Blackpool Enterprise Zone, which covers business parks at Squires Gate Industrial Estate and Blackpool Business Park off Amy Johnson Way, as well as Blackpool Airport, has attracted 2,500 new jobs since it was granted Enterprise Zone status in 2016.
New businesses relocating to Blackpool, as well as a range of developments and local business growth as a result of business rates relief, have resulted in the extra jobs, sparking an estimated £60m of private sector investment on new premises and machinery.
In a report to Blackpool Council’s Executive, plans to grow the Enterprise Zone by creating two new developments amid a total £84m investment are now being recommended for approval.
Councillors are set to grant approval to build a new road providing a second access to Amy Johnson Way, opening 10.5 hectares of land for new and growing businesses at Eastern Gateway. Work on the new road connecting to Common Edge Road is expected to start early next year and completed before March 2026, as a requirement of the £7.5m grant from the Blackpool Town Deal.
The report also sets out plans to create a new high tech business park called Silicon Sands, centred around a series of data centres powered by renewable energy.
Silicon Sands would attract new businesses which require ultra-fast internet speeds, such as advanced manufacturing, virtual reality and esports, making the most of the CeltixConnect-2 internet cable, which carries up to one third of the world’s internet traffic via Blackpool Airport. The cable sends data from Blackpool to New York under the sea in less than 0.064 seconds and offers significant benefits for businesses that need ultrafast and reliable internet.
The development would also position Blackpool as a leader for green data, with the data centres powered by renewable energy while also being liquid immersion cooled to increase efficiency and reduce emissions. Any excess heat created from the data centres would then be reused to heat surrounding buildings in a district heat network.
Plans to build a first data centre at Silicon Sands, as well as Blackpool’s first solar farm and a battery storage by Blackpool Airport, will be progressed, along with the relocation of some airport administration buildings. Plans have already been submitted to build a new access road to Blackpool Airport and new hangars.
A proposed first data centre would be built on land off Squires Gate Lane, on the site of Blackpool Airport’s old fire station and engineering yard, which was demolished in March.
Blackpool Council is the accountable body for Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone, which is a 144-hectare site across Blackpool and Fylde and is earmarked to create 5,000 new jobs by 2041.
Between 2016 and 2022, businesses moving to the Enterprise Zone were eligible for business rate relief and enhanced capital allowances if investing in new machinery.
Blackpool Council awarded £2.7m in business rates relief to 75 local Fylde and Blackpool businesses during the period and committed to awarding a further £1.6m in legacy relief until 2027, taking the estimated total to £4.3m over the lifetime of the scheme.
The business support meant Blackpool’s Enterprise Zone was the 9th most productive in the country, out of a total of 277.
For more information on the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone, visit www.blackpoolez.com.