her they were from “multiple stumbles” over the last week.

The review found: “On all of the occasions set out above, when a bruise was observed, practitioners followed expected practice by asking about the bruise.

“The conclusion of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review is that practitioners’ acceptance of the father’s explanation for the bruising on each occasion was reasonable.

“(Damion) was known to have developmental delay and the unsteadiness on his feet aligned with his development stage.

“(The boy) was also observed by professionals as being unsteady on his feet on numerous occasions and the bruises were on an exposed and prominent part of the body, which is a natural place for accidental bruising to occur.”

But the review continued: “The only time practitioners did not follow expected practice was when (Damion) was taken to hospital, having suffered a febrile convulsion, on June 29 2023.

“It was noted that (Damion) had an ‘old, mild black bruise spot’ on his forehead. The father was not asked about this, which was the expected practice.”

The Blackpool Lead asked the Vic why it was the one setting where such a basic safeguarding question was not asked.

It did not answer.

It also did not say, when asked, if Damion and Preston were seen by the same medics, or answer several other key questions.

Instead, it released a statement from chief executive Maggie Oldham saying: “This was a deeply tragic and upsetting case, and our thoughts remain with Damion’s family and loved ones.”

She said the Vic “fully accepts” the reviews findings and, while it made “no specific recommendations relating to Damion’s treatment while under the care of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, we recognise the importance of continuing to strengthen practice and provide reassurance to families using our services”.

Oldham continued: “Importantly, work was already underway before the review was published to support staff in the Emergency Department and in other areas where children are cared for.

“This has focused on making sure appropriate examinations take place, that staff are confident in asking the right questions, and that any concerns are considered and escalated in line with safeguarding processes.

“Families bringing their children to our hospital can expect our teams to ask questions about any bumps, bruises or other injuries identified, whether recent or older. For babies who are not walking independently, our teams will carry out a full examination while they are in the Emergency Department.”

Share

On June 30 2023, the day after Damion’s admission, Preston was taken to the Vic by his adoptive fathers Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley, with medics noting a bruise on the youngster’s head.

Varley told nurses that Preston had pulled a toy box on to himself while playing and showed them an almost two-week-old video in a bid to hide his evil deeds.

The fact he succeeded has been branded a “massive safeguarding failure” by Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel De Souza, who said last week: “I have huge numbers of questions and I’m not going to let go until I have the answers.”

And Webb told The Blackpool Lead: “We put in vulnerable mechanisms to protect vulnerable individuals who don’t have a voice for themselves.

“But clearly it’s not been as successful as it should be in identifying issues and making sure they’re investigated properly.”

Webb, as well as Fylde MP Andrew Snowden, has called for a public inquiry into possible safeguarding failures linked to Preston Davey.

He said: “This isn’t about pointing a finger at any individual, body, organisation, institution - there’s just been failings right across the board.

“For many of us, especially those of us with young children, especially young boys, it has been a real concern and these cases are just heartbreaking.”

He continued: “We have to do better. This cannot happen. When you read the horrific revelations through baby Preston’s whole case and what occurred there, it’s just unimaginable.

“I had to put the reports I was getting and the briefings I was getting down several times, because it was just so hard to read and imagine that someone could do that to a child.”

Asked what answers he is specifically looking for from the inquiry into Preston’s death, Webb said there is a need to make sure the “right questions are asked, rather than how the hell were these vile, evil individuals” allowed to adopt in the first place.

“I think, for me, this is looking at where did those systems fail? When issues were raised, why weren’t they followed up?

“Why were they dismissed so easily?”

There are concerns locally that those involved in Preston’s care may have positively discriminated against his killers, refusing to believe that a teacher and his privately educated salesman boyfriend could act so malevolently.

“Why were the parents believed so easily and these concerns not flagged?” Webb asked.

“Was there an unconscious bias because they were same-sex parents?

“These are legitimate questions we do have to talk about and ask.

“Was that an issue? Were hospital staff uncomfortable raising that?

“Was it because he was a teacher, so instantly that meant, ‘Oh, he must be a good person, he’s a teacher - it will be fine, his story must check out’?”

Share

Leave a comment

We knew that Blackpool Council was set to submit its plans for the regeneration of Central Drive and those plans are now public.

If approved - and the council clearly expects it will be - the blueprint will see 300 properties demolished to be replaced with 230 new homes.

Few argue with the need to provide a boost to what is one of the most impoverished areas in the country - but calls for the area to be improved without displacing people from their homes have so far fallen on deaf ears.

Today we unpack what was in that planning application and look at how people locally are responding.

If you’re reading this, we need your support. The Blackpool Lead can only continue to publish the news that has much bigger titles scrambling to mimic us if we have paying subscribers. We are ad-free and clickbait free - only the news that matters most before everyone else gets to it. Consider taking a paid subscription here - for less than £1 per week - and keep independent journalism thriving in Blackpool.

Blackpool briefing

🏠 Proposals to use a premises in Blackpool’s North Shore as four self-contained flats have been given consent by planners. The applicants were seeking a Certificate of Lawfulness Existing for a property at 21 Chesterfield Road. Planners at Blackpool Council agreed to grant a Certificate of Lawfulness after investigating the premises. The owners of a property generally require a Lawful Development Certificate to legally regularize the conversion of a property into multiple flats without facing enforcement action, to secure mortgages, and to provide formal assurance to prospective buyers. It requires an application to the local council and if granted, it means that the applicant does not have to apply for planning permission for their plans, which would be potentially more difficult and costly. The owners of this property were able to prove that the premises had been used as four flats for some 20 years.

🩺 A 44 year mum-of-three from Blackpool died in hospital after a number of serious health challenges were made worse by self-neglect and other factors. A review by Blackpool Safeguarding Partnerships also heard that, although there had been no evidence that agencies had failed, a number of lessons would need to be learned. The woman, identified only as ‘Alex’ lived with significant health and mobility challenges linked to morbid obesity. She died in Blackpool Victoria Hospital in 2024 from sepsis, lobar pneumonia, cellulitis and a urinary tract infection, with morbid obesity as a contributing factor. Alex’s death was referred for a Safeguarding Adult Review due to concerns about the living environment and family circumstances.

👷🏻‍♂️ Two in five of Blackpool’s most disadvantaged pupils are not in formal education or training at the start of Year 12, according to new research. It shows that figures for the town are the highest rate in the North West, The report — Class dismissed, commissioned by Teach First and conducted by the Education Policy Institute — reveals the outcome gap that persistently disadvantaged pupils, who are eligible for Free School Meals for at least 80% of their time in school -are facing across England. The research follows the recent publication of the Government’s Young people and work: interim report conducted by Rt Hon Alan Milburn, which found that the UK faces one of the highest rates of NEET youth in Europe, in a ‘national crisis of opportunity’. However, efforts are being made to tackle this and Blackpool South MP Chris Webb welcomed the news last week that the town has been included in a new government-backed AI Native Youth programme to help young people, using digital apprenticeships.

Share

They want to kick us out and trash our home: Anger as plans for Central Drive regeneration formally submitted

By Luke Beardsworth

Detailed plans setting out the demolition of up to 300 properties to be replaced with 230 homes have now been set out by Blackpool Council.

They are part of what the council describes as a ‘major intervention’ to return the Central Drive area to its heyday but there remain a significant number of local residents who are unhappy with the plans which were previously described as the displacement of a community.

The area being demolished includes homes around Central Drive and roads off it such as Montrose Avenue, Rydal Avenue, Salthouse Avenue, Chadwick Street and Erdington Road.

The council said that its ‘ambition’ is for all the new houses to be social housing, something that would serve to improve the conditions and affordability in an area dominated by private rented housing.

But that remains an ambition for the time being and The Blackpool Lead understands that affordability concerns may result in it being scaled back. We asked a number of questions of Blackpool Council on this point but did not receive a response.

Subscribe now

And there has been significant concern raised in the community by homeowners who say that the cost of moving out of one of the most affordable areas in the country is not being covered by the council’s offers of compensation.

This has resulted in a number of meetings and campaign efforts led by Rev Matthew Lockwood, leader of nearby Beacon Church, and later the housing community union Acorn.

There is a broad consensus from the consultation process and anyone The Blackpool Lead has spoken with that the area is in need of regeneration. While 10% of the properties are already empty and over 100 people have agreed to sell their property, some residents believe the fact that more than 70% of owners have asked for an offer is a red herring because the offers are not substantial enough to properly compensate people.

The scale of the problems that the existing homes face has also been called into question.

Anna Penfold, 41 of Rydal Avenue, told The Blackpool Lead: “We’ve been trying to make them understand by going to all these meetings but because we turn up as a group, they refuse us the information we need.

Read more

A famous old quote of questionable attribution reads: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” If you think misinformation is a new challenge, there’s a sharper one from 1834 that says: “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after.”

But Facebook has made that all the more challenging. People can post a lie - or even a rumour in good faith - that is read tens of thousands of time before a reporter is able to factcheck and publish the reality. And every time, the truth will reach fewer people than the lie.

It’s why we think it’s important to support local journalism. Misinformation thrives where local journalism isn’t able to dig into what’s being posted and debunk it. Today local MP Chris Webb writes for us on the challenge all of this poses.

It also coincides with Indie News Week which celebrates independent news titles, like The Blackpool Lead, across the UK. The influence and power of big tech companies like Meta, coupled with the dominance of three big companies in the local news space along with a publicly-funded publisher in the BBC, means that it’s an enormous challenge to exist as an independent news publisher that tries to do things the right way.

We hope you can take the opportunity to take a paid subscription to The Blackpool Lead and help us to keep going strong and publishing the sort of journalism that others either don’t have the time or will to publish. Join us here.

Subscribe now

The real threat to democracy is online

By Chris Webb, MP for Blackpool South

When people talk about threats to democracy they often point to Westminster, but one of the biggest threats facing our democracy today is in our hands.

Our smartphones allow us to access a world of information – but not all of it accurate. New research from the Social Market Foundation found that fake news in local online groups quadrupled during the Makerfield by-election campaign. Researchers found AI-generated images, fabricated stories and misleading content being shared widely. In some local Facebook groups, one in six news stories shared was false.

But this isn’t just about one by-election in Greater Manchester. It’s about what happens when more and more people get their news from anonymous social media accounts instead of trusted journalism or official sources like the police.

I regularly see examples of it here in Blackpool. Recently, rumours spread online about an alleged attack on a woman and children by an asylum seeker at a local railway station. The story spread quickly and people were understandably concerned.

The problem was that it wasn’t true. And even after I publicly corrected the record, local journalists were still receiving calls and messages from people who had seen the claims online and believed them.

I’ve seen the same thing happen with rumours about housing developments in Blackpool. Over many months, false claims have circulated online suggesting a new development would be used to house asylum seekers. Time and again those claims have been debunked. I’ve done so publicly, local journalists reported the facts and others in the community tried to put the record straight.

But the rumours kept coming back – peddled by groups seeking to cause division in our communities and create moral panic about asylum seekers.

They understand that once something takes hold online, it can be incredibly difficult to stop. People see the same claim repeated over and over again and eventually some start to assume there must be some truth in it. The result is confusion, mistrust and division.

As MPs, we’re increasingly spending time dealing with online rumours – time that could be spent helping residents with housing issues, NHS problems or benefit cases is instead spent correcting misinformation.

One of the reasons Blackpool residents voted for me was because I am a local lad with an innate understanding of life in Blackpool. But during the Blackpool South by-election and the general election that followed, false claims circulated suggesting I was actually born in Manchester and that I’d spent years misleading residents about my background.

I found it quite funny at first. If opponents were trying that hard to challenge our message that I was Blackpool born and bred, then clearly the message was cutting through. What wasn’t funny was seeing those claims continue long after they had been disproved.

Campaigners in an opposition party who knew they weren’t true continued repeating them. Even now, years later, they still occasionally reappear on social media. I sometimes joke that I could publish my birth certificate like Barack Obama and some people still wouldn’t believe it. But there is a serious point here.

Misinformation doesn’t survive simply because people don’t know the facts. Sometimes it survives because it is useful to those spreading it. Sometimes it’s confirmation bias – people believe it because they want to. And that’s what makes it so dangerous.

If elections become dominated by misinformation, AI-generated content and outrage designed to drive clicks, it becomes harder for voters to make informed decisions. Trust in politics falls even further, public debate becomes more toxic and people stop seeing political opponents as neighbours with different views and start seeing them as enemies. That should concern all of us, regardless of which party we support.

This isn’t about restricting free speech. People have every right to disagree with politicians, to challenge decisions and hold those in power to account. But democracy depends on us all having the facts. Without that, meaningful debate becomes almost impossible.

So how do we challenge this?

Social media companies need to take more responsibility for what is being amplified on their platforms, particularly during elections. They cannot continue profiting from engagement while ignoring the damage caused by coordinated misinformation campaigns.

We also need to support local journalism. Local newspapers and journalists play a vital role in checking facts and holding people like me to account. When local journalism declines, misinformation has an opportunity to fill in the gaps.

Subscribe now

And we need to help people navigate an online world where not everything they see is what it appears to be. That means teaching people how to check sources, question suspicious content and think critically before sharing something online.

Ultimately, we all of have a responsibility to do our best not to spread misinformation. Before sharing something that makes us angry or shocked we need to take a moment – ask where it came from, whether it’s been verified and whether it’s actually true.

The events in Makerfield should be a warning and the rumours we’ve seen spread in Blackpool show that this is not somebody else’s problem. It’s happening here and the threat misinformation poses to our democracy is real.

The question is whether we’re prepared to tackle it before the problem becomes even harder to put right.

Share

Leave a comment

Today Jamie Varley - along with his partner John McGowan-Fazakerley - was sentenced at Preston Crown Court.

Statements were read out from Sarah Davey, Preston’s biological mother, Gary Nolan, his biological father and foster parents Paul and Sandra Cooper.

Among the many emotional elements of those statements, that spoke of an ‘amazing little boy’ who was never allowed a normal life, Paul Cooper described putting trust into a system to care for a child. He said that trust has now been lost.

Questions will now rightly be asked of how two individuals were able to abuse a child so thoroughly, cruelly and brazenly over the course of four months, and several hospital visits, without proper and effective intervention.

This edition is free to read.

Subscribe now

Jamie Varley will never be released - but Preston Davey’s murder was a massive safeguarding failure

A man who was found guilty of murdering and sexually abusing a baby boy he was in the process of adopting will never be released from jail.

Jamie Varley, 37, was given a whole life order at Preston Crown Court on Thursday (18 June) which means he will stay in prison for the rest of his life.

Varley, then a teacher and even a designated safeguarding lead at South Shore Academy in Blackpool, was also found guilty of seriously assaulting Preston Davey on an earlier occasion, as well as five counts of child cruelty and possessing and distributing indecent images of a child. All those offences related to baby Preston.  

His partner John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was found guilty of causing or allowing a child’s death, two child cruelty offences and a single sexual assault and was sentenced to 25 years, of which he will have to serve two thirds. 

Within weeks of entering the care of Varley and McGown-Fazakerley, Preston was being taken to hospital. On 25 May 2023, Preston was at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Police were contacted by the safeguarding staff at the hospital but medical staff advised there were no concerns about non-accidental injury.

That was the only contact police received from Blackpool Victoria Hospital until his death on 27 July - during which time Preston was the victim of physical cruelty, psychological cruelty and sexual assault.

He was taken to hospital three times in the run up to his death, with bruises and a broken arm all noted. The Vic’s safeguarding team on one occasion alerted police but no action was taken following input from a consultant.

The Vic did not answer The Blackpool Lead’s numerous questions earlier this week but provided a statement.

Maggie Oldham, the CEO of the NHS trust managing the hospital, said: “We are working closely with other agencies and are continuously improving our child safeguarding. We are committed to encouraging colleagues to speak up about anything they are not comfortable with or concerned about.

“We will now consider carefully all the evidence heard at the trial to identify if any further improvements are necessary, beyond the safeguards already in place.”

The hospital was unable to carry out a full inquiry into Preston’s treatment because of the police investigation and trial, but bosses are now expected to review evidence from court to see if any improvements can be made.

Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel De Souza said the murder was a “massive safeguarding failure” and she will pursue the question of whether it was preventable.

Speaking to the BBC prior to sentencing she said: “What do we know about Preston?

“We know that very early into his adoption, and he was only an adoption with his family for four months, very early, he was taken to hospital with bruises.

“The consultant dismissed it. Did they dismiss it because it was a teacher adopter?

“Did that evil abuser hoodwink people under that professional guise?

“The social worker saw him 20 days before he died. I want to know whether the correct level of professional curiosity was there.

“I have huge numbers of questions, and I’m not going to let go until I have the answers.”

Share

Leave a comment

The death of Preston Davey, and conviction of his adoptive parents, will just be the start of a process of trying to find answers on how something like this has been allowed to happen.

Baby Preston was born in prison and placed into foster care at five days old. He received treatment by the NHS in Blackpool and social services in Oldham in his short life.

Questions will be asked - of Blackpool Victoria Hospital in particular - about whether any opportunities for intervention were missed ahead of his death in 2023.

That is the focus of today’s issue, which may make for difficult reading.

If you’re reading this, we need your support. The Blackpool Lead can only continue to publish the news that has much bigger titles scrambling to mimic us if we have paying subscribers. We are ad-free and clickbait free - only the news that matters most before everyone else gets to it. Consider taking a paid subscription here - for less than £1 per week - and keep independent journalism thriving in Blackpool.

Blackpool briefing

🍴 A restaurant owner in Blackpool has vowed to appeal over a decision to revoke his premises licence over illegal worker claims. The Akash Tandoori restaurant on Topping Street is a popular and long-established eatery in the town which has been running for many years. But the Home Office says that when members of its North West Immigration Compliance Enforcement (ICE) team visited the restaurant, they found two men on the premises who were working there illegally. The Government department requested that Blackpool’s licensing committee consider revoking Akash’s premises license over its assertions that the two males were working in breach of their conditions or restrictions. Although Akash boss Iqbal Nooree put his own case to the committee, councillors agreed to revoke the licence. Now Mr Nooree has vowed to appeal against the decision and says he will “fight it all the way.”

🛎️ Proposals to demolish an empty hotel on South Shore seafront and replace it with 15 self-contained flats have been lodged with Blackpool planners. Planning documents show that 33 percent of the apartments (a total of five) will provide affordable housing, if the scheme gets the go ahead. The application is for the erection of a four storey building comprising 15 self-contained permanent apartments, following demolition of the former Henderson Hotel at 1 Wimbourne Place, a site close to Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort. The Henderson Hotel was one of three adjoining hotels being offered for sale early in 2025 at £1.9m as part of a potential redevelopment project.

👥 A new purpose-built Scouts headquarters which will also serve as a community hub in Blackpool’s Marton area has been given the green light. The new amenity, to be called the Marshall Centre, will be located at the former Marton Methodist Church site on Midgeland Road. A planning application was lodged with Blackpool Council planners, seeking permission for the erection of a single story building on the site for use as a Scout hut and community centre with associated car parking and landscaping. Now the scheme can press ahead after being granted planning permission.

Blackpool Victoria Hospital’s care of Preston Davey to be investigated after ‘pure evil’ murder

By Michael Holmes

An inquiry into the short life of Preston Davey, who was sexually abused by his new adoptive fathers before being murdered by one of them, will look into his hat-trick of admissions to Blackpool Victoria Hospital in the run up to his death.

The baby boy was treated at the Vic, in Whinney Heys Road, three times in the four months before his death in 2023, and was later found to have suffered around 40 deliberate injuries, including to his mouth, throat and bottom.

The child protection review can get under way now that South Shore Academy textiles teacher Jamie Varley, 37, and his ex-public schoolboy and financial sales manager boyfriend John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, both then of Staining Road in Staining and later of Chandlers Way, Grimsargh, have been convicted.

The pair’s trial heard some of the details - but now the review, which was suspended while court proceedings were ongoing, will officially examine every area of Preston’s life, from his birth in prison on June 16 2022 and placement in foster care at five days old, to his adoption by Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley on April 1 2023 and subsequent treatment by the NHS in Blackpool and social services in Oldham.

It will delve into the facts and aim to provide answers to some tough questions relating to the 13-month-old’s life and death.

An element of the review is expected to specifically look at whether any chances were missed during the care of Preston before his death.

Varley denied murder, manslaughter, and multiple child sex offences, including making indecent images of Preston, who he had renamed Elijah, and abusing him.

After an eight-week trial, he was found guilty of murder, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child, to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.

McGowan-Fazakerley denied allowing the death of a child, two counts of child cruelty and sexual assault of a child.

He was found guilty.

The couple’s trial, which exposed one of Britain’s worst child abuse cases and sickened the nation, was told about Preston’s hospital visits before his murder.

The first, on May 25, saw Varley rush into A&E with the boy at about 11.10am, telling paediatric sister Zoe Hellowell: “He’s not breathing.”

Hellowell said Preston was breathing, albeit ineffectively, but unresponsive and floppy.

He also had bruises on either side of his forehead.

Nurse Holly Edwards raised the alarm and police were contacted, with a medical report describing the injuries as “unexplained” and “inconsistent with a version of events given…”

At the time, Preston was diagnosed with a chest infection and recovered within four hours, though an expert witness for the prosecution threw the diagnosis into doubt - suggesting another cause for the boy’s symptoms.

In a statement read before the jury, Dr Mark Rosenthal, consultant respiratory paediatrician, said the condition Preston was in on the day of his hospital visit pointed towards a “non-accidental hypoxic event”, with causes including suffocation, aspiration or bleeding into the lungs.

He said Preston’s history of arriving at the hospital very unwell, confused and acidotic - when there is too much acid in the blood - along with having a seizure and then recovering could never be down to an infection.

No police action followed.

Read more

It’s the peak of summer and barely a few days can be allowed to pass before we are told of the latest heroics from coastguards operating in Blackpool.

HM Coastguard is not the RNLI. It is run by the government rather than as a charity. But the Coastguard Rescue Service, who were involved in potentially saving a life at Rossall beach just last month, are volunteers.

They currently get £11 an hour for attending training and incidents. That’s going to change now and there are warnings that the impact is going to be significant.

If you’re reading this, we need your support. The Blackpool Lead can only continue to publish the news that has much bigger titles scrambling to mimic us if we have paying subscribers. We are ad-free and clickbait free - only the news that matters most before everyone else gets to it. Consider taking a paid subscription here - for less than £1 per week - and keep independent journalism alive and well in Blackpool.

Blackpool briefing

🛎️ Neighbours of a run-down Blackpool hotel which was hit with a prohibition order a year ago say it has got even worse in the past 12 months. Local hoteliers want the owners of the OYO Blarney Stone Hotel to repair it and smarten it up because they say say it is blighting the holiday zone around it. Blackpool Council slapped an Emergency Prohibition Order (EPO) on the property, on Alexandra Road in South Shore, in May last year over a list of serious safety concerns, including bare wires and structural concerns. Neighbours believe the boarded-up property is still owned by OYO, also known as Oyo Rooms, but the company has said it does not own it and has no responsibility for how it is operated.

👷🏻‍♂️ Blackpool Council has vowed to complete a new housing development of 51 homes in Bispham despite being left £9.5m in debt after the developer went into administration. The homes were being built on a site between Faraday Way and Ryscar Way by Create Bispham Limited, part of Create Developments, after the council and Create entered into a development agreement in 2023 to redevelop the site. In April, Create Bispham Limited had to bring in administrators, with S&W Group being appointed. A Blackpool Council spokesperson said: “Building houses at Ryscar Way is key to creating more quality housing for the people of Blackpool.

🏠 Proposals to switch the use of an existing children’s home into a residential home for adults needing care have been approved by planners at Blackpool. A planning application was submitted to Blackpool Council in respect of a property on Beetham Place, close to Stanley Park. Despite the similar uses, a planning application was still required for the proposals, put forward by applicants the Priory Group, as they have different ‘use classifications’ in planning law. “We plan to continue the Ryscar Way development not just because of the housing need but for home owners already invested in the site. We will now endeavour to support and assist the completion of the site.”

Share

Plans to axe coastguard volunteer pay branded a ’car crash’

By Michael Holmes

Changes that will mean volunteer coastguard officers are no longer paid for responding to emergencies have been described as a “car crash”.

The officers (CROs), who make up the bulk of the Coastguard Rescue Service, the volunteer arm of HM Coastguard, currently get about £11 an hour - at a minimum of three hours - for attending training and incidents.

But, after a court judgement classed the officers as “workers” while they are carrying out their duties, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it needs to “change how the service operates”.

It has sparked a “lot of unrest”, The Blackpool Lead was told by a source, who asked not to be named.

“And it would be foolish to think that nationally we’ll not see resignations and reduced levels of commitment later this year.

Read more

Last week, fire crews from Fleetwood, Preston, Morecambe and Blackpool responded to the sort of fire you can see for miles around at Lord Street in Fleetwood itself.

Two teenagers have been arrested and bailed after the fire, but it is undoubtedly true that the crews deserve immense praise for the way they dealt with the incident over a 24 hour-plus period.

The need for quick responses to incidents like this is inarguable - but next week the option of cutting the hours at Fleetwood Fire Station will be discussed and are expected to go ahead.

If you’re reading this, we need your support. The Blackpool Lead can only continue to publish the news that has much bigger titles scrambling to mimic us if we have paying subscribers. We are ad-free and clickbait free - only the news that matters most before everyone else gets to it. Consider taking a paid subscription here and keep independent journalism alive and well in Blackpool.

Blackpool briefing

🚊 A Blackpool councillor has called for urgent answers after safety concerns over the resort’s famous trams were raised by a transport watchdog. Cllr Paul Galley, the leader of Blackpool’s Conservative opposition group on Blackpool Council, spoke out following intervention by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) over the tram fleet. The ORR’s Improvement Notice gave tram operator Blackpool Transport 17 days to make progress in improving documentation to manage the risks of component degradation on the vehicles. Concerns pointed to a risk of possible “derailment or collision” linked to degraded tram bogies - the wheeled undercarriages that sit beneath a tram –and maintenance failings.

💻 Blackpool Council is taking measures to protect its systems from potential cyber attacks and the increased prevalence of Artificial Intelligence, The council’s Audit Committee is to consider the possibility of a cyber crime in a progress report on individual risks identified in the Council’s Strategic Risk Register. A meeting of the committee is to be held on Thursday June 11 and will examine the controls being implemented to manage the strategic risk relating to increasingly sophisticated technology and the way it is being used by criminals – from home and abroad – to target businesses and organisations. The report looks at the potential impact to the council of the risk of cyber attacks and what is being done to counter such risks.

🏠 The owners of a holiday let business in Bispham have had their appeal dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate after they challenged a council enforcement to cease trading. The appeal by Mr Kirk Antonio Erskine, Kafe Housing Solutions Ltd was in respect of two adjoining properties, at 3 and 5 England Avenue. Blackpool Council decreed that the appellants had changed the use of the property from a private house to a holiday let without planning permission, meaning they were deemed to be in breach of planning control regulations. The council then implemented an enforcement notice, requiring the occupiers to cease the use of 3 and 5 England Avenue as a self-contained holiday let. But an appeal was then lodged, which has ultimately been thrown out by inspector M Ollerenshaw.

Share

Just days after the huge Fleetwood fire, plans to cut back local fire station could go ahead

By Michael Holmes

Fire brigade chiefs are pressing ahead with plans to end Fleetwood Fire Station’s full-time status - adding four minutes to evening response times - just days after crews battled an inferno in the town centre.

Rather than having crews based at the Radcliffe Road base around the clock, bosses at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) want to instead only keep firefighters there during office hours.

An 18-month trial of so-called “flexible day crewing” (FDC) at the station, which would only be manned from 6am to 6pm, will be discussed next week.

Firefighters would then remain on-call during the evening, travelling to the station from home as and when there are emergencies.

Subscribe now

While the number of firefighters based there would be cut from 24 to 12, with those staying needing to live within five minutes of the station, neither of the two fire engines nor any jobs would be lost.

Personnel unwilling to switch from the wholetime 2/2/4 duty system, where they work day shifts for two days, night shifts for two days and then have four days off, along with any surplus firefighters, would be transferred to another station, documents seen by The Blackpool Lead have revealed.

Read more

In November 2020, baby Edith was pronounced dead at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Her mother, Laura, was charged with murder but the trial collapsed when the evidence given by the expert was disputed.

But now - almost six years on - a family court judge has ruled that the mother did kill her daughter. He has also declined a request that she be given anonymity - and, oddly, that Blackpool Victoria Hospital be given anonymity.

There will be no fresh criminal investigation as a result of the ruling. Criminal courts work on ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’ whereas family court can make decisions on the balance of probabilities.

But despite that difference - the judge was clear and said: “The mother was responsible for the death of baby Edith.”

Blackpool briefing

🏠 Residents in the Revoe area of Blackpool have three more drop-in sessions planned to discuss a controversial regeneration scheme which includes demolition of their homes. The next one is an all-day session set to take place at the Ibbison Community Centre on Tuesday June 9, from 9am to 7pm. Blackpool Council’s Central Housing Regeneration Area project sees some 300 houses within a ‘red line’ area off Central Drive being proposed for demolition. And a full planning application, including demolition of those homes and the erection of 230 new ones, is expected to appear in the council’s planning portal imminently. The council is urging residents to attend the remaining sessions and find out exactly what the project entails and what is expected to happen in the months ahead. Although residents agree that the Revoe area is desperately in need of regeneration, many of them want to see their homes refurbished instead of being knocked down.

🎢 Proposals for two rides to be sited at Blackpool’s South Pier are set for a public inquiry hearing after the scheme was rejected on two occasions by resort planners. Back in September, Blackpool Pier Company’s application for planning permission for the siting of two rides – a Log Flume and a Starflyer – on either side of South Pier Headland area, was rejected. Just two months later, in November a new application, this time for a Certificate of Proposed Lawfulness (CLOPED) for the siting of two rides, was also refused. Blackpool Pier Company contended that the rides would prove a major attraction and help boost tourism, and that money raised from them would be vital in helping to repair and maintain all three piers, But in rejecting the CLOPED application on December 17, the planning head argued that the application constituted ‘development’ and would need full planning permission. The bid for the CLOPED was consequently refused on those grounds. Now an appeal hearing, concerning both applications, is to be determined by the Planning Inspectorate after the pier company launched an appeal.

🍴 Blackpool’s ambitious Southbeach Streetfood project is now offering more job roles as the big opening day gets closer. With the summer holidays looming, the team behind the project are now recruiting kitchen assistants who will be adept at operating in a busy venue. The site is changing each week as site workers press on to get the project up and running for the summer ahead. The new food destination, located opposite the Sandcastle Waterpark on South Shore promenade, will feature 19 converted shipping containers. It will include food concessions ranging from Thai and Mexican to Spanish tapas and wood fired pizza, as well as offering vegetarian and gluten-free options. There will be seating for up to 400 diners, and the venue be designed with entertainment space so it can host events and music, with screens to show big sporting occasions.

Share

Blackpool mother whose murder trial collapsed killed newborn Edith while drunk, stressed and exhausted, according to new ruling

By Michael Holmes

A Blackpool mother whose murder trial collapsed over conflicting medical opinions killed her newborn daughter while drunk, stressed and exhausted, a family court judge has ruled.

Laura Langley, 40, tried to “conceal the truth and exculpate herself from any responsibility” after causing seven-week-old Edith’s death by squeezing her twice, crushing her ribs, Mr Justice MacDonald at the Royal Courts of Justice in London has concluded.

But she faces no fresh criminal prosecution, with the Crown Prosecution Service saying it no longer has a “reasonable prospect of securing a conviction”.

It told The Blackpool Lead: “We understand the impact this has had on Edith’s family, and our thoughts remain with them.”

Langley’s trial at Preston Crown Court was halted - with the former healthcare assistant walking free - after evidence from Professor Charles Mangham, who said Edith’s rib injuries could not have been caused by CPR, was disputed by other experts.

Subscribe now

Prof Mangham, the main bone pathologist dealing with suspicious death cases in the UK, has since referred himself to the General Medical Council, with one national newspaper reporting that at least three high court judges have raised concerns about the quality of evidence or his workload in the past six years.

But Mr Justice MacDonald said Prof Mangham’s evidence in the family court, which has a lower standard of proof than a criminal court, was “careful, considered and analytically rigorous”.

Read more

I took last week as leave so I could spend some time on some little things in my back garden that needed sorting. It turns out that 25C+ weather is not the ideal time to be doing gardening.

That means that I missed most of the build-up and aftermath of Saturday’s joint UKIP/No Filter Britain protest in Blackpool, attended by the UKIP leader who promised not to leave without parliamentary candidates for the next general election.

Police made three arrests on Saturday as protestors were met with counter protestors, all documented by plenty of YouTube ‘auditors’.

Today we look at the fallout from that demonstration in more detail than you’ll have seen written down elsewhere. We can only keep doing journalism with more paid subscribers, so if you want to give me a boost on my week back to work, you can do so here.

Blackpool briefing

🍔 Police have requested that the premises licence of a Blackpool takeaway be reviewed owing to their concerns about the absence of required door staff and public safety late at night. Blackpool Council’s licensing panel have been asked to review the licence of Burger Shack, based at 20 Talbot Road, after an application from PC Matt Lund on behalf of Lancashire Constabulary. Police say that on many occasions, due to the late hours, customers are “already in drink” and on one of those occasions a man was reportedly assaulted inside the premises. That incident is still being investigated. The Licensing Panel, which met on Monday (June 1) to consider the application, will now write to the licence holder within five working days to confirm its decision.

👷🏻‍♂️ National concern about the rising number of young people who are NEET – Not in Employment, Education or Training – are being shared in Blackpool. In the resort, the NEET rate among 16-17-year-olds is more than double the national average. The stark challenge facing the country as a whole was made still clearer following the release of Alan Milburn’s recent government-commissioned report. MP Chris Webb said: "I strongly welcome this investigation. Here in Blackpool the challenge is even greater with the NEET rate among 16-17-year-olds is more than double the national average. I’ve seen first-hand how too many young people are being held back by ill-health, lack of opportunity, or a system that simply doesn’t join up around them. Local services like The Platform are proving what’s possible – helping hundreds of young people into work, training and education – but we need national action to match that effort.”

🧺 A new launderette is set to open in Blackpool’s South Shore after being approved by planners. The facility is earmarked for a property at 161 Lytham Road, which has been used for retail but which is currently unoccupied. A planning application was lodged with Blackpool Council, seeking part use of ground floor as a launderette and the installation of an extraction flue to the rear.

Protest organiser arrested directly after being lauded as UKIP’s next general election candidate for Blackpool

By Luke Beardsworth

The man who put himself forward to be a UKIP candidate at the next general election was among three people arrested at an anti-immigration protest in Blackpool at the weekend.

Ben Sykes, 42, AKA one half of No Filter Britain, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer after an exchange with police during the protest which was billed as a joint-UKIP and No Filter Britain event.

UKIP leader Nick Tenconi vowed at the start of the demonstration that he would not leave without candidates for Blackpool’s two parliamentary constituencies - and it was Sykes who stepped forward with one arm raised.

Tenconi said into his microphone: “I’ve already got one. Alright everyone, let’s hear it for Ben. Blackpool South - I’ve already got one. That’s called leadership.”

In an exchange later the same day, captured on video by multiple YouTube auditors in attendance along with some counter protestors, police can be seen pushing back a protester understood to be Pamela Sykes - Ben’s wife - before which Ben appears to push a police officer. He is then detained and, in the process, he is struck by at least one officer.

The Blackpool Lead understands Sykes has been released on bail until 28 August and no charges have been brought against him.

He has since arranged a protest at Blackpool Police Station on 6 June and says ‘we are taking the fight directly to the police on their own f—ing doorstep!’. A second protest, at the same location, was arranged for Tuesday evening (2 June) at 6pm in response to the news of Henry Nowak’s murder but was poorly attended.

The details of Henry Nowak’s murder in Southampton have caused justifiable outrage. Nowak, 18, had been fatally stabbed with a ceremonial dagger in December 2025. His murderer, Vickrum Digwa, falsely claimed to have been racially abused which led to police handcuffing Nowak despite him telling officers he had been stabbed.

A demonstration was held outside Portswood police station in Southampton on Tuesday which was attended by both Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and Nick Tenconi which followed Nowak’s family asking that his death not be used to create division. It followed Reform UK leader Nigel Farage calling for ‘pure cold rage’ in response.

But the smaller protest in Blackpool, aimed at demonstrating against police brutality, was likely more personal for Sykes. His claim appears to be that police have assaulted both Ben and Pamela Sykes during his arrest on Saturday.

In a Facebook post seen by The Blackpool Lead, it has been claimed that Ben was kept in a cell for eight hours with a ‘split head’ and ‘two broken wrists’.

Read more

We have a story for you which looks into what’s happening with ambulance waiting times, and how there’s good news about improvements made for getting patients transferred faster at Blackpool Vic but concerning news for anyone at risk of a heart attack or a stroke.

There’s masses of data published about how the NHS and health services are performing, so Michael Holmes makes sense of it all for you in the context of Blackpool.

No one else will be digging as deep into it as he is - so do share what he’s found in today’s editions with friends or family you think may be interested. And become a subscriber today to support our original, local, journalism in Blackpool and read the story in full.

Blackpool digest

🏨 Blackpool Council has responded to claims made by Reform UK’s lead councillor over plans to house migrants locally whilst also refuting stats on the number of asylum seekers in the town.. Cllr Jim O’Neill, Reform UK’s Leader on the council, says emails circulating locally show private landlords in the town are being actively recruited by the company tasked with housing asylum seekers in the UK. Cllr O’Neill says Serco, contracted by the Home Office to house the migrants, is offering landlords five-year contracts with guaranteed above-market rental rates. He claims the town has already taken on nearly three times the national average share of asylum seekers, pushing hard-pressed residents to the back of the queue, and is calling on Blackpool Council to demand an immediate pause to the Home Office’s asylum dispersal programme. Serco has responded to his claims by accepting that renting dispersed accommodation is the most cost-effective means of accommodation for asylum seekers. But labour-led Blackpool Council argues that much of what Cllr O’Neill is claiming is factually incorrect and says it is too easy to “sow the seeds of discord” in the community. Those views were echoed by Chris Webb, Labour MP for Blackpool South, who slammed the claims as ‘misinformation’ and insisted that ‘there are no plans or requirements for further asylum accommodation in Blackpool beyond existing arrangements.’

🚗 A crash at Norcross roundabout – for many years labelled ‘dangerous – has reignited discussions on whether recent improvements have made it safer. In April, highways bosses slashed the speed limit on the approach to Norcross roundabout to make the junction safer. National Highways upgraded the junction where the A585 – one of the Fylde coast’s busiest roads – meets Norcross Lane and both sides of another busy road, the B5268 Fleetwood Road South in Thornton. The improvements followed years of complaints about the redesigned junction, which was altered in 2020 as part of wider A585 upgrades. But another accident, the latest of many at the roundabout, saw police called to a two-vehicle collision on Fleetwood Road South, Thornton , at 4:45pm on Thursday. Lancashire Police described it as “a minor injury collision”. After the accident, one driver said on social media: “The road markings are bad, coming on to it, which idiot through that out?” Another commented: “You need road markings put up,  not on the road where cars are on top of the signs.”

🛝 Plans to create a gleaming new play space at Anchorsholme Park are moving forward after vandals wrecked the play area in a mindless attack last year. Residents can look forward to an exciting new future for their much-loved playground at the park, as a major redevelopment project is being designed by local children, for local children. Following the devastating arson attack that destroyed the iconic play ship, the centrepiece of Anchorsholme Park playground, many residents feared that a treasured community asset had been lost forever. However, thanks to the determination of local ward councillors, community groups and Blackpool Council, the playground is now set to be reborn bigger and better than ever. The ambitious project is being led by ward councillors Anita Cooper and Paul Galley in partnership with Blackpool Council and will follow a five-stage process to ensure the new playground truly reflects the wishes of local families.

Share

Heart attack or stroke victims may continue to face longer ambulance wait times

By Michael Holmes

People having a heart attack or stroke may have to accept longer waits for an ambulance because the “operational reality” facing the NHS has changed since Covid, health bosses have suggested.

Paramedics should get to patients within an average of 18 minutes - and within 40 minutes 90 per cent of the time - if they are suffering from a “serious condition”, a national target dictates.

But, with no ambulance trust hitting the mark since Covid arrived on our shores in early 2020, patients have been told to temper their expectations.

Salman Desai, chief executive of the North West Ambulance Service (Nwas), said “public expectation remains that” paramedics “will attend every 999 call and that it will do so within the historic 18-minute standard”, documents seen by The Blackpool Lead show.

Subscribe now

Desai, who has been in permanent charge of the trust, which serves more than seven million people, since early last year, “noted that the operational reality is now different and emphasised the importance of managing public expectations accordingly”.

It comes as handover performance at Blackpool Victoria Hospital — the time taken to transfer patients and their medical information from paramedics to hospital staff — has improved.

Read more

Luke’s taking a well earned rest this week - and celebrating his recent birthday - and he’s not the only one to have been enjoying a bit of R&R as Blackpool was packed amid the Bank Holiday heatwave.

While recent stats appear to show the town is on the up when it comes to people visiting, nearly 2million more visits year-on-year in the latest figures, there’s been queries made of the method used to work it out.

Tourism chiefs say this isn’t washing through into what they are hearing from businesses and those reliant on the tourist trade in Blackpool. And we also have more on the PR blitz that’s happening to try and counter social media videos and posts by content creators which regularly try to distort what life is like in Blackpool.

Blackpool briefing

🚧 Blackpool Council is submitting a government bid for £30m to fix the colonnades. The council has been invited by the Department for Transport’s £1bn Structures Fund to submit plans to repair and refurbish the historic Grade II listed North Promenade colonnades between the Metropole Hotel and Gynn Square. Almost one kilometre in length, the colonnades include three sections: Lower Walk at Gynn Square Crescent, Middle Walk from Warley Road to Pleasant Street and Princess Parade by the Metropole. Built between 1910 and 1925, they remain a much-loved part of Blackpool’s tiered seafront. However, like much of Blackpool’s built heritage, the colonnades are over 100 years old and in serious need of repair.

Over the last few years, some entrances to the colonnades have had to close for safety reasons, however earlier this year work was completed to safely reopen three of the five entrances. Cllr Jane Hugo, Deputy Leader of Blackpool Council, said: “Our famous colonnades are hugely important – they are part of our built heritage. Residents and visitors use the area to walk, stay active and enjoy life living on our beautiful coastline.

“We’ve been working on a plan to restore the colonnades back to their former glory. That’s not cheap. To afford the level of repairs the colonnades deserve, we would have to go without any road repairs for over ten years. That’s why we’re submitting to government our urgent need for extra funding so we can restore them.

🥖 Cleveleys will be playing host to a four-day Continental Market for the first time this summer. It is being staged at The Plaza event space, on the seafront where the top end of Victoria Road West meets South Promenade. The market will feature between 20 and 25 stalls, including a small number of local stallholders from the Cleveleys area. The market will be staged from Thursday August 20 to Sunday August 23 from 10am to 6pm (with a 4pm finish on the Sunday).

Share

Blackpool’s tourism bosses told to dig deeper into visitor numbers

By Michael Holmes

The number of people visiting Blackpool every year is in dispute - with the town’s new tourism boss calling for more accurate estimates.

Some 68.6m people are said to have arrived in the resort in 2024, up from 66.7m the year before, according to figures from Marketing Lancashire.

But members of the local authority’s tourism committee have questioned the stats and “raised concerns” about their reliability and the methods used to produce them.

Subscribe now

“We are exploring other ways to calculate our visitor numbers, using data from things like footfall counters or electronic sales,” a council spokesperson told The Blackpool Lead.

“That is not to say at this stage that any of these systems are any better or worse than what we use currently.”

Town hall chiefs currently use figures from Marketing Lancashire, which uses the Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor (Steam), a model that uses local data from hotels, attractions, tourist information centres, events and other accommodation to estimate the number of visitors.

Read more

Blackpool Council insists that its planned rock groynes are the best way to protect the town from coastal erosion - and says it did consider a number of alternatives.

But it is the objection from the RNLI over the safety risks that it could pose that lands strongest and now the council simply must work with them to address those fears.

They said this week they were unable to comment on those safety fears while the planning process is ongoing. But it is clear they need to be addressed before the project begins in any form.

The alternative is that Blackpool Council is directly blamed if the project becomes responsible for any tragedy.

We’ve looked into the debate - which is even causing disagreement among Reform UK councillors - for this week’s edition.

In good news, The Lead’s local network - which includes us - has been nominated for Best Local & Community Newsletter at the Publisher Newsletter Awards 2026. It is judge-led, rather than votes, but thank you for your continued support. The best way to keep it going is to take a paid subscription.

Blackpool briefing

💩 Transwaste has been banned from accepting any waste at Jameson Road landfill that breaks down or makes a smell, The Blackpool Lead revealed on Friday. The rules, which come into force today (22 May) as a result of the Environment Agency varying the licence at the site but only after thousands of complaints over an extended period, mean that the site can only accept inert waste (such as soil and bricks), that the southern area of cell 6 must be capped and that a plan for continuous hydrogen sulphide monitoring must be submitted. Crucially, monitors must be placed at four or more locations around the site’s boundary. If Transwaste appeals the variation, the terms remain in place while a decision is made.

Lorraine Beavers, MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, said: “This toxic stench, caused by hydrogen sulphide from Jameson Road Landfill, continues to cause harm while local people fear the long-term health impacts for themselves, their children, and their family. When speaking to staff from a local care home recently, I heard how this stench leaves residents feeling too nauseous to eat, putting vulnerable and elderly residents at risk of malnutrition. Local businesses also continue to see customers leave and never return.”

She continued: “This is not the end, but I am absolutely thrilled by this news, it is a huge step forward and the move to inert waste will finally hit Transwaste where it hurts, in their pockets.”

John Neville, Area Environment Agency at the Environment Agency, said: “The community should not have to tolerate odour pollution and we have made this clear to Transwaste. This permit variation will reduce future odour risk by preventing wastes being landfilled that cause the odour experienced by the community.

“We continue to press the operator to permanently cap two landfill cells as quickly as possible to control odour. If we do not see improvements, we will not hesitate to take further action.”

Dr Barbara Kneale, from the Close Jameson Road Landfill group, said: “I am pleased that the EA has decided to vary the environmental permit to limit the type of waste that Transwaste can accept and to instruct them to install continuous hydrogen sulphide monitoring. This is a step forwards and actions we have been calling for .

“However, I am not confident in Transwastes’ abilities to reduce the odour to an acceptable level given their performance over the last two years. Is it appropriate that they conduct their own air monitoring or will it be conducted by an independent, professional organisation ?

“We can only hope that the EA will audit the type of waste entering the site and the air monitoring results on a regular basis. This needs to be published and transparent to the public, I look forward to updates at the Community Liaison Group meetings.”

And campaigner Jess Brown, from Action Against Jameson Road Landfill, said: “This is such good news - and very welcome. I have concerns about Transwaste being in charge of the hydrogen sulphide monitors - this should be done by the Environment Agency.

“If Transwaste does appeal, I would like to think they wouldn’t win given their record and impact on our lives over the last two-and-a-half years.”

🗳️ The winner of a vacant Kirkham seat on Fylde Council has become the authority’s youngest councillor after success in yesterday’s by-election. Conservative member Adam Brierley, who is just 22, was one of four candidates contesting the seat, which had been vacated by the resignation of independent member Damian Buckley. Cllr Brierley now joins two other councillors already representing Kirkham ward, independents Edward Collins and Paul Hodgson. He is also a member of Kirkham Town Council after winning a seat in December.

🚌 A popular bus service that’s helped thousands of visitors make the most of holidays on the Fylde coast is set to return ahead of the summer season. First launched last year, the ‘Resort Rider’ buses proved a huge hit with both tourists and local residents alike by bringing the year-round Service 1 and seasonal Service 2 buses together under a single brand. Offering easy access to top attractions from the Cala Gran Holiday Park and hotels along the promenade, the service is now set to return bigger and better than ever before. Although the Resort Rider brand is primarily targeted at tourists, residents can also be able to take advantage of the services, which run every hour and offer a combined 30 minute frequency between Fleetwood and Blackpool’s piers.

Are plans for Blackpool beach essential work or a kick in the groynes?

By Luke Beardsworth

The installation of 17 rock headlands of Blackpool’s beach will create a level of risk to millions of tourists that cannot be protected against.

That is the verdict from the RNLI who have delivered a 27-page objection to Blackpool Council over plans that have become increasingly politicised in recent weeks.

The £57m plans - dubbed the Blackpool Beach Management scheme - will mean the creation of groynes that will measure around 100 metres long and be placed 150 metres apart across the beach.

The reason put forward is that the levels on Blackpool’s beaches are lowering, exposing the clay beneath, and it is creating a risk to coastal defences. It is not unique to Blackpool - and broadly considered to be a consequence of climate change.

The rock groynes are designed to trap and retain the sand and therefore reduce the risk of coastal erosion and flooding in the long term. They have been installed in places like Mappleton, Clacton, Felixstowe and Poole. In Bournemouth, they use timber groynes rather than rock.

But the RNLI, which operates from the Blackpool Lifeboat Station, says the groynes will create a significant reduction in space for them to operate safely and force people out into deeper water to undertake activities.

They also believe that there is a risk that children would become stuck in the groynes - citing the example of a nine-year-old girl becoming stuck in Aberaeron in Wales.

But they add that they want to engage with Blackpool Council to mitigate these risks as they acknowledge the need to protect the coastline.

A spokesperson for the RNLI told The Blackpool Lead: “The RNLI has lodged an objection to a proposed scheme to introduce multiple rock groynes at Blackpool. The objection outlines concerns over the impact the project in its current form will have on both the RNLI’s lifesaving ability and public safety.

“With so many groynes and the high visitor numbers, the RNLI is concerned about the potential for serious accidents.

Read more

In October 2017, Unity Academy was inspected by Ofsted and rated as good. They said that all key areas of the school’s work were good and that was as a direct result of good strong leadership.

By 2022 that has slipped to ‘requires improvement’. A monitoring inspection in November 2023 - where a grade is not issued - said that the leaders were making progress.

But come December 2024, the school’s performance was described as ‘inadequate’ in a number of areas and, as a result, it was placed into special measures.

In March of this year, Ofsted returned to the school for yet another monitoring visit and that is the topic of today’s newsletter.

Blackpool briefing

🛏️ New owners of an entire block of retail units on one of Blackpool’s busiest streets will see the creation of 18 new serviced accommodation flats on the upper stories, if plans get the green light. The Queen Street property includes the Blackpool branch of popular cocktail bar/restaurant Slug & Lettuce, among other retail units on the ground floor. A planning application has been been submitted to Blackpool Council for the erection of a dormer to the rear, replacement windows, installation of new entrance at ground floor and associated works and use of premises as altered as 18 serviced holiday apartments at 8 – 20 Queen Street.

📚 Blackpool’s Armfield Academy has submitted fresh proposals to build a new classroom block on the site after an earlier scheme was shelved. The project entails the creation of three new classrooms at the South Shore school. The new developments at the school, on Lytham Road, will support its SEN (Special Education Needs) provision, proposals state. Last year planners approved a similar application, on a certificate of lawfulness basis, which meant that the school did not need planning permission. However, despite the green light being given, the discovery of an underground drainage system meant that those proposals had to be shelved. Now a new application for certificate of lawfulness has been submitted to planners at Blackpool Council, with amended designs.

🔺 The world-famous Red Arrows will not be taking part in this year’s Blackpool’s Air Show, it has been confirmed. The spectacular display team performed to hundreds of thousands of people who packed the Prom last August for the annual Air Show. But the Red Arrows will be in North America this summer for a 13-date, month-long tour. The tour is expected to generate more than £2.5bn in direct foreign investment for the UK. But the absence of the Red Arrows is a blow for tourism bosses in Blackpool who will be confirming a suitable replacement in the near future.

Share

Ofsted returns to Unity Academy to check progress after damning 2024 inspection

By Luke Beardsworth

A school in Blackpool continues to be in special measures after a monitoring inspection found further improvement was necessary.

Unity Academy Blackpool, an all-through school on Warbreck Hill Road and part of the Fylde Coast Academy Trust, was placed into special measures after a damning inspection in December 2024 that found both the quality of education and leadership and management of the school were ‘inadequate’.

That inspection found that all pupils - but especially disadvantaged pupils - do not achieve well as a result of the decline in the quality of education and that trustees and members of the local governing body have not held the school to account.

Subscribe now

It said that delivery of the curriculum was weak, that pupils do not develop depth of knowledge, that staff do not rectify gaps in pupils’ knowledge and that pupils do not always demonstrate positive attitudes towards learning.

Ofsted undertook a monitoring inspection on 3-4 March this year and found that effective action has been taken - but more work is needed to remove the school from special measures.

John Connolly, acting headteacher at Unity Academy Blackpool, told The Blackpool Lead: “This report is the best possible outcome that can be achieved in a monitoring inspection and represents significant progress and improvement.

“The school is on track and we are confident of making the required improvements inline with Ofsted’s expectations and timescales.”

Read more

We have been following the story of the now former Dr Foy-Yamah since March 2025 when he avoided being struck off despite being found by a tribunal - but crucially not a court - of having raped a woman.

In March 2025 he was suspended for 12 months after a panel found that his attack “came right up to the line of erasure (from the medical register) but fell just short of crossing it”.

But in November we reported that two appeals would take place - with the doctor appealing his 12 month suspension and the General Medical Council appealing the leniency of the punishment.

Today we can report that he has been struck off.

Blackpool briefing

🛎️ Blackpool South MP Chris Webb has shut down the latest rumours that former DWP building Mexford House is to be turned into accommodation for migrants. Work is currently underway to transform the huge former civil servant site into 120 flats after permission was granted by planners at Blackpool Council two years ago. The latest claims about the building, on Mexford Avenue in the southern end of Bispham, have appeared on a local social media site this week. The Blackpool Gazette said that it was contacted by a man who said he worked at the site and had been told it was “reportedly being renovated into new migrant accommodation.” The man did not lend his name to the claims.

🏗️ There was further progress this week on the £45 million Ministry of Defence office in Blackpool town centre as the building continues to take shape. The six-storey building on Talbot Road, next to Blackpool North Train Station, is not due to officially open until spring 2027 but residents have seen significant progress in recent weeks. This week there has been additional cladding and further installation of windows at the 53,000 sq ft government hub, on Talbot Road, will house up to 1,100 staff. It will become the new Blackpool base for Defence Business Services (DBS), bringing a significant influx of workers into the heart of the town and further reshaping the area around the town’s railway station. The project is part of the ambitious Talbot Gateway scheme, the £350m+ mixed-use regeneration project in Blackpool, transforming the area around the train station into a modern commercial, education, and transport hub.

🏠 Proposals have been lodged with planners at Blackpool to change the use of a children’s residential care home into a private house. A planning application is seeking permission for use of premises at 32 King George Avenue, known as Dahl House, as single dwelling. It is a three-storey detached property, at the junction of King George Avenue and Warbreck Drive, which was formerly a family home. Planning documents do no state how many bedrooms the property currently has. It is understood that the property is no longer being used as a children’s home.

Share

Rape-accused doctor finally struck off after initially holding on to licence on appeal

By Michael Holmes

A Blackpool Victoria Hospital doctor found by a tribunal to have raped a woman has finally been struck off - after previously being spared the punishment.

Aloaye Afakhade Foy-Yamah was initially suspended for 12 months after a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Services panel ruled his sex attack “came right up to the line of erasure (from the medical register) but fell just short of crossing it”.

The medic, who trained at the University of Benin in Nigeria in 1995 before moving to the UK, appealed against the punishment and has continued to maintain his innocence.

But the General Medical Council also appealed, saying the MPTS panel victim-blamed and dished out a punishment that fails to properly protect the public.

The Royal Courts of Justice in London ordered a fresh hearing - which has now concluded that Foy-Yamah must never work in healthcare again.

The GMC told The Blackpool Lead in a statement: “There is no place for sexual misconduct in healthcare. We maintained that Dr Foy-Yamah posed an ongoing risk and should be struck off the medical register to protect patients and uphold confidence in the profession.”

Subscribe now

Foy-Yamah has claimed he is the victim of a blackmail attempt - and was not charged by police after an investigation into the attack, which happened in December 2018, because of “evidential difficulties”.

He was initially suspended by the hospital, in Whinney Heys Road, in light of the allegations against him but was allowed back to work in February 2019 and even promoted.

He was eventually sacked in November 2024 after the tribunal concluded he had indeed carried out the rape.

He could still appeal against his ban, which stops him from ever treating patients again.

Read more

Any journalist hoping for a quiet week after the 48 hour slog that is the local elections had their hopes dashed - for conversation has now turned to the future of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

It looked for a while on Tuesday that we were seeing the beginning of the end, but as we write to you on Wednesday morning Starmer is reportedly more confident that he will keep his position. As we know however, it doesn’t take much for that to change.

Lancashire MPs, and Blackpool specifically, have had something of a cool relationship with the government since 2024. Both Webb and Beavers have spoken out against the two-child benefit cap and the way that the winter fuel allowance was going to be means tested.

We’ve looked at what they, and their Lancashire colleagues, make of what’s happening this week.

Blackpool briefing

🛎️ A run-down eyesore building in the middle of one of Blackpool’s tourist areas is attracting large groups of children and youths who are putting themselves at risk. Visitor Steve Clews was shocked to see the youngsters climbing into the crumbling building, on the corner of Havelock Street and Central Drive, which has not been made properly secure. At the time, Mr Clews was visiting the neighbouring Pine Lodge B&B on Havelock Street, and saw the youngsters getting inside the abandoned property next-door. The former hotel, which fronts onto Central Drive, appears to have been left to decline and its condition is deteriorating each year. The building is close to a number of small, neat hotels and B&Bs which are continuing to represent the hospitality industry which once dominated the street. Now just a handful are left there. One of those neighbouring hoteliers, Steve Savage, says the building is potentially “lethal” and is calling for something to be done about it.

🩺 Blackpool Council has appointed a new Director of Adult Services (DASS) as the authority looks to continue its programme of improvements to services. Martin Lawton, who has been confirmed as the new DASS, succeeds Karen Smith, who retired from the role at the end of 2025 after 25 years of committed service in the town. She stepped down following a December 2025 announcement, four months after the department received an “inadequate” rating from the CQC, although she stated her retirement was not directly related to that report. Mr Lawton is currently Deputy Director of Adult Services at Rochdale Borough Council and will join Blackpool this summer.

🏅 A married couple who are both councillors will be taking up their chains of office as the mayor and mayoress of Blackpool this week. Cllr Danny Scott will be installed as mayor when Blackpool Council holds its Annual Meeting on Wednesday, while wife Michele will become mayoress. Danny Scott, who represents Warbreck ward for the Conservatives, was first elected onto Blackpool Council in May 2015. Michele, who also represents Warbreck, was elected in 2017. The pair will succeed the outgoing mayor, Cllr Kim Critchley, who has enjoyed a successful year in the role, supported by her consort, Cllr Mel Fenlon.

MPs split on Keir Starmer’s future after appalling local elections for Labour

By Luke Beardsworth

One Blackpool MP was among those who called for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign in the wake of the disastrous 7 May local election results.

Lorraine Beavers, MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, was among the first to publicly call for Starmer to step aside and is part of a group of more than 80 MPs to have done so.

That group includes Paul Foster, MP for South Ribble, Jonathan Hinder, MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, Lizzi Collinge, MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale and Sarah Smith, MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden.

It does not include Blackpool South MP Chris Webb who has joined a number of Lancashire MPs in keeping his powder dry.

The Blackpool Lead understands that on Tuesday (12 May) Webb was considering making a statement but wanted to keep his focus on Blackpool.

More than 100 MPs have signed a statement saying it is ‘no time for a leadership contest’ as names like Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner and Ed Miliband continue to be linked with leadership bids.

The names on that list have been contested by some but it does include Burnley MP Oliver Ryan.

“Last week we had a devastatingly tough set of election results. It shows we have a hard job ahead to win back trust from the electorate,” the letter said.

Read more

People living in the shadow of the Jameson Road landfill would be forgiven for not getting their hopes up, but the slow mechanisms that are in theory designed to look after residents are finally coughing into action.

First, Wyre Council served Transwaste with an order demanding they start to seriously resolve the issue - something people had been asking after for well over a year.

And now, The Environment Agency has said, for the first time, that they are seriously exploring whether closing the site is the best option.

Blackpool briefing

🩺 A nurse who provides treatment and support for homeless people in Blackpool says he wants to help break the cycle which stops them getting a place to live. Tony Norman, 55, who works for a Fylde coast health care provider, has seen all too often the way that living on the streets can have a devastating effect on people’s health. In his job he is able to ensure homeless patients, some of whom are very vulnerable with complex issues, can get to see a GP and he personally helps with issues such as wound care. He says the most frustrating thing he sees is the difficulty many people on the streets have in being able to get a place to live, despite help for homeless people being available via various organisations in Blackpool. If they do not meet the criteria, he says some homeless people fall between the cracks and can’t get a flat, condemned to not having their own space where they can shut the door and feel safe. He says even taking medication is hard on the street because it can be lost or stolen. Now Tony, supported by a small number of work colleagues, is on a personal mission and is trying to raise funds to buy a property which he hopes can be the first of several safe spaces for homeless people who otherwise might not get their own place. Anyone wanting to hear more about the scheme or who want to support it can visit the GoFundMe here.

🏠 Plans to change the use of a former eight-bedroom hotel into a massive private house have been lodged with Blackpool Council. The former Kings Court Hotel at 34 King Edward Avenue, North Shore, was classed as a small hotel or guesthouse when it was in operation but as a private house there is substantial internal accommodation across three floors. The retrospective planning application seeks to “regularise” the current occupation of the property as a single household. Changing a hotel into a private house or residential property can significantly increase its value if the hotel is small, outdated, or in a high-demand residential area.

🗳️ No elections in Blackpool this week but there were by-elections at Kirkham Town Council and Ansdell and Fairhaven Parish Council. Bucking the national trend of very strong showings for Reform UK, both elections returned Conservative candidates. Cllr Karen Buckley, the Conservative leader of Fylde Council, said that it’s a reflection on what they deliver locally. Fylde is quite clearly not part of Blackpool from a local authority perspective, but the two authorities are likely to be grouped together after local government reorganisation is complete.

Share

Environment Agency finally considering permanent closure of Jameson Road landfill

By Michael Holmes

The Environment Agency is now seriously exploring the closure of the Jameson Road landfill, The Blackpool Lead can reveal.

It comes after Blackpool residents became the latest to kick up a stink over a nasty whiff allegedly emanating from a controversial tip in nearby Wyre.

A strong, rotten egg-like smell lingered over the north of the resort last Saturday night (2 May), forcing some to keep their windows shut and avoid their gardens after a warm spring day.

The suspect was quickly fingered as Fleetwood’s Jameson Road landfill, where the pong over the past 18 months is alleged to have triggered health issues such as headaches and nosebleeds.

But Transwaste, which runs the site, said it is “highly unlikely to have been the cause” - instead suggesting sewerage or “decomposing seaweed and other intertidal material” from the beach could be to blame.

The stench was so strong on Saturday that it wafted for miles, past packed hotels, and lingered over swathes of the town as the sun set.

One local, Lee-Ann Davy, said it stunk of “rotten sewers” in Cleveleys, writing online that she had never “smelt it like that before”.

Gayle Cherri Ward claimed: “It’s the Fleetwood landfill site. Could smell it in Layton as well.”

And Peet Right urged people to report the odour to the Environment Agency (EA), saying: “The stench is reaching all over the Fylde coast and Over Wyre.

“Each report helps us towards getting (the tip) shut down.”

The same smell was noticeable in Bispham days later, on Friday evening.

The EA, which said it received 310 complaints about the tip over the bank holiday weekend, taking the total number of reports since the start of last year to 17,880, said it is now considering suspending Transwaste’s licence or shutting the site in the “context of the latest information”.

Changes to the operator’s permit are also one of the “serious options which are being explored”, a spokesperson said.

They said in a statement to The Blackpool Lead: “The community should not have to tolerate odour pollution and we have made this position clear to Transwaste.

Read more

The death of a father-of-four last year means that all of Lancashire Police, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, Blackpool Victoria Hospital and Blackpool Council will be compelled to give evidence at a jury-overseen inquest.

Tom Boocock was able to walk out of the Vic’s A&E department despite telling police he was suicidal. Allegedly under surveillance, he was able to leave unnoticed. His body was found a few hundred metres from the hospital.

All those involved will be asked to explain what their role was in mitigating the risk to Mr Boocock’s wellbeing.

Blackpool briefing

🌹 Both Blackpool MPs did not enter a vote when the Conservatives brought forward a motion which said Sir Keir Starmer should face a parliamentary investigation over claims he misled MPs about the process to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador. Starmer has denied misleading MPs. 52 Labour MPs, including Lorraine Beavers and Chris Webb, did not enter a vote. Asked to explain that decision, Webb’s office said that he was away. Beavers’ office did not respond. 14 Labour MPs supported the motion, with some saying that Starmer should have referred himself to avoid accusations of a cover-up.

🌳 Work to revamp a Bispham park, with thousands of pounds already spent, is set to continue, says the group behind the scheme. But not everyone is happy about the way the project at Cavendish Park has developed so far, with claims that the scheme has made it worse for the community. Using different funding pots amounting to a total of around £60,000, members of a committee which has seen a merging of the Friends of Cavendish Park and Cavendish Bowling Club have introduced a number of changes. But a group of mums say they are furious about the project, because they believe the high fencing has locked the community out of half the park and say the upgrade benefits the bowling club.

🚮 A fed-up Blackpool resident says she has been trying to get fly-tipped rubbish removed from outside her back gate – and is still waiting after two months. Annie Valentine, 59, of Danesbury Place in central Blackpool, says not only have the items not been removed, but even more items have been dumped there since she first reported it. Items discarded in the alley directly behind her house on Danesbury Place include a black bin bag full of domestic rubbish, cans and bottles, pieces of wood, two drain pipes, a broken patio table and the shattered glass from the top of it. Enveco was contacted for a response and said the issue at Danesbury Place would be looked into.

Share

Why was a dad-of-four in distress allowed to walk out of hospital to his death?

By Jamie Lopez

Two investigations will be carried out to examine how a dad-of-four was able to leave Blackpool Victoria Hospital and take his life after being sectioned.

Tom Boocock was not taken to a secure unit despite telling police he was suicidal in September but instead taken to the A&E department where he was able to exit unnoticed despite apparently being under police supervision.

An inquest into his death will be carried out next year in which his family will be able to ask for answers to a series of questions about his care in the hours before his death.

Unlike most inquests, this one will focus on the month leading to his death and is likely to be held in front of a jury, meaning its conclusions can be more critical.

Meanwhile, a separate investigation will be carried out before that by Blackpool Safeguarding Adult Board (BSAB) to identify any failings by the various services who dealt with Tom.

A pre-inquest review was held at Blackpool Town Hall last week and heard that Tom, 39, had told a friend he intended to end his life in September 2025 during a mental health crisis.

The friend alerted police when Tom left the address suddenly and informed them of a location he had mentioned.

Subscribe now

Louise Rae, assistant coroner for Blackpool and Fylde, explained that police were able to find Tom who presented himself to officers and willingly came with them.

Due to concerns over his wellbeing, Tom was detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act but rather than a secure unit such as The Harbour, he was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital’s A&E department.

At around 3.15am, roughly three hours after he was detained, Tom left the hospital. At 10am the following day, he was found dead just a few hundred metres from the hospital.

Read more

We’ve covered sewage pouring into the sea and the harm it is causing Blackpool - and the perception of Blackpool - on these pages extensively. United Utilities told us the same thing: record investment is coming, and bill increases are necessary to pay for it.

But their results, unpicked for today’s edition, show that profits have soared in line with water bills while that investment is happening. Which begs the question: did bills really need to increase so dramatically to fund those long overdue upgrades?

Blackpool briefing

🚮 Pupils at a Blackpool pre-school got fed up of the rubbish that kept blowing off the street and into their playground. The problem seemed to be made worse by the fact that there was no bin directly outside Devonshire Road Primary Academy Pre-School. So, with help from preschool manager Giuliana Hornby, they staged a placard-waving protest outside the premises. Outside the school, on Devonshire Road, the youngsters, aged between 3 and 5 years old, marched with their banners, chanting “We want a bin, we want a bin!” And their campaign has not been for nothing. After hearing about the protest. the two councillors from Brunswick ward Cllrs Laura Marshall and Matthew Thomas, pledged to provide a bin.

🏠 An application seeking lawful approval to use a Blackpool property as an HMO for up to four people has been refused. Blackpool Council planners rejected the proposals for a Certificate of Lawfulness in respect of operating a house of multiple occupation (HMO) at 62 Regent Road. The statement, by architectural consultants Abbot Hull Associates, argued that the property was converted from a dwelling house to an HMO before Blackpool Council change is rules, meaning the current use was lawful. The planning officer rejected those arguments.

⚠️ A controversial landfill site has been given 60 days to stop the stink. Jameson Road waste site in Fleetwood has been subject to a campaign for the past 18 months over the smell it has been sending across the town. Wyre Council has this week confirmed an abatement notice has been served ordering Transwaste to sort out the smell which has triggered thousands of complaints - and plenty of criticism of the authority itself. Dr Barbara Kneale is one of those who has been heavily involved in the campaign. She told The Blackpool Lead: “We have been challenging Wyre Borough Council to issue a statutory nuisance for odour following confirmed smells by the council. We’re very pleased this is happening and means that the activities of Transwaste will be curtailed for the time being and we look forward to further information. Over the last few months you might have noticed we’ve been pressurising them [Wyre Council] about conflict of interest and as a result they’ve had to take legal advice about this they’ve been refusing to share the legal advice so I would imagine that now as they’ve done some further monitoring on Harbour Village and confirmed two smells by their environmental health officers they have no choice but to go for an abatement notice.”

Share

United Utilities profits soar while water bills rocket to make up for underinvestment

By Michael Holmes

It “beggars belief” that water bills are rocketing when United Utilities is making so much money, water campaigners have said.

River Action’s CEO James Wallace hit out after financial results showed the water firm, which supplies seven million people across much of the North West, including on the Fylde coast, enjoyed a more than doubling of pre-tax profits to £779m over the past year.

That is after it hiked bills by 9 per cent last month, adding about £57 to people’s annual bills, under five-year plans agreed with Ofwat that will reportedly see bills rise by a total of 32 per cent.

Wallace said: “It beggars belief that bills are rising to make up for decades of underinvestment since privatisation, while private profits have soared.

“Nothing will change until the privatised water industry is fundamentally restructured for public benefit.

“Anything less risks continuing the normalisation of environmental harm on an industrial scale.”

Subscribe now

The Blackpool Lead asked United Utilities a number of questions, including about its plans to raise £800m to help pay for upgrades to its infrastructure and how they would stop sewage spills into the Irish Sea, given people continue to be warned against bathing in the water off Blackpool.

A spokesperson initially responded wrongly: “There is no warning against swimming on the Fylde coast.”

They later retracted the statement and said some £2.1bn will be spent between now and March 2030 to “reduce the activation of storm overflows”.

Read more