After council vowed Stanley Park high ropes were not gone for good - it turns out they are

PLUS: The latest on who is, might be and isn't politicising child sexual exploitation in Blackpool

Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.

Today we report on the demise of a Blackpool attraction over safety issues - just one year after we were told by Blackpool Council they were not gone for good.

No, this isn’t breaking news about the heritage trams, but instead an update on the high ropes at Stanley Park. They have cost the council around £390,000 in total.

And on Wednesday, there was a row at Blackpool Council over the politicisation of child sexual exploitation in our town which stemmed from our reporting.

Cllr Lynn Williams, leader of Blackpool Council, had accused Tory leader Paul Galley of using the issue as a political weapon. And he’s furious about that, saying his report is the only reason the council is interested.

High ropes at Stanley Park to be demolished despite council vow they weren’t gone for good

The ropes proved to be unsustainable

By Michael Holmes

The mothballed high ropes at Blackpool’s Stanley Park are set to be pulled down - after the council borrowed £320,000 to build them just a decade ago.

Town hall bosses last year insisted the attraction, which has been closed to the public since the end of summer 2022, had not been shut permanently.

But they are now plotting their demolition, planning papers seen by The Blackpool Lead have revealed.

The “structure is unsafe” and pulling the ropes and wooden infrastructure down will enable the “future development of the land”, which is adjacent to the sports centre and its main and overflow car parks, off West Park Drive, it has been claimed.

The council’s loan on the failed venture - a total of £394,000 when interest is accounted for - was finally repaid this year, which means about £80,000 had to be paid even when the high ropes were out of action.

Cllr Paul Galley, leader of the Tory opposition at the town hall, said: “Once again we’re seeing the consequences of the Labour council’s financial mismanagement creating white elephant after white elephant - and once again it’s the local council taxpayer footing the bill.

“This is simply not good enough.

“The council borrowed £320,000 and since then £390,116 has been paid back by the Sports Centre because the ropes as a business have been a financial disaster.

“This means the Sports Centre has had over £390,000 taken out of it - money that should have been used on the building itself.

“I guarantee no one will be disciplined or held accountable. No one will put their hand up and admit responsibility.

“But this was public money and it’s the public who suffer the consequences.

“This will be the tip of the iceberg in the way the council manages over half a billion in loans it’s taken out.

“I have reported it to the external auditor and asked for a thorough investigation.”

The high ropes, which stand 11 metres tall and also feature a zip wire, bridges, a rock climbing wall and obstacles, did not reopen in 2023 after its usual winter shutdown.

A review was being carried out, but the BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting Service said last year the council had denied its permanent closure, with “proposals being considered which could see it operate in future as part of a package of adventure activities at Stanley Park, including more use of the lake”.

A local authority spokesperson said at the time: “Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the high ropes course at Blackpool Sports Centre was popular with schools and community groups as well as casual users.

“Unfortunately when the course was finally able to reopen, many of these organisations and users found themselves in a different financial situation and the number of bookings we received dropped considerably.

“We were also faced with increased operational cost pressures.

“In order to prevent any further losses, the high ropes were effectively ‘mothballed’ pending possible investment into outdoor activities at Stanley Park.”

The land the high ropes are built on used to house council greenhouses and a car park.

After the course is flattened through a “controlled machine demolition”, the area will be seeded with grass, planning documents add.

A council spokesperson contradicted the authority’s own planning application and told The Blackpool Lead the “structure itself is safe”.

They said, however, that the attraction “could not reopen as a leisure facility without further investment”.

They added: “It makes sense to demolish it now rather than deal with ongoing maintenance issues when we have no intention of reopening it.

“Over time, the wooden poles would continue to deteriorate, which could cause a potential hazard.

“A number of (future) options are currently being considered. They are in keeping with the adjacent leisure facilities.”

No more information was given.

When the adventure course opened, admission cost at least £8 per person.

Another attraction that could have included zip wires was proposed for part of the Stanley Park Golf Course in recent years.

But plans for the £45m Adrenalin World adventure park proved to be controversial and were dropped by the council and developer in late 2022, with rising costs partly blamed.

The proposals, first revealed in 2019, also included 150 holiday cottages and zip wires on the east side of East Park Drive.

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