Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.
We have been pretty persistent in our short existence that Blackpool is getting ripped off when it comes to council tax. The difference in amounts paid between Blackpool and the very poshest areas of London is absurd.
It is one of the most regressive tax systems out there and in need of reform - but it is feasible that Labour’s mansion tax plans could at least go some way to resolve the matter.
That’s the hope from Chris Webb at least, who said the money generated could be used to give authorities like Blackpool (or Fylde Coast Council in future) more funding and give council tax payers a break.
That’s the topic of today’s edition and it’s a drum we will keep on battering.
Blackpool briefing
🗳️ In Wednesday’s edition, we suggested there had been enmity between Reform candidate for Claremont Mark Butcher and their group leader at Blackpool Council Cllr Jim O’Neill. Cllr O’Neill subsequently joined Butcher for campaigning efforts and the latter said “Blackpool Lead report this & and stop the misinformation reporting!!”. The post wasn’t even written with ChatGPT.
We are happy to report that, as one Reform source said this week, the two are able to present a ‘united front’ in a key campaigning period. But it was not, and is not, misinformation.
🌳 The overhaul of a play area torched in a mindless vandal attack is still on schedule, insists Blackpool Council after ward councillors hit out at delays.
The much-loved play ship in Anchorsholme Park was destroyed in the incident on December 28 last year, causing thousands of pounds of damage and much anger and upset in the community.
Local Conservative councillors pledged to get the park’s play area upgraded with new replacement equipment and the Friends of Anchorsholme Park charity committed £10,000 towards the park and surrounding security to help get the restoration project moving.
But this week Anchorsholme councillors Paul Galley and Anita Cooper, along with Norbreck member Julie Sloman, said the council was dragging its feet over its promise to push ahead with the scheme – and they demanded firm dates.
However, Labour-led Blackpool Council says the project was always intended for an Easter 2027 completion in late March and says it has fully committed to all aspects of the project, including its promised involvement of local schoolchildren.
More details have emerged of ambitious plans to develop and change the use of a prominent town centre building described as “one of the most exciting development opportunities in Blackpool”.
A new application has been submitted to Blackpool planners in connection with a proposed use of the Prudential House on Topping Street as 54 self contained flats.
This 48,000 sq ft landmark mixed-use and office building, which currently houses an Iceland supermarket on the ground floor, was once used by learner drivers sitting their theory tests.
The move is part of an application by developer ALB, which is set to acquire the property, for Prior Approval under Part 3, Class MA of the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO).
GPDO is a permitted development right in England that allows the change of use of a building from commercial, business, and service use (Class E) to residential use (Class C3 dwellinghouses) without needing a full planning application.
ALB’s Prior Approval application is set to be lodged with Blackpool planners imminently.
As part of those proposals, a detailed Noise Assessment report has now been lodged on behalf of ALB by NOVA Acoustics, which will require written approval from the council prior to work commencing.
These stringent tests are essential to ensure eventual occupants are not subjected to unacceptable levels of external noise.
Absurd that families in Blackpool pay more council tax than mansion owners in Mayfair
By Michael Holmes
It is a “longstanding unfairness” that Blackpool residents living in band D homes pay more in council tax than someone swanning around a £10m mansion in Mayfair, the Government has finally accepted.
Labour is planning to introduce a so-called “mansion tax” - a charge on owners of properties worth more than £2m - to support local government services.
Local MP Chris Webb said it is “absurd” that a “family in a modest terrace in Blackpool pays more council tax than the owner of a multi-million pound mansion in Mayfair” - and hopes cash from the new levy will be used to cut bills on the Fylde coast.
The Labour man told The Blackpool Lead: “Places like Blackpool have carried the weight of an unfair system for decades. The very wealthiest owning multi-million pound properties should be paying their fair share.
“I support a high-value council tax surcharge and I believe strongly in directing a portion of the revenue raised from it towards reducing council tax bills in places like Blackpool.
“I raised this directly with the former chancellor (Rachel Reeves), and I’ll be raising it again with the new Chancellor (John Healey) when Parliament returns.”
Webb, who represents the Blackpool South constituency, added: “We need to fix this system that lets the wealthiest off lightly while towns like Blackpool pick up the bill.
“We have been overlooked for too long and this is a chance to start putting that right.”
People in Knightsbridge, home to the UK’s most expensive street where it costs an average of £20.35m to live, pay less in council tax than those living on Blackpool’s Grange Park estate, The Blackpool Lead reported last year.