Holiday flats set to get go ahead on former Blackpool hotel site

The scheme would see 26 serviced holiday apartments built on the site of the former Ambassador Hotel on the corner of Derby Road and North Promenade.

Blackpool Council's planning committee is being recommended to approval the development when it meets on Tuesday September 6.

The original plans, which also include a car park with 13 spaces, have been amended with proposed ground floor commercial units now axed and the number of flats increasing to 26 from 24.

A report by planning officers to the committee says: "Overall, the redevelopment of the site is fully welcomed in design terms and the proposal is considered to be visually acceptable.

"The current cleared site is at odds with the adjacent properties and character of the Conservation Area, as the Ambassador Hotel that formerly stood on the site gave a strong sense of enclosure to this prominent corner, which is nowlacking.

"The proposal for a significant seven-storey building is therefore welcomed, as it would bring back a sense of enclosure and finish off the terrace of holiday accommodation fronting the Promenade, enhancing and preserving the Conservation Area."

No objections to the scheme, put forward by developer Ged O’Mahoney, were received.

The Blackpool Civic Trust supported development of the site overall, but warned the "development is considerably bigger than the original hotel and is out of character and context to the other hotels on the Promenade".

But in their report, planners say the higher sixth floor would be set back in such a way as to reduce the mass and bulk of the building, while the formerAmbassador hotel was also slightly taller than other properties on the Promenade, rising to its highest point on the corner.

The Ambassador closed around 10 years ago and was demolished in November 2020 after the council ruled it was in a dangerous condition.

It had become a target for arsonists, while the impact of bad weather conditions on the seafront had also led to its deterioration to the point the building had become unsafe.