My call for investment in South Shore

This week in Parliament, I called on the Communities Minister to make sure the full £1.5 million Pride in Place Impact Fund for Blackpool is spent in South Shore.

Waterloo Road, Bond Street and Lytham Road are the beating heart of our South Shore – once thriving, full of local shops, cafés and holidaymakers. But after years of neglect under the Tories, these streets have been left to rot. I see it every day from my office on Lytham Road.

Now we’ve got a chance to turn things around. The government has given Blackpool £1.5 million from the Pride in Place Impact Fund. This money can be used for immediate improvements to high streets, community spaces and shared areas. I want to see this money invested in South Shore.

In Parliament, I asked Communities Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh how the money can be used quickly and efficiently. I also invited her to come and meet local residents and businesses in South Shore – and join me for some proper Blackpool fish and chips while she’s here.

She’s agreed to visit and has confirmed that the first tranche of funding is being released this autumn so we can move quickly.

There’s already a strong foundation for regeneration in South Shore. The council has commissioned a masterplan for the area. Empowerment charity is working with local people on a People’s Plan to make sure your voice is at the centre of decisions. Funding from the Shared Prosperity Fund and Community Cohesion Fund is already making a difference – with colourful new planters and benches, native planting happening on grass verges and Waterloo Road roundabout, a mural earmarked for the area and deep cleaning of Waterloo Road pavements and shopfronts earmarked.

But we need serious investment to bring South Shore back to life. Empty heritage buildings like the old Post Office on Waterloo Road need to be brought back into use and we need to attract new businesses into the area by making it more appealing.

On Bond Street with Ellie from Empowerment, who’s been working on the South Shore People’s Plan

This £1.5 million can make an immediate impact. It’s a start. But I’m also fighting for long-term investment – the same £20 million long-term investment that’s been awarded to Layton and Grange Park.

I’ll keep working with the South Shore community, the council and the government to make sure that happens.