Miners' home is in limbo

Williamson Homes, which had bid £1.75m for the majestic seafront building last year, has pulled out of its scheme for 64 luxury flats and 100 new homes in the grounds.

The company would not say why, but the 71-year-old home is a Grade 2 listed building with restrictions on any redevelopment.

Now the owners, the Lancashire and North Staffordshire Miners' Association, has dropped the asking price to £1.7m from its original £2.5m three years ago.

Housing developers are still the prime candidates for the home, built for convalescing miners but no longer viable with the decline in the mining industry.

Blackpool Council's principal development control officer Ian Ward said: "We have had interest in it and had a couple of meetings with interested developers over what plans might be permissable, but we've had no planning applications or any formal approach at all."

No further meetings had been arranged, but he was pleased the trustees were looking after the building with a caretaker living on site.

Bispham councillors Don Clapham and Henry Mitchell thought the Williamson Homes scheme had been over-intensive and were not sorry to hear it had been withdrawn.

Said Coun Clapham: "We want a development that's sympathetic with the original building and of sufficient quality for this prominent site. We don't want anything downmarket or high-density - there are enough of those properties already in Blackpool.

"We want something that's not detrimental to the facade or frontage - it's a significant site and really special to Bispham."

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