BLACKPOOL North MP Joan Humble is going into battle after a £4.5m North Shore Coastal Park scheme was turned down for lottery cash.

The MP is backing pleas from North Shore councillors, businesses and residents that the long-neglected seafront is not only in dire need of investment but a worthy case for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

The rejection was a real blow for North Shore residents and traders, whose action group, Revitalisation of North Shore Area (RONSA), raised pledges of £65,000 to help the Blackpool Council scheme.

Angry RONSA chairman Peter Woodbridge (pictured), a hotelier, said: "We are bitterly disappointed - we never seem to get the same lottery cash that goes to the South. Blackpool Council now have to get their heads together and really go to town on doing something about the whole north coastal strip.

"RONSA has done a lot to help restore some of the gardens, but we can only do so much as an action group and individually we're trying our best. It's no good them saying upgrade your properties, make sure your gardens are tidy, when all the time the seafront looks so run down."

The scheme stretched from Gynn Square to Bispham, creating a multi-purpose arena out of the derelict boating pool with a restaurant and play area, revamping the graffiti-plastered bandstand, restoring the clifftop walks and gardens, replacing the old, repellent toilets with modern conveniences and later restoring the vandalised neo-classical colonnades.

Blackpool Council, which has held back improvements in the firm hope of winning 50 per cent lottery funding, has not only appealed for the MP's help but sought an urgent meeting with fund chiefs to find out what changes are needed to win grant aid.

Reasons given for the rejection were that it did not include enough heritage benefit and was not value for money - even though fund chiefs had encouraged the council to bid and even paid for heritage advisers.

Mrs Humble, who lives in Bispham, said: "It raised everybody's hopes and expectations and now they've been dashed, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't try again.

"It's important to clarify exactly why it was turned down and then to see if the bid can be resubmitted in a form more acceptable to the lottery fund.

"I'm more than happy to give whatever support I can - it's an interesting piece of coastline which could be developed for residents and visitors alike." Blackpool regeneration chairman Coun George Bancroft added: "We don't want to lie down and die on this - it's an excellent scheme and we need to see what we can do to resurrect it."

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