In contrast to its image as having long passed its sell-by date, the famous resort town of Blackpool is undergoing a huge renovation programme. Michael Burton was invited there for a visit by the council’s chief executive, Steve Weaver

It is fair to say that Blackpool has not had an entirely glowing press in recent years.

Even The MJ’s well-read Diary took a pop at the leisure resort last month, when it referred, disdainfully, to its image being more in keeping with Chubby Brown than as the ‘Orlando of the North’ (17 March).

A hurt call followed from Blackpool Council’s chief executive, Steve Weaver, who sent us a letter pointing out that ‘Blackpool is no longer synonymous with Chubby Brown if, indeed, it ever was’ (The MJ Letters, 31 March). He added: ‘Of course, there is much still to do to bring Blackpool back to its heyday, but we are on the way.’

Steve also invited The MJ to the resort to see what huge regeneration was taking place. I accepted his offer a couple of weeks ago, arriving on what was an unusually sunny, clear spring day.

In fact, it was so sunny we even sat outside for lunch in the newly-refurbished St John’s Square, a rather unexpected occurrence for March in Blackpool. Steve, himself, was brought up in West Yorkshire, attended Sheffield University, where he studied geography and geology, worked briefly as a teacher, and then went into town planning at Blackburn BC.

He worked there until 2002, during which it became a unitary, and he rose up the hierarchy to become deputy chief executive. That year, he became chief at Blackpool.

‘I’d been coming here since childhood, and couldn’t resist the challenge,’ he says.

‘Regeneration was its biggest issue. Its health indicators were terrible, its wages low, and it had the most deprived urban areas outside London.’

While the physical fabric of Blackpool is a huge challenge, so is the need to address its socio-economic weaknesses, with a population suffering from poor health, low education and skills, a low-wage economy and few major private employers, with the public sector making up 37% of the jobs.

He explains: ‘A lot our social problems are driven by the transient nature of the population. We also have an over-abundance of poor-quality bed and breakfast hotels, with some 58,000 bed spaces when we only need 25,000. Many of them end up as HMOs and cheap rental accommodation, and our aim is to turn them back into three-bedroom family homes. A lot of outsiders with poor health, low education and mental “issues” come into the town.’

So, with an average 45% A-C GCSE pass rate, although improving, a big investment has been in early years.

The onset of cuts, just as the council is getting to grips with improving health, employment and education levels, is hardly helpful.

‘The Government is making the cuts so quickly, which is the real killer, along with the loss of specific grants,’ remarks Steve. Staff have taken reduced terms and conditions, and we’ve had 350 compulsory redundancies.’

The council is cutting 15% of its budget this year, or a total of £27m, of which £18m is down to the loss of area grants. However, despite these challenges, major projects are forging ahead. There are four main areas of regeneration in the resort – the £4m refurbishment of St John’s Square, the £64m rebuilding of the seafront and the construction of a new headland, a £100m tramway updating, and the £58m renovation of the Winter Gardens.

In addition, Merlin Entertainments is making Blackpool its biggest base outside London, adding the Blackpool Eye, a new 4D cinema, the Blackpool Dungeon, Madame Tussauds and Sealife to its attractions.

The restoration of the grade one-listed Tower and the grade-two listed Winter Gardens are both impressive projects. On our visit to the former, a tea dance was in full swing in the magnificent Victorian ballroom, the sound of the Wurlitzer wafting across the sprung dance floor.

Renovation has also uncovered some of the original, exquisite Victorian tiling, covered up for years, including those on one of the world’s longest bars.

The council took over the famous nearby Winter Gardens in 2010 and has been refurbishing it, also uncovering some vanished Victorian gems. Among these are tiles which were concealed by hoarding in what was once an entrance to the gardens, and what will now become the entrance to a new hotel. The tiles are by a Victorian ceramic sculptor W J Neatby, who also designed those in the Food Hall in London’s Harrods department store.

Although Blackpool long ago lost its political party conferences to upstarts such as Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff, it is still host to major events.

Each year it hosts the World Ballroom Dance Championships and the World Urban Dance Festival, as well as its own annual festival of culture, with variety, magicians and circus. Steve also points out that the town also hosts the annual conference of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association, whose 39th event took place in January, and which is one of the largest such events in the world.

What with the Tower, Winter Gardens and the seafront to provide hours of entertainment, time, like the pigeons, just flies by in Blackpool.