Final plans for Blackpool Multiversity set for approval

Final plans for the construction of Blackpool’s £65m Multiversity are due to go before councillors who are being recommending to support the scheme.

As well as delivering a state-of-the-art education campus, the development will see the creation of a new public plaza landscaped with trees.

Outline planning permission for the Multiversity was granted last year but reserved matters for the first phase, submitted last October, are due to go before the council’s Planning Committee on Tuesday April 1.

Members are being recommended to support the application and delegate final approval to the council’s head of development management subject to conditions being met.

Details before the committee include the closure of George Street in order to create a public plaza linking the Multiversity and the council offices at Bickerstaffe House.

The mainly five-storey building is set to fill a wedge-shaped footprint narrowing towards Cookson Street facing onto the proposed public plaza. To the rear of the building, a parking and servicing area would be created on what is now Charles Street.

An assessment of the application due to be considered by the committee says: “The creation of a pedestrianised, landscaped plaza, allowing for emergency vehicle access only, would be a positive aspect of the development.

“Such a plaza would link into the public realm currently being created to the west, and the existing green space to the north. It would provide an attractive civic space and some much needed green infrastructure within the town centre. It is therefore a welcomed aspect of the proposal.”

Details recommended for approval include –

Ground floor – an entrance lobby, cafe, a broadcast studio and work and education spaces

First floor – computer rooms, teaching spaces; laboratory areas and a rooftop terrace for use by students and staff

Second floor – computer rooms, teaching spaces, laboratory areas and offices

Third floor – computer rooms, teaching spaces, laboratory areas and offices

Fourth floor – studio spaces, teaching spaces, computer rooms and offices

The Multiversity, which will be home to around 3,500 students and staff and be part of Blackpool and the Fylde College, is due to open in September 2027. A compulsory purchase order enabling site assembly to be completed, was approved in January this year.

In recommending approval, town hall planners conclude the development would deliver “regeneration in a deprived area and bring students and potentially workers into Blackpool town centre.”