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Lancashire icon set to be sold
Council bosses have launched a bid to buy Blackpool Tower from Lancashire's richest man Trevor Hemmings.
The authority has confirmed it is also in negotiations to buy the Winter Gardens, the Golden Mile Centre and Louis Tussaud's Waxworks from Mr Hemmings' Leisure Parcs empire.
Leisure Parcs has denied reports that it has accepted a 40m-plus offer for the sites.
And a spokesman for Blackpool Council said the sale will only go through if cash is gained from European structural funds.
He said: "The sale is dependent on a successful bid for funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
"The project management committee met on Tuesday and gave the initial thumbs up to the bidding process. Money granted from this fund could potentially be matched by a package of public funding and used to acquire the assets."
The move came after recommendations in a report presented by Manchester Council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein who has been presenting ideas to an influential ERDF committee.
The spokesman added of the report: "It called for consideration to be made of the private leisure assets within the resort and how they can attract funding to boost their regeneration. By bringing the iconic landmarks into the public sector they can benefit from allocations of heritage funding that could not be accessed by private sector owners."
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Weather for Preston
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -4 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 2 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South east
