BLACKPOOL UPGRADE DEAL SIGNED & SEALED – BUT RESIDENTS STILL COMPLAIN OVER DEPOT New Transport Minister, Sadiq Khan, visited Blackpool this week to confirm the deal to upgrade the tramway to light rail standards in the next few years. Mr Khan confirmed that a £68.3 million contribution will come from the government to go with the local contribution of £33.4 million, to enable a fully upgraded light rail system to be in operation from Easter 2012.
Mr Khan said: “This scheme will deliver significant benefits for the local community. Trams have been running in Blackpool for more than 100 years – I hope this funding will mean the world-famous tramway can continue to run well into the future."
Cllr Peter Callow, leader of Blackpool Council, said: “This is a great day for Blackpool and we are very grateful to the Government for supporting our ambitions."
Geoff Driver, Lancashire County Council leader, added: “The new trams will be a great boost to tourism and business."
The story in the Blackpool Gazette reports that work to upgrade the tramway will begin later this month – but no details of what and where this work will be are given. The money will pay for the upgrading of 8km of tram tracks, the fleet of 16 trams from Bombardier and the rebuilding of tram stops.
However, it is not all sweetness and light in the resort over the news with campaigners on South Shore still complaining over the proposed site of the Depot at Starr Gate. Residents claim that the depot being located there will make their lives a misery and have launched a campaign to prevent it being built there.
Mark Chapman, the leader of the campaign, said: “The land at Starr Gate is for tourism and leisure use and not for an industrial unit. We are not against having a museum there but we are opposed to having a maintenance unit when we hear that work on trams will go on after midnight. The building would be around the same size as Preston railway station, and cause major problems for access and parking.”
John Donnellan, Assistant Director for the Built Environment on Blackpool Council, warned that if a spanner was thrown into the works over the depot site it may mean the end of the upgrade of the tramway. He said: “We are reliant on Government money to fund the scheme, including the depot on Starr Gate, and we have to secure this funding in time. Finding a new depot would throw the scheme into serious doubt. There really isn't another site. We have looked at the options but these trams are bigger and Starr Gate is the only option. We are confident these plans will go ahead. The council has done everything it can to make sure residents are happy. We have consulted the public. Every effort will be made to minimise disruption.”
Blackpool Council are due to consider the planning application for the depot complex at Starr Gate on 29th June.
Webmaster’s Comment: You’ve got to love politicians – a major announcement and press release from the Department for Transport which makes it sound as it the award of the funding is new news and that Mr Khan has been in the job for two minutes and has decided to give the money. For some it may seem that the government have made two awards of the same amount to Blackpool – but I guess that it is what the government (and it would make no difference as to which party was in power) want people to believe!
* In other news from the Blackpool Gazette it is reported that as part of the Promenade reconstruction, a wall will be built between pedestrians and trams. No details of the length or the exact location of this wall are not given.
Source: Blackpool Gazette
Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramway – Sunday 14th June 2009
An artists impression of how the new Bombardier Flexity tram – the type of which will be built for Blackpool – will look.
Photo courtesy Bombardier Transportation