Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Blackpool North & Cleveleys, Paul Maynard, has today called for new thinking as part of Blackpool’s regeneration.

Commenting on yesterday’s news that there were eighty empty shops in the town centre, Paul said:
“These reports come just a day after David Cameron unveiled plans to help save small shops. The problem today is that the Government doesn’t seem to care. The rising burden of tax and regulation is forcing many of our local shops into the ground. And Labour now intend to remove the ‘needs test’ from planning rules. This was crucial in safeguarding local shops, as it forced out-of-town shopping developments to show there was a real need for them in the area. With this gone, local shops will come under even more pressure.

“For Blackpool to keep up with the likes of Preston, we have to attract people through the whole ‘shopping experience’ rather than just the range of shops, where we will struggle to match Preston’s broader range. The town centre has to be somewhere that people want to go to, rather than somewhere to avoid.

“Yet the Fylde as a whole surely has enough potential customers to sustain a broader range of outlets. Last year I wrote to Caffe Nero, asking whether they might consider opening a branch in the town. The answer came back that “the general tone of the town centre environment at present is not particularly attractive and, looking around, there are very few locations there that spring out as being obvious ones for us to target”. This should give us pause for thought.

“That is why the Council’s renewed commitment to cleaning up Blackpool can only be welcomed as a key step to attracting big names back.

But we need to think longer-term as well. Consider Southport for example, which attracts shoppers because of the shopping area’s ‘heritage’ feel. I have also tried to persuade places such as Betty’s tea shops, which does so much to make Harrogate an attractive destination, to consider our resort”.