25-year masterplan to transform Central Drive area of Blackpool

A 25-year blueprint for the Revoe area of the resort could see Central Drive and the surrounding neighbourhoods reinvented.

The first phase, to create a sports village linked to Blackpool Football Club, is already on the cards thanks to a potential £5.5m funding boost from Blackpool’s Town Deal.

Blackpool Council is working up a business case which must be submitted to the government by November for this initial phase.

But the Revoe Masterplan, put together last year in consultation with local residents, sets out even higher aspirations for this part of Blackpool on the edge of the town centre.

Revoe1

It is an area with some of the worst pockets of deprivation in England, with more than a third of the working age population claiming employment benefits, and around a quarter suffering long term illness.

Nevertheless there is a strong community spirit, and consultation with the public identified “a strong sense of pride” in the area.

The masterplan was produced as part of a £315,000 project, including  £285,000 from the government’s Community Housing Fund, alongside a similar focus on Claremont.

Manchester based consultants GL Hearn worked with residents including members of the Revoelution committee.

They found Central Drive had “lost all sense of its original identity” with lack of investment and closed down shops having “led to a fragmented, and unwelcoming streetscape.”

Money needs to be spent not only on new shop fronts, but also public realm improvements, and to “up-skill Central Drive’s traders in the art of their public welcome.”

Revoe Library

The masterplan adds “proposals are not limited to purely shop frontages, but will also include guidance for street art on blank facades and gable ends and identify opportunities for local public art installations.

“All of which will help to reinforce the unique offer of Central Drive and Revoe.”

Four development zones have been identified – the sports village and southern quarter, Central Drive, Western residential zone and Eastern residential zone.

Key elements include enhanced public realm around Revoe library to form a gateway into the neighbourhood.

A new setting to create ‘Library Square’ could  see property demolished to open up views to the nearby mosque.

Also set out is an ambition to replace Revoe School with modern, new buildings with the existing school preserved and converted to apartments.

Consultants say “Revoe needs a building that is designed specifically

for primary education and the 21st century education.”

This area would also include the sports village, set to be worked up in parternship with Blackpool Football Club Community Trust with links to the school and community.

Improved housing is a key element. With land previously allocated for phase four of the Foxhall Village housing scheme now set to be earmarked for the sports village, the masterplan suggests housing could be built instead on Festival Park.

The site on Rigby Road is home to businesses including the Odeon Cinema and Bannatynes Gym. Work recently began to build a new bingo hall but has stalled.

The plan says “Central Drive has the opportunity to offer unique residential developments” and depicts contemporary apartment blocks at Erdington Plaza and Bethesda Square, currently the site of terraced housing.

The vision for the eastern and western residential districts is less radical, with interventions including more tree planting, improvements to pavements and kerbs and creating traffic-free spaces.

The plan recommends “simple measures such as uniformed window improvements, painting window sills and surrounds or even painting key properties throughout the length of the street will help to add a distinctive character to the areas.”

The masterplan is designed to create a template for future development – and change will be complex to achieve.

Some ideas are already out-of-date, such as proposals to restore the George Hotel on Central Drive which has now been demolished after falling into a state of such bad repair it was beyond saving.

Other proposals will require large-scale investment to acquire property and clear existing buildings.

Its authors admit “masterplans are of no value unless they can be delivered.

“Grand ideas are no more than that if they are not viable or cannot be funded.”

It remains to be seen whether or not Central Drive will be transformed a quarter of a century from now – but at least there is a goal in sight, and the chance of kicking off the first phase.