Earlier this year there was much celebration at the news that Transport for Lancashire were going to release more than \u00a316 million towards extending the Blackpool Tramway to North Station, but it could now turn out that this celebration was premature as the leader of Blackpool Council has thrown doubt over the scheme questioning whether they can afford their \u00a32 million contribution. <\/p>\n
Cllr Simon Blackburn has warned that there may be a stark choice for the Council \u2013 fund the tramway extension or put the \u00a32 million towards a museum in the town\u2019s Winter Gardens. At the same time he also questioned whether the disruption the extension would bring to Talbot Road \u2013 which has only recently been dug up \u2013 is worth it and where the traffic displaced by the trams would go.<\/p>\n
These incredible statements were made by Cllr Blackburn at a recent Council meeting. At the meeting he said: \u201cIt all depends on whether or not we can find the \u00a32m that we will have to put into the bid monies in order to make this happen. And if you think that were we to be successful with the Heritage Leisure Fund bid for the museum, we would be looking at a contribution of \u00a32m over the period of the museum being developed. If we find \u00a32m, and I\u2019m not sure we have it, would we spend it on the tramway or the museum, are we likely to be able to spend it on both? Probably not. The second consideration is do we want to go through the palaver of digging up Talbot Road again? Do we want to shift all the traffic that would need to be shifted as we wouldn\u2019t be able to have trams and cars on the same road?\u201d<\/p>\n
A report is due to go before the Council\u2019s executive in February after which a final decision will be made. But the fact that the leader of the Council now seems to be against the plan will surely be damaging to the prospects of the extra \u00a32 million being found, it could well be a case of so near but yet so far?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Earlier this year there was much celebration at the news that Transport for Lancashire were going to release more than \u00a316 million towards extending the Blackpool Tramway to North Station, but it could now turn out that this celebration was … Continue reading