'We are being forced out': Council accused of displacing community with regeneration plans

There is broad agreement that regeneration of the area is necessary - but strongly-worded criticism of how it is being done

Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.

This week we come to plans to redevelop homes around Central Drive - and the issues and concerns that come with the plans.

Exact details of what those plans will entail will come in the coming weeks when a formal planning application is submitted - but we know that the council has already began to purchase homes in the area ahead of the project.

But it is the absence of right to return from the plans - something the council hasn’t completely ruled out when speaking to us but which most say wouldn’t be manageable given they aren’t council-owned homes - that has caused the most concern.

We speak with residents, politicians, campaigners and more in today’s edition.

Blackpool briefing

🔔 A Grade-II listed church in Blackpool which is a prominent landmark in the town will be re-purposed as a mental health therapy centre, if ambitious plans are approved. The distinctive Thanksgiving Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, on Whinney Heys Road near Blackpool Victoria Hospital, has been empty for around 25 years. But proposals are being developed to physically link the church to neighbouring Cygnet Newton House at 183 Newton Drive, a 21-bed specialist high-support inpatient rehabilitation service for men (aged 18+) with complex and enduring mental health issues. The project will also entail the restoration of the church, which has been owned for many years owned by the Historic Chapels Trust but is set to change hands.

🪑 A furniture shop in Blackpool has been given the green light to use empty space upstairs as a showroom to display some of its wares. An application was submitted to Blackpool planners by Paul Gaunt Furniture for use of the upper floors in conjunction with the existing ground floor shop at 141A Abbey Road, off Squires Gate Lane in South Shore.

🎭 The artist who created Blackpool’s award-winning Comedy Carpet says there must be no attempt to remove any controversial names from the famous artwork. Gordon Young was speaking after renewed calls were made to extract the name of the late entertainer Rolf Harris, who was jailed in 2014 after being convicted of indecent assaults on four women. And Mr Young made an impassioned plea for the preservation of any art forms which came under threat because circumstances swung against them years after they were created. Harris is included in the installation because he, in common with all the other entertainers featured, performed in Blackpool, appearing in a summer show in the 1980s.

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‘We are being forced out’: Council accused of displacing community with regeneration plans

Streets in the Revoe area

By Luke Beardsworth

Plans to redevelop one of the most impoverished areas of the UK have been hit by strong criticism by residents, campaigners and opposition councillors.

The plans were unveiled in 2025 and they promised to tackle poverty and dilapidation by replacing bedsits and terraced homes with new energy-efficient homes and green spaces.

The plans for Blackpool Central ultimately mean that around 400 properties - approximately 300 of which are estimated to be residential - will be replaced in 230 new homes.

But the failure of Blackpool Council to guarantee a right to return for residents who wish to stay in the area means that the authority is being accused of displacing them.

All of which means that Blackpool Council is being urged to go back to the drawing board - with residents - to ensure that the project is for the people that actually live there.

Reasons cited by Blackpool Council, who will submit a planning application which will confirm further details in the coming weeks, for the plans needing to proceed as planned include the poor condition of the homes, the need to improve people’s lives with green spaces, and shifting the focus of housing from quantity to quality.

But for both homeowners and renters in the area, there are fears that they will not be able to afford the move even with the compensation on the table from Blackpool Council.

Anna Penfold lives with her husband on Rydal Avenue in Blackpool.

She told The Blackpool Lead: “We are being forced out. They offered £80,000 plus the extras which puts it up to £95,100. You can’t get another house for that, and we’ve not paid our mortgage off.

“He’s worked all of his life for that. He was going to pass it down to me, and then me to my kids, and how can we do any of that if they go and flatten it?

“The area does need a tidy up. Many people have had floors cave in but that’s because the landlords don’t maintain the properties. If they did, you wouldn’t have the damp and all the other issues.

“We’ve worked so hard to make this into a family home and my husband hasn’t done all of that just to hand over the keys.

“All the rented properties need to be brought up to standard and they need to be monitored properly.

“This entire project is out of line. People need these homes. You can’t expect a community to up and move.

Streets in the Revoe area

“You can’t treat people like this. They just need to tidy it up, not flatten it.”

Blackpool Council has acknowledged that problems with the landlords in the area have contributed to how far-reaching the plans are.

Around 74 per cent of the homes inspected in the area have been found to be sub-standard, with 67% described as so hazardous they could lead to serious harm or death.

They told us: “Some landlords in the inner area sadly do not provide good quality homes, and this impacts on the wellbeing and health of their tenants.”

Blackpool Council is also not thrilled with the suggestion that there will be nowhere else to move for people.