I DO not doubt for one moment that you all saw council mobster Alan Cavill spouting off to the Gazette last week about the massive success that was the Elton John concert on Saturday the 16th of June, despite the fact that it was cut short due to police concerns over bad weather.
Of course, we didn’t see Mr Cavill in the paper lashing superlatives upon the John Barrowman concert which was cancelled for the same reason a week later, but this one wasn’t a Blackpool Council concert and didn’t get the mind blowing amount of advertising from Radio Wave and the Blackpool Gazette that was afforded to the Elton John gig. Despite what the Gasjet are saying (“Barrowman had to pull the plug”) it was actually Marketing Blackpool, of which Alan Cavill is a director, that pulled the plug on this one due to health and safety, not Lytham based organisers Cuffe and Taylor (who also do the popular Lytham Proms).
A Cuffe and Taylor spokesperson said: “We have consulted with Marketing Blackpool’s health and safety team and they have advised us that, due to the forecast of severe weather, it is unsafe for our teams to install the sound and lighting equipment for this evening’s concert.” Was the weather that bad on Saturday?
In between these two concerts was the Olympic torch par-tay, scheduled for the evening of Friday the 22nd of June and featuring pop legends like Katy B. Naturally, this was cancelled due to the weather as well, but this was coupled hand in hand with disastrous organisation. People travelled hundreds of miles to Blackpool for the event only to find that even if it had not already been axed due to the weather, they would not have been able to get in because it was ticket only.
To think that Blackpool Council’s “Marketing Blackpool” are responsible for all this is certainly a contradiction in terms, though I am sure the lovely Natalie Wyatt glugged her fair share of complimentary champagne in recognition of her stellar achievements (i.e. doing her job) during the last few weeks.
And so comes the end of Blackpool council’s short term foray into the outdoor entertainments scene, with Andy Cheeseman and his team of mercenaries currently dismantling the stage which has dominated the Promenade for the last fortnight.
The Tower Headland, labelled as a “makeshift arena” by one fan quoted on Elton John’s official website, has been a shambles since it was conceived, much like every project the current council mafiosa have had their grubby mitts on. We were told that we were getting a 20,000 seater outdoor arena, but what we actually got was a flat piece of concrete with plastic fold-away chairs and a bill for seventeen million quid. You don’t see Lytham calling their green an arena now do you?
Way back in 2007, former council leader Peter Callow said that the plan was for the Illuminations Switch-On to move to the Tower Headland by 2009: this was his dream for what he called, “the jewel in the crown of Blackpool Promenade”. Over five years on we still have not had the Switch-On at the Tower Headland and on Monday the portfolio holder for tourism (and partner in crime to Alan Cavill on the Marketing Blackpool board) Councillor Graham Cain told Radio Wave that because of the recent cancellations due to normal Blackpool weather there will need to be a backup venue for this year’s paid ticket-only event, which will naturally come at significant additional cost. We couldn’t have Blackpool council embarrassed by their own vanity project, after all!
Cain’s response, no doubt puppeteered by council fat-cat Cavill, is correct, but I can’t help but think that if Blackpool Council had to spend £17m on an arena, they should have at least created one which would not see its operations cancelled by normal seaside weather. It’s not something that wasn’t said at the time by me and many, many other people who could see a collapse in common sense playing out before their very eyes. It was obvious the weather would be a problem, not just in terms of safety but in terms of acoustics as well.
I understand the romanticism of holding the Switch-On on the Promenade, so punters can coo at the lights coming on, but given the outrageous cost of the Tower Headland just for the off-chance that the council might be able to hold the Switch-On there if the conditions are perfect, it seems like a quite unfathomable waste of taxpayers money, particularly when you add in the additional cost of bringing in the sound, light and stage infrastructure, the cost of setting it up and the cost of dismantling it all and taking it away when the show is cancelled. It could be said that Blackpool Council have created a new way to waste taxpayers money, as if bungled property deals were not enough!
One of the main goals for Blackpool Council should be to create a winter economy for the town, and a good quality all-weather arena would have been a fantastic way of giving the winter season a boost. Alan Cavill bleated that it would not have been financially viable and that a sponsor would have been needed, but this would have required him to actually do the job he’s paid a package of around £100,000 per year to do and bloody well find one. Not only that, but Cavill is a representative of a council that splashed out £40m on a package of property including the Winter Gardens; a loss making, underused indoor venue without a sponsor.
I do wonder if Cavill even priced up a fully functioning modern weatherproof arena or whether he is just speaking hypothetically, reinforcing the ‘small-town, big money’ mentality that Blackpool Council is famous for.
Some private firms were sniffing around the Mecca site for the purposes of an arena but the council slapped a top dollar price tag on the land which snuffed out any prospect of this substantial investment. Perhaps the council didn’t fancy quality competition for their tourism empire.
Regardless, it is clear that unless Blackpool Council can come up with some magic way of weatherproofing the Tower Headland venue on the Promenade, it is doomed. The prospect of cancellations will soon put artists off the venue if they aren’t already laughing at it, and if people book tickets for a gig there only to find it cancelled when they arrive, Blackpool Tower Headland will soon find itself crossed off the list of venues that people want to go to.
Well said Phil,back in business, when will people see, the biggest threat to Blackpool’s economy is the CLOWNCIL,regardless of party.
I wonder what it would be like to be disabled of mind and become a councillor? Watching council and officials destroy one of the few sanctuaries for elderly sportspeople, namely Highfield Road Crown Bowling Greens, having watched and listened to sixty odd years of both ruin what was once the best family resort in the World, it makes me wonder if they are all rejects or past inhabitants of Wesham?
A century ago the founders of this resort realised that all day entertainment meant paying for locations and ample and purposeful venues. Having watched them all being demolished without a whimper from the PLANNERS, it is small wonder that the only thing they are capable of doing is turning the town into Doggie Loo. So much for Donkey Wallopers? Just like the Laughing Promenade, this latest fiasco is a farce. Do you remember them? They used to be comedies put on at several theatres throughout the season. Now we get them every day from the Town Hall. The town was built by entrepreneurs with no obstruction from a council, not the reverse as we get today. Perhaps the officials should open a shop in the town centre and put the proceeds in their spouse’s pockets? Before kicking them out that is!!!
Have a nice day. Afterall, it never rains nor does the wind ever blow in wonderbull Blackburn. Arrggh Shi’ite! Lost again…
What all the commentors saying ‘he was on for nearly two hours’ and ‘we only missed 3 songs at the end’ about Eltons gig fail to realise is that if the bad weather had struck a couple of hours earlier there would have been no gig at all.
I hope lessons have been learnt and that in future one of the stipulations regarding staging, lighting and equipment for a headlands performance is that it must be capable of withstanding extreme weather conditions.
And who are Marketing Blackpool’s health and safety team ? Do they have their own team who sit around doing nothing when there are no events on (but still get paid), or do they pay to bring in a team for each event – surely the event organisers would have their own advisors ? Or is it just the councils H&S team, paid for by the taxpayer but used free by Marketing Blackpool ?
And who is more likely to be aware of the safety capabilities of stage and equipment, the riggers and crew who work with the equipment all the time, or Marketing Blackpool ? I notice it was the police who stopped Eltons concert due to H&S, was that their own (untrained) decision or on the advice of someone else ?
Even more strange is that the weather was worse during the day of Elton than it was during the day of Barrowman. Perhaps if it’s the council that are behind the concert, health and safety isn’t quite as important as saving face!
What they should have done is build a giant retractable windbreak/splash screen into the Tower Headland that can be deployed when a concert is on to block waves crashing into the audience and stop the wind blowing the stage away. Something like those barriers they use to block vehicle access to Downing Street, but on a huge scale!
But instead they built gigantic metal blades of grass that add nothing to the Promenade but ridicule.
Hi Phil; It was! suggested to the Strategic Director of Culture and Communities; Mr Paul Walker; at the time they were looking to build plans for the Peoples Playground; that the Council construct an outdoor area at the boating pool and use a retractable dome cover to protect people from the elements. This would have created a much needed boost for the North of Blackpool; but it would appear that this council like to put all their eggs in one basket and create a mega f’up on the central prom.
Besides the idea didn’t come from a senior director; it came from a resident.
Does the use of the Headland for the Illuminations ‘switch-on’ necessitate the closing of the promenade and tram tracks again? What a ridiculous state of affairs.
I should imagine so, given the scale of the event, although with it now being paid ticket only perhaps less people will bother with it.
I travelled a long way to see John Barrowman, and it was only when we got there we realised just how shoddy the ‘arena’ is – I had expected a lot better for the price I paid – which I am still in dispute with to get back. I am dubious about booking anything there again,
Sorry to hear that Yvonne! It states on the blackpooltowerheadland.co.uk website that full refunds will be given so you should be fine in that regard. It’s just a shame they don’t refund the petrol/train money as well!
Out of interest what did you pay for the ticket? I had DealMonster emails coming through trying to flog them off for £14.50 during the fortnight before the concert, which suggests that sales were not going great.
My relatives traveled from Bristol. They will not bother again. lesson learned.
The headlands is failed venture,it will be regarded as too much of a risk,its insane not to have any provsion for the weather, willions wasted on a huge farce and we have yet to witness the biggest waste of money ever seen: The tatbot gateway.This is just the warmup session.
I’m new around here but at first sight your local Council is just as big a set of ballbags as my old one in Whitby.
The only reason for the Headlands being a failure so far is the weather, in particular strong winds. I’m sure there exists equipment that is capable of standing up to extreme conditions but maybe the cost versus risk element is too great – or maybe the council insists that only a certain type of staging can be used ?
The big problem now is that any promoters will be reluctant to stage future events because of the possibility of them being cancelled due to the weather. Why spend £thousands planning and promoting an event only for it to be cancelled just before it starts when you can spend the same to hold it elsewhere where weather is’nt an issue. Even if an event is scheduled who’s going to buy a ticket, travel all the way to Blackpool and then turn up at the event to find it’s not going ahead. Not too much hassle for residents but will those that have to travel take the risk ?
It was an insane idea given the unpreditctable weather, investors like CERTAINTY,one thing is certain, Blackpool council is not to run that town,its a liability and deters investment.
Yeah! and whose idea was it to build 3 very long piers out over the sea? Its crazy! who in their right minds would have wanted to promenade out over the waves when the tide was in given the sort of weather we get in Blackpool? But build them they did, and they evolved over the years to what we have today. I understand North Pier (The first to be built) was simply a walk way in the beginning, theatres and bandstands and shelters were added later. Give the Headland a chance folks, it might not be perfect yet, but just like the other madcap ideas we have embraced in this town – tower, piers, lido etc it will come good in the end I am sure
so we can expect the headland to adpated to to deal with the weather then Jimmy? a covered stand like any other arena? my god, why didnt we think of that in the first place? first they will have to deal with the cracks in the comedy carpet.Blackpool council is fucking joke a tax payer funded one at that.
This is something that can happen at any outdoor event, although being right on the coast is pushing your luck. We could quite as easily had a couple of nice weekends and everyone would have been saying what a great venue with the tower buildings behind you and a setting sun in the distance.
I’ve spent many occasions at outdoor events (music and sport) soaking wet wishing I’d gone somewhere else, preferable indoors. I’ve also been at outdoor events wishing that I’d also been indoors due to the heat.
If we want to get into the music venue scene (and back into conferences, exhibitions) you need a proper venue, something along the lines of what they have in Liverpool. The main arena has seating/standing for about 8,000, It also has another smaller building at one end. They can be used as 2 separate buildings or as 1 large venue for exhibition space etc.
Ideal spot I would think would be relocate the police station and build it on that site, along with a multi-story carpark. Of course this would be a problem due to the plans for the indoor ski center, Whatever happened to that idea?
What are the capacities of our existing venues
Opera House – 3,000
Empress Ballroom – approx 3,000
Tower Ballroom – ?
Tower Circus – ?
If you could use Bloomfield Rd that would probably give you about 15,000
I think you are absolutely correct. If Blackpool has any pretence of being a major conference destination then a modern conference centre is essential. Blackpool can not compete otherwise. Hence the loss of all the major political events to city locations. Unfortunately Blackpool missed the boat by not building such a facility when we had conference business in the town, before this all went elsewhere. It would be very, very difficult to get this back now.
Who now is going to finance such a venture? Certainly not private enterprise. No-one is that brave, or stupid. The Council? Hardly – where does the money come from and how would it pay for itself 52 weeks of the year.
Rail links are vital in encouraging any conference business to come to town, one reason city based conference centres have taken over and been so successful. Our transport links are shameful, much like the railway station itself.
A weatherproof facility/conference centre would indeed make a difference to the town but it really is pie in the sky, even though this town can provide ample and affordable accommodation, it is not viable in the current climate and probably never will be until the town finds some way of becoming an all year – round resort. Perhaps it is the ‘chicken and egg’ syndrome but it would take a very brave investor to build a facility of this type.
Unfortunately I do not see any prospect at all of this ever happening.
Blackpool as a town, is defined by its unrivalled ability to start and manage its own decline,its only pretension is as the sick man of the UK, a slum full of unemployable underclass degenerates.
or once Harold I agree with you, the regeneration of Blackpool as it once was should have been started15 years ago. Now it is too late we have to decide on a new target group of people to attract to this town, people who are not necessarily holiday makers otherwise we will just become one very large sink estate
If we had a conference centre and other amenities that a proper seaside resort in the 21st century needs there would be one question: Where would one purchase one’s sextoys?
Same as everyone else, on the internet.
Bigger selection and probably cheaper and you wouldn’t need to dig out that old rain coat. I suppose you could wear the rain coat while sat at the computer if you wanted
I had relatives coming up for Barrowman. What a waste of time and money, it was an OK evening as well.
I have seen some plans for the the big council building that is going to be built near the talbot bus station. It will be a wonderful new load of fancy offices for the councils staff. Why is this going ahead. Can it be stopped. I think that they should stay in the town hall and down near telcos in Marton. So what if its a bit less fancy. The building at the bus station site should be an all weather venue. If it was it would be good and I wonder if it would cost any more than these council people are spending.
Lets have a vote on it.
I would sign up. Lets have a brilliant new venue instead of a trumped up school playground.
I like the the comment about Lytham Green. Maybe Marketing Blackpool should not have stolen the Elton John concert off Lytham in the first place.
they are going to have to do something remedial fairly quickly as people are not going to buy tickets for fear of show cancellation nor are entertainers going to come for the same reason
glass metal ceramic stone…..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18709029
as usual, cesspool loses out…………..
One of the reason Blackpool loses out is because many towns and cities are sending their kids and undesirables here. This has been going on for ages. I was just talking the other day about the advertisements placed in Glasgow railway station; encouraging people to come to Blackpool’s vacant hotels. The advertisements in prisons offering halfway house opportunities for offenders on parole.
Cheap Accommodation, Benefit’s and health needs have become the towns main tourism attraction. Its cheaper for children’s homes to be set up here than down south so where are these authorities sending their kids??????
Austerity measure will increase our influx of problematic families unless the Council wake up and see what’s happening.
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/local/landlord-s-fury-at-trail-of-destruction-1-4712288
at least this filthy scummy shit eating pakistani slumlord got his just desserts,the scum-cunt comes on the gazette moaning about it, what do you expect,he will be covered by insurance anyway,or hopefully he might not,lol This bastard should be named and shamed as slumlord no 1
do you know him then? or are you just making sweeping statements as usual?
why should I know or not know this piss leaking colostomy bag? this cunt and his ilk are importing the scum into this town and making a huge profit out of it,I hope he and the rest of his kind get cancer,they are a cancer.They are making this town worse for people like you jimmy,slumlords should be shown the door………..of a gas chamber.
they are the ones encouraging the adverts so they know what is happening – they will not stop it is a good source of revenue for the coffers
Interesting comments in tonight’s paper from Duggie Chapman. I don’t know Duggie but I do know that he is probably the most experienced ‘impressario’ in Blackpool, responsible for putting on dozens of shows in the town.
He states quite clearly that in his view the Tower Headland is unsuitable for staging large ‘Elton John’ type events. Stanley Park, Football ground etc etc – as far better alternatives. Now I think Duggie perhaps knows a thing or two about producing and staging shows. He makes a couple of very valid points. Pity people such as him were not consulted before.
I am not a huge fan of the ‘Comedy Carpet’ but I can see that it will not last long. So much for a legacy – at this rate it will be paved over in the not too distant future. I also hope that a better location than the headland is used for future events.
The whole headland including the sinking wedding shed is fastly becoming a disaster and a national joke,yet those responsible keep their public sector jobs.
The guys comment about the bowling place reminds me of the one on Talbot Road knocked down over 3 years ago now and nothing done to the site. Why didn’t they leave it up and emolish it nearer the time
Perhaps they can flatten that block where the illegal mosque is, now that Mrs. Shah’s appeal has been dismissed. I was notified on Thursday morning, by the way. The Gazette were notified immediately. Still nothing on the Gazette website.
Update. The story is now on the website.
Mrs. Shah and her people are going to ‘have a meeting to discuss what we want to do next.’
I hope the enforcement people from the planning office are invited to give their input.
Under the name Natasha (obviously to sound Anglo) a Ladies Day event is being held at Blackpool Library on Sat September 1st 10am – 4pm. It is being marketed as a Charity Event, yet in very small lettering at the bottom it states all proceeds are going to finance Noor Madina mosque. Any thoughts on this?
I think that Blackburn and his cronies are determined to push this illegal mosque through. As for this “Charity Event”, surely as the Noor Madina mosque actually doesn’t exist in law then this event is being held and people are being asked to contribute under false pretences. Who gave them permission to use the library in any case? Libraries belong to communities not self-interested semi-political religious establishments
As you say, TT, how exactly can you operate a charity event for an illegal, permission refused mosque in a library? Really needs looking into, most of the people who will attend will be unaware. The advert is very misleading (deliberately)
Contact charities commision