What is going on with Blackpool's heritage trams?

No discussions over scrapping heritage trams - but 'no detailed operational plans' either

Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.

Redundancies and senior staff being suspended were reported when Blackpool’s heritage trams were controversially suspended.

At that time, around £150,000 was expected to be spent bringing them up to speed - particularly from a safety perspective.

But today The Blackpool Lead reveals that the amount spent on the trams during this time was nothing like what was hoped for - after third-party contribution fell through.

At the time, the suspension was blamed on safety fears. But our reporting today throws fresh doubt on that.

Blackpool briefing

💷 A couple who have run a Blackpool hotel named Tripadvisor’s Best of the Best three years in a row have applied to turn into a private house – because they think it will add value to the property on the market. Chris and Christine Rinder have made a huge success of their seafront Blackpool hotel, with a string of awards to their name. But the couple have applied to Blackpool Council for planning permission to Fossil Tree Hotel turn it into a private house. The pair, who have spent three decades in the hotel trade, have made no secret of their plans to retire. Last year they put the hotel up for online auction with, starting bids from £400,000. But they noticed that the former hotels in their row had become private houses, with one similar property to theirs fetching £600,000.

🙃 As one of Blackpool’s seafront attractions is set to disappear, another is lined up to replace it, if plans get the go ahead. The Theatre D’Amour, located close to South Pier, was first unveiled in 2011 by its designer, Laurence Llewelyn‑Bowen. The Victorian-style tableau was created as part of Blackpool’s famous Illuminations. However, in recent years the Theatre D’Amour appears to have fallen out of use and has been shuttered up. Recently, a notice of demolition appeared on the structure. In December there was a re-application for a very different attraction on the same spot – the Upside Down House. The attraction is already proving popular in different locations across the country, with a new one opening in Bristol last year.

📊 A Singapore-based real estate firm is to open a new data centre in Blackpool. Elite UK REIT has secured planning permission for the new development at Peel Park in Blackpool. The planning application was submitted as part of Blackpool’s Growth and Prosperity programme, which includes development projects in the 144-ha Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone as well as the Talbot Gateway Central Business District. The centre will be built on an undeveloped 20-acre plot on the site, next to offices leased to the Department for Work and Pensions. Elite is a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) whose business activities involve acquiring real estate and related assets in the United Kingdom. It is notable for having over 99% of its portfolio leased to the UK government, primarily providing critical social infrastructure to the DWP.

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What is going on with Blackpool’s heritage trams?

Heritage trams during the illuminations

By Michael Holmes

A six-figure sum “promised” to transport chiefs to overhaul Blackpool’s heritage trams during their suspension “failed to materialise”, documents have revealed.

Of the £150,000 cost estimate cited by Blackpool Transport Services (BTS), £30,000 was allocated for an advanced overspeed protection system the council arm’s-length company said was needed as part of safety upgrades before the trams could return.

But internal papers show the third-party contribution fell through.

Instead, only around £18,000 was spent on assessment and repair work before two trams returned to service during October’s Lightpool Festival following a 10-month absence from the tracks.

The documents make no reference to overspeed systems being installed, and neither BTS nor the council would say if the technology has been fitted.