PEOPLE power is coming to Blackpool town centre with residents getting a say as to how to improve the area where they live.

Residents are to be invited to a series of "street" meetings to discuss how the special funding of £2 million awarded to Blackpool Council by the Government for housing and environmental improvements should be spent.

Acting council leader George Bancroft said: "The money has got to be spent in this financial year but we did not want to go ahead and spend it without first getting people's views and secondly involving them every step of the way."

The move is seen as a positive step by Blackpool's community development officer Barry Navarro. "Local people coming together and organising themselves has been the catalyst for improvement of many neighbourhoods and the signs are positive that it can happen in this area.

"A residents association for the George Street and Caunce Street area has been formed and more policing, better parking facilities and more community facilities are among some of the issues they felt most strongly about."

Mr Navarro will also be co-operating with development officers from other seaside towns in the UK to discuss similar problems and share ideas.

He said: "It is often difficult to develop communities in town centre areas of tourist resorts because of the transient nature of the population. We need strategies to enable communities to develop and strengthen in those areas.

"And I believe that sometimes you have to look wider to find solutions to the issues that you have at home and the sharing of ideas and experience will ultimately benefit communities in Blackpool."