Car parking wrangle resolved at Blackpool luxury apartments - but means public spaces will be lost

Plans to introduce a residents-only parking scheme for people living in luxury flats in Blackpool look set to finally go ahead.

Proposals were unveiled in 2021 to reconfigure parking on Harrow Place in South Shore to provide parking for Coastal Point and a separate flats development due to be built at 6-8 Harrow Place, which means the loss of free on-street public parking.

But agreements needed for the scheme had stalled, while minor alterations proposed to Coastal Point meant it was one parking space short of the 88 spaces needed for the total development.

However, Coastal Point developers successfully argued to Blackpool Council's Planning Committee they had already made provision for the extra space needed, within their own courtyard.

Councillors voted in favour of three new planning applications to allow minor alterations at Coastal Point including the sub-division of one flat and conversion of proposed concierge and gym space into two flats.

A new 106 agreement - setting out planning obligations between developers and the council - will now be drawn up in relation to the parking scheme.

Jane Fox, speaking on behalf of Coastal Point developer Ron Richardson, said residents had been waiting three years for the parking scheme with further delays due to "the planning department facilitating the adjacent development".

Ms Fox said there were residents of Coastal Point "who struggle to bring shopping in etc, due to delays in the parking scheme"  through no fault of the developer who had tried to accommodate all the council's requests.

The committee also heard from Harrow Place resident Dave Storton who has been campaigning since 2021 to preserve on-street parking outside the home he shares with his wife Paula. The council confirmed at the meeting there would be unrestricted parking outside the property.

A council planning report says: "It is considered without the parking scheme proposed the ambitious redevelopment of the site could not have occurred leaving a dilapidated site to the detriment of the immediate streetscene and wider area.

"Whilst the proposal would result in the loss of general parking for other residents and visitors in the immediate vicinity, it is considered on balance that the benefits of redeveloping the site to a good standard and providing sufficient parking for it outweighs the negative impacts associated with the scheme."