Blackpool was odds on favourite to become the UK’s gambling capital, but the council revised its masterplan. Chances are casinos will still be built but, as David Thame reports, it will be with conditions
Leisure Parcs thought it had it in the bag – but convincing Blackpool council that its future lies in becoming a Las Vegas-style gambling town is turning out to be more difficult than it imagined.
Last month, Leisure Parcs – part of the gambling-to-property empire of Lancashire millionaire Trevor Hemmings, and owner of Blackpool Tower, the piers and the Winter Gardens – was disappointed to discover that its plans to install a massive resort casino in the ailing seaside town had been downgraded in the council’s £1bn masterplan.
Casinos were to be a part – but only a part – of plans that hinge on a convention centre, an entertainment complex and other attractions (see box).
Disgruntled is hardly the word. The casino plan had already been dealt a modest, but hurtful, blow by the government, which decided not to hand Blackpool – in effect, Leisure Parcs – an exclusive licence to trial the resort casino idea.
Now it seems that several years of high-octane publicity, much sophisticated campaigning, and the promise of 13,000 jobs if the resort casino plan was agreed, were a gamble that did not quite pay off.
While the masterplan mentions the possibility of including up to four resort casino hotels, it claims an ambitious transformation of the town can happen whether or not such hotels are included.
New investment
New council leader Roy Fisher explains: “There’s been a lot of talk about Blackpool becoming the new Las Vegas but the important people understand that these plans are first and foremost about regeneration.
“Casinos can play their part in achieving the dream, by acting as a catalyst to bring in new investment, but they are just one part of a far bigger picture.”
So it was notable that Leisure Parcs’ managing director, Marc Etches, did not appear at the masterplan’s glitzy launch.
Council insiders admit that relations with Leisure Parcs hit an all-time low and only recovered after both parties met for a regional TV programme. Explanations were offered and, it seems, the mood lifted.
Alan Cavil, Blackpool’s head of economic development, says assumptions that the council was going to base its strategy entirely on resort casinos were always misplaced.
“We’ve always tried to say we weren’t entirely relying on the resort casino plan – and now we are making it explicit that we want a mixed-use resort, not a gambling resort,” he says.
The casino plan is still important – but not the only card in the deck, he explains. And he is careful to answer critics’ complaints that the gambling plan would have sucked tourist spending into the resort casino and away from Blackpool’s wider economy.
“We do feel gaming can be at the heart of change, and a fantastic economic driver. But we tried never to be drawn on the number of casinos or the mix of leisure because we wanted to do the research and take the advice of international consultants.
“Now we can say there will be four resort casinos interspersed among other attractions, encouraging a movement of people around the town rather than being siphoned off into the casino,” he says.
The masterplan now resolves the future of the 17-acre Central Station site, which will be reserved for a convention centre to replace the Winter Gardens.
Relocating the town’s courts building – which will help to open up the site – is now being examined.
Detailed design work on public areas and wider site assembly is in progress. EDAW has been retained as consultant.
Conference centre
Yet the noises about Leisure Parcs emerging from the council are distinctly cooler than they were two years ago. In that time the council has acquired a new leader, Fisher, and a new chief executive, Steve Weaver.
Cavil says: “We see Leisure Parcs as a key partner. We’ve consulted them as part of developing the masterplan. And there is a key role in operating the conference centre and perhaps, in due course, turning that into a resort casino.
“But our consultants say Central Station is best for a convention centre and that’s the one we’ll be aiming for – and it is up to Leisure Parcs whether it wants to go for it or not. We hope other investors will do so too.
“We have already had interest from US investors, a lot of which is attached to whether or not resort casinos can be developed.”
Leisure Parcs argues that such massive regeneration cannot be attained or sustained without resort casino hotels at its heart.
Leisure Parc’s Etches says: “My company is hugely ambitious for Blackpool and we believe the council’s masterplan demonstrates similar ambition. But to realise such huge aspirations, you need a very powerful economic engine.
“Resort casinos create thousands of year-round jobs, attract hundreds of millions of pounds of investment, and millions of tourists. With so many eyes on Blackpool, this is a golden opportunity to say to national government that a new gambling bill in the autumn offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deliver massive regeneration in England’s North West.”
The council has not completely abandoned the casino plan – but it is certainly playing it down.
“Experience of other resorts worldwide shows that gaming can act as a powerful catalyst for regeneration – bringing jobs, prosperity and security of income for the long-term,” says Peter Moore, who advises the government on the regeneration of seaside resorts. He is a former managing director of Center Parcs.
“However, it will be critical that gaming is only one part of a resort with broad family appeal. Casinos have to be carefully planned as part of the mosaic of attractions that make a successful modern tourist destination.”
In a prepared statement, the council’s chief executive is careful to add: “I want to stress that, with or without casinos, Blackpool will be transformed once again into a destination of truly national and international calibre.”
Assuming the gaming laws are relaxed to allow them, resort casinos are almost certainly on their way to Blackpool. But the odds of the town allowing itself to be transformed into the Las Vegas of the North are almost certainly too long to be worth betting on.
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Regeneration: Much more than just extra lights |
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Around 490 acres of Blackpool town centre, stretching along 4km of promenade, are to be transformed as part of its new £1bn masterplan. |
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The plan envisages improved annual illuminations, a smarter promenade and an enhanced 42-acre Blackpool Pleasure Beach – and the introduction of a host of attractions, including an entertainment complex, up to four casino hotels and a spectacular conference/arena facility. |
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The draft masterplan for a new Blackpool also shows how the town’s historic tram system could be rebuilt with new trams and new track, green spaces and the town’s Victorian architecture restored. |
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Tropical themes will dominate in an effort to provide an all-year-round attraction capable of beating Blackpool’s variable weather. One of the boldest ideas is to create a “waterworld” on an 27-acre site at Central Drive and a revitalised pleasure beach district, including a 196,000 sq ft aquarium next to the South Pier with its own 800-bed resort casino hotel. |
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There will also be a 345,000 sq ft conference and arena complex in a prominent seafront position adjacent to Central Pier – ensuring Blackpool captures more of the lucrative business travel market. |
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Another aim is a revitalised town centre, which could feature a pedestrianised area of restaurants and shops, more than 323,000 sq ft of office developments and almost 300 town houses, some with rooftop gardens. |
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The plan could take as long as 20 years to implement. |
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Retail and office markets |
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Retail revamp could kick-start development |
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There is more to Blackpool than the promenade. And its retail and office markets are about to enjoy a surge of activity. |
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The long-awaited redevelopment of the town’s Hounds Hill shopping centre could begin next year. |
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Academy Land acquired the 110,000 sq ft centre last year after a £35m deal with Pearl Assurance. Pearl had already secured outline consent for a massive 312,000 sq ft of extra retail space, along with 40,000 sq ft of leisure. |
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The new owner has decided on something smaller. Academy’s James Derry says: “We are about to submit a planning application for an extension that would mean the centre almost doubles in size to 200,000 sq ft. |
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“This is going to be very important for Blackpool, where shopping streets like Church Street have lost their way. They can’t provide the right size of modern units that retailers need, and we think we could at Hounds Hill.” |
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The £100m development is likely to include a department store anchor – the early money is on Debenhams. If all goes well the development will be complete by 2007. |
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The office market is also enjoying a burst of activity, with some sizeable requirements from public bodies and large local and regional firms. |
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Richard Wharton at Robert Pinkus & Co says: “We have just signed up the Inland Revenue on behalf of Maple Grove Developments at the Blackpool council-owned technology park at Bispham for a 20,000 sq ft design-and-build office building. |
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“At the same time, the Blackpool Wyre & Fylde NHS Trust is in discussion for its new headquarters with a private landlord, and we are handling three more requirements from local companies seeking20-30,000 sq ft corporate HQs in the town.” |
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This is in addition to half-a-dozen government requirements for various departments, which have helped Gladman Developments to launch an 80,000 sq ft office scheme at the technology park |
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