The public inquiry has now closed and deliberations are underway, as is the summer season which leaves Blackpool’s South Pier without a new rides offering for this summer. So what was outlined to the inspectorate last month and can the council pull its brazen one rule for the pier and another rule for us strategy off?
The owners of Blackpool’s South Pier pulled out all stops as they presented their case at the Public Inquiry into the council’s decision to refuse permission for two seasonal amusement rides, which they say are needed to help fund vital repairs to the town’s historic piers.
The Pier Company wants to install a 42-metre by 18-metre, 12-metre-high log flume on land north of the pier headland and a 77-metre Star Flyer on the south side. The attractions would operate between 1 April and 31 October each year before being removed for the winter.
Blackpool Council has twice rejected the proposals, first refusing planning permission and later dismissing an application for a Certificate of Lawfulness after the company argued the temporary rides did not constitute development. The authority said the attractions would harm the character of the Promenade and conflict with its development plan.
At a three-day public inquiry this week, the company’s engineer warned the Victorian piers were deteriorating faster than repairs could be carried out. He estimated at least £530,000 a year would be needed over the next decade to maintain their condition, telling the inquiry: “The rate of deterioration is outstripping the rate of repair… the pier will no longer be safe.”
The new rides, they say, will help raise the vital funding to meet these obligations.
The council finds itself treading through shifting sands. In an ill-timed misstep, it awarded its own rides application on the promenade, and is now facing up to a local petition backing the South Pier proposals gathering support.
A planning inspector is expected to rule on the appeal later this summer.
Originally published on Coinslot on August 10, 2026. Republished with permission.