This meeting of the Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Economic Prosperity Board included an update on the employment needs for the area, and a review of the progress on developing the Blackpool Airport and Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zones.

The meeting was scheduled to consider a report on whether the three local authorities in the area will have enough land designated as 'employment land' to meet the needs of businesses up to 2042. It was also scheduled to review progress reports for both the Blackpool Airport and Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zones.

Fylde Coast Economic Needs Update and Employment Land Review (ELR) 2024

The Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Economic Prosperity Board was scheduled to consider a report¹ on a study that had been commissioned to look at the amount of land available for businesses in Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre up to 2042. The report was prepared for the meeting by Nick Gerrard, Growth and Prosperity Programme Director at Blackpool Council, Mark Evans, Head of Planning at Fylde Council, and Marianne Hesketh, Director of Communities at Wyre Council.

This study was commissioned because each of the councils are obliged to produce a 'Local Plan'² which set out a vision and framework for the future development of an area for the next fifteen years.

One of the things that these Local Plans have to consider is how much land will be needed for businesses. Because these businesses often operate across council boundaries, the councils have a legal duty to work together on this, as explained in the report:

The Localism Act 2011 introduced a Duty to Co-operate (DtC) on strategic cross boundary issues. This requirement has since been integrated into the tests of soundness as confirmed by paragraph 35 of the NPPF. Employment is a strategic issue with cross boundary implications identified in the Fylde Coast Authorities’ Memorandum of Understanding (2015) due to the functional economic market area of the Fylde Coast Peninsula.

The report goes on to summarise the findings of the study and recommends that:

• Blackpool Council should plan to find another 3.11ha of land for offices and 13.11ha for industrial and warehouse use by 2042.
• Fylde council has more than enough employment land (27.93ha).
• Wyre Council has enough employment land overall, but depending on what happens to a few sites, may need to allocate between 3.25 ha and 10.93ha more.

Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone: progress report

The board were scheduled to receive a verbal report on the progress of the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone. No public papers were published ahead of this meeting, but a late report was published afterwards, which updated the Board on the progress of a number of projects that are currently being delivered at Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone.³

Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zone: progress report

The board were also scheduled to receive a verbal report on the progress of the Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zone. Again, no public papers were available ahead of the meeting, but a late report was published a week afterwards, which explained that:

The purpose of this report is to review the work of the Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zone and its future work and priorities against its role and remit.

The late report goes on to explain that work is ongoing to revise the masterplan for the site, and that The site has huge potential, however there are some major barriers to development.⁴