On Wednesday this week it was decided by Blackpool Council to put forward an expression of interest in becoming a World Heritage Site alongside wonders such as the Great Wall of China and the Great Barrier Reef.
Tourism executive Helen France hopes that this application would ‘maintain Blackpool’s profile’ and make a ‘very positive statement’ about Blackpool’s commitment to heritage in conjunction with the council’s acquisition of the Winter Gardens and the Tower.
This is not an opportunity that you can explore on a whim; there is a process for bidding for World Heritage status that only comes around once in a blue moon.
There will be no initial cost to produce a good quality application to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport because for once the council have staff in-house that can do it and don’t need to outsource to a consultancy. However, should Blackpool’s application get past the first stage, there will be a ‘modest’ ongoing cost of £120,000 over 3-5 years, and an unknown cost should Blackpool proceed any further than that. Ms France has suggested the the National Lottery might fund some of it.
Other British towns, cities and areas on UNESCO’s list include the City of Bath, Liverpool, Saltaire, the Dorset and Devon Coast and various part of Edinburgh.
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While i agree with promoting Blackpool to help increase visitors but wouldnt it be best for the Council to improve the outter town centre area’s and fix the roads, streets and empty housing and shop fronts which can be found just a stone throw away from the major attractions where these new hopeful vistors will come to. I just wish this Council would actually focus on the residential areas for a change as its our Council Tax paying their wages and these improvements.
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Well they are – if you drive to singleton from hardhorn the road is great – resurfaced this week – best road in the fylde just for the gypsies i assume
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Yes, stick to the basics, clean streets, free of detritus (human and non human), and roads that dont look like the surface of the moon.Its a question of priorities and this council seems confused.
Whats the point of having world heritage status if the roads and parts of the town look like Beirut/Kabul etc?
It would be meaningless to the residents of the town who deserve BETTER!
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Would they be awarded world heritage status for “faded glory”. It very much seems to be one on its own in the list of towns, cities and areas applying.
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Personally I am a wee bit sceptical about this bid. I love Blackpool and I care deeply about the town unlike many of the doom-mongers on The Gasjet. I am sceptical because I wouldn’t really say Blackpool is a ‘heritage destination’. I see places like York, Chester, Stratford on Avon and Bath as ‘heritage destinations’ but Blackpool is more of a fun place to enjoy yourself. Also I believe the bid is based on Blackpool’s profile as a ‘Victorian working-class resort’ a label I am not keen on. I want Blackpool to escape the whole ‘working class’ image and become a more modern and vibrant 21st century destination along the lines of say ‘Manchester by the sea’ as I have said before and I don’t feel the bid helps that cause. It would mean eyesores like Foxhall would probably be preserved. I think Foxhall is an eyesore and should be levelled at all 4 corners. I will be writing an article about this in the near future.
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“I want Blackpool to escape the whole ‘working class’ image and become a more modern and vibrant 21st century destination along the lines of say ‘Manchester by the sea’”
spot on TB, I share your vision,you should be mayor with that vision.
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I don’t really understand the working class image anyway. Sure it was the first working class tourist destination for mill workers from East Lancs via the railways (not that many Blackpool stations have survived) but the North part was always known for a superior class of tourism. And I’m all for heritage and Victorian glories being trumpeted – but whilst Blackpool has some of this to promote, when the resort’s done well it’s done so as a modern resort with something different to offer – historical interest isn’t just Victorian and it’s not enough of the town to promote it as such now.
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Well said Frustrated, this is what I mean places like Southport, York and Chester can promote themselves as ‘heritage towns’ but I see Blackpool as more of a playground with lots of fun things to do and see. We do have heritage in Blackpool like the Tower, piers and such but like I say the focus should be more on making Blackpool a more modern, vibrant resort.
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For me, heritage just means “lets go back to the old days” but I really don’t think the market is there for that.
We can get all romantic about it but the days of the cosy little B&B are over. We need proper quality facilities not just for conference delegates but for families. This World Heritage thing is in my view just a means for attracting funding for the Winter Gardens because the council can’t afford to do it up, no private bidder is interested and the Government has no cash.
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Very good point Phil, that is basically what I think when I hear the word ‘heritage’ especially as we have a distinct lack of younger councillors on our council. I agree we need to modernise Blackpool. I am all for preserving landmarks like the Tower, Winter Gardens, Abingdon St PO etc but sometimes you have to move on. I am annoyed and disappointed Talbot Rd bus station is being saved for example. I just wish they would get some plans in place for Abingdon St PO, it is a magnificent building but there is nothing in place. It is wasted at the moment as the ‘callers office’. You walk in there and there is a massive open room with velvet ropes making a small path and two small counters open, what a waste. In Manchester or Liverpool a building like this would be snapped up overnight and turned into some exciting development so why can’t the private sector come and do that here?
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Perhaps private investors have little confidence in the council?
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Perhaps it is not for sale!
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Well then maybe it should be then, I hate seeing good buildings being left empty and left to rot when the owner has no intention of do anything with it. Another fine example of this is South Shore PO on Waterloo Road. Give it to someone who will do something with it.
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Gasjet reports cuts to blackpool budgets, this is just the start, meanwhile the foreign aid budget is ringfenced:cunts.
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Labeling Blackpool as a heritage town will have its advantages, we have noticed an increase in the number of people booking Blackpool Breaks in 2010, any publicity regarding the town is good publicity as far as tourisim is concerned.
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How about cleaning the streets of rubbish and chewing gum and filling in the inumerate number of pot holes instead;now that would be and advantage!
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“For me, heritage just means “lets go back to the old days” but I really don’t think the market is there for that. We can get all romantic about it but the days of the cosy little B&B are over. We need proper quality facilities not just for conference delegates but for families. This World Heritage thing is in my view just a means for attracting funding for the Winter Gardens because the council can’t afford to do it up, no private bidder is interested and the Government has no cash.” (Phil)
The thread was getting a bit long, hence the quote
I think there is a market for heritage – but it’s a segment of the market and certainly not the whole thing. As well as families (and sadly stags & hens) Blackpool attracts pensioners. And pensioners like to be reminded of times gone by. Blackpool hasn’t cashed in on this though because they have generally taken heritage as meaning keeping the same old tatty stuff for decades and expecting people to like it. Heritage needs proper preservation and conservation and cleaning & replacement where necessary with reproductions. Not dirty hotel curtains and carpets – things in the old style. That doesn’t mean that Blackpool doesn’t need new exciting additions too – it does.
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Old style stuff is fine, yes, provided it is maintained to a 21st century level.
To be honest I don’t think pensioners are bothered about the tatty B&B’s and that it’s the middle aged and younger families that are being turned off them.
We need to bring in a new generation of visitor…
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The council think that the rise of Blackpool FC to the premiership will attract football fans to stay in Blackpool – think again the following are two quotes from fans on a fans’ message board whilst discussing coming to Blackpool for their side’s match against the mighty tangerines:
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthCountryBoy
Not staying over in Blackpool because it’s a pile of wank. Unless you wear loads of gold jewellery,
think that establishments that play Abba and George Michael are cutting edge and reckon that standing in a
stinking bar full of annihilated 50-something women in matching pink cowboy hats sounds like a top night out.
Stay in Preston or Manchester.
Quote:
Blackpool is dead out of season anyway. You get to see just how minging it really is these times.
And where did these fans come from? The bright lights of London you might think and you’d be dead wrong! SUNDERLAND!!!!!
If Blackpool cannot attract people from Sunderland for a weekend away in opposition to Preston then all is lost!
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Sunderland is a total dive like most of the North East and I have been there yet they slag Blackpool off. Those are nothing but ill-informed stereotypes.
I mean ‘Stay in Preston instead’ what pillock wrote that. Preston is the biggest shithole in Lancashire, there is nothing there. It is a lifeless boring clone ‘city’ forever living in our shadow.
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The point I’m trying to make TB is that this is the image of Blackpool that the North East have of us and so what do people in the more affluent areas of the UK think?
Regardless that Sunderland and the North East may be a dive, they think that Blackpool is worse and that Preston is a superior weekend awayin comparison to our town which is supposed to be a resort, something Preston has never claimed to be.
It is an indictment on the failure of our councillors and tourism dept that this image is propagated in what have traditionally been areas where we can expect visitors from i.e. industrial working-class areas.
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Oh yes, I agree with you there, I see what you are saying. If the Labour-loving wastelands of the North East see us in that light what about other areas? This is why like I always say we need a 21st century resort, we need to modernise and move forwards.
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