Blackpool Council to fund £14 million hotel as part of tourism plans

Blackpool Council has said it will pay £14 million for the construction of a four-star hotel as part of plans to breath life back into the resort.

The council hopes to borrow £11.3 million for a new 130-room hotel in the Talbot Gateway area is expecting future profits to cover the cost.

According to the BBC, Holiday Inn is the preferred chain although a deal is yet to be signed.

Should the project receive planning permission, the hotel will take approximately two years to build on the site of the East Topping Street car park.

The council said it had already raised £2.7 million towards the cost of the hotel from the regeneration of the Talbot Gateway area.

The town’s hoteliers criticised the move, stating that there is already a sufficient amount of four-star accommodation at the resort.

A third-party company will provide accommodation services for the hotel, which will be owned by Blackpool Council.

Deputy council leader Fred Jackson, said: “All the delegates for conferences won’t stay in the four-star hotel, so the other hotels in Blackpool will benefit from this development as well.

“One of the criticisms we’ve had in the past has been that the conferences no longer want to come because there is no quality hotel in the town centre.”

Claire Smith, president of the hoteliers’ organisation StayBlackpool, said: “The conference accommodation offer has never been criticised, it always was the conference facilities that they were going on about.

“Had it been a five-star hotel, that would add to Blackpool and we would have been in favour of it.”