The £65m Blackpool Multiversity campus is expected to bring 3,000 students and staff into Blackpool town centre when it opens in 2027.
An independent planning inspector – appointed by the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government – has granted the council compulsory purchase powers following a two-week public inquiry at the end of last year.
Over the past two years, Blackpool Council has been buying properties through negotiation, with more than 80% of the required 72 properties already acquired.
The inspector’s decision allows Blackpool Council to issue compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) to secure the remaining properties in the area surrounded by Cookson Street, George Street, Grosvenor Street and Milbourne Street.
The council will continue to negotiate with owners of the remaining properties to agree the compensation to be paid. However, the council will use the compulsory purchase powers to enable construction of the Multiversity to start in the summer, it said.
Avison Young has led as the planning consultants for the Multiversity, along with architects Hawkins\Brown and advisers CBRE. Blackpool Council has also appointed Morgan Sindall Construction as the main contractor on a pre-contact services agreement.
Blackpool Council leader Lynn Williams said: “The Multiversity is a major part of our plans to make Blackpool better, by bringing thousands of students into the town centre, creating a more vibrant town centre economy and jobs for local people.
“Over the last two years, our staff have worked exceptionally hard to buy properties and support the people who have had to move house as a result. There are some properties where we haven’t been able to agree a price so far with the owners and the compulsory purchase order process means they would be independently valued to determine a final price if we are unable to reach agreement.
“Throughout the process, we have aimed to be as understanding and supportive as possible to any residents who have had to move home as a result of the scheme. That support continues to be in place, and if anybody is concerned then they can contact us for help.”
Outline planning approval for the whole Multiversity site was granted in 2024, with a decision on a reserved matters planning application for the first phase of the Multiversity expected this spring.
The planned 115,000 sq ft building will include five floors of teaching space for more than 70 different courses. The building itself is expected to be carbon neutral in operation, with solar panels on the roof of the building, and heated by air source heat pumps.
In addition to the first phase Multiversity campus, a second phase on the site will allow expansion space for the college’s future plans that are in development. In the short term, the extra space will be used as a car park.
The Multiversity makes up phase four of Blackpool Council’s £350m regeneration of the Talbot Gateway area around Blackpool North train station, which in total is bringing over 8,000 professional workers and students into the area.
A new Holiday Inn hotel opened in May 2024, while a tram-train interchange linking to Blackpool Promenade opened in June. A new town centre office for the Department of Works & Pensions should bring more than 3,000 government workers into a new office on King Street this spring, while full planning permission has been granted for a £45m office block off Talbot Road, which at 52,950 sq ft would be home to more than 1,000 desk workers. Plans for a new multi-storey car park off Church Street are expected to be submitted later this year
The land for the new Multiversity is currently being acquired by Blackpool Council, with the support of a £9m government grant, while the construction was also awarded £40m from UK government in 2023.
