MUNICIPAL LIFE OF BLACKPOOL 93 



It has received the approval of the Minister of Health, and is now awaiting 

 submission to the House of Commons and the House of Lords for final 

 approval. The provisions generally are for the preservation of existing 

 residential areas, which is a necessity for a seaside town like Blackpool. It 

 also gives the Corporation power to control the maintenance, use, alteration, 

 extension and replacement of existing buildings, and the continuance of 

 existing use of land and buildings and the provision of loading accommodation 

 to business premises. 



Building development by private enterprise has been phenomenal in Black- 

 pool during the last few years. An average of 1,250 dwelling-houses have 

 been built each year for the past 10 years, and apart from this, a large amount 

 of money has been spent on the re-building and the erection of new shops, 

 stores, public buildings, hotels, licensed premises and boarding houses. The 

 Corporation have powers to control the elevations of new buildings. 



Arterial Roads. 



Since 1920 a large number of widening and reconstruction schemes of the 

 existing main roads within the borough has taken place, while a number of new 

 roads giving better inter-communication have also been constructed. The 

 principal road arteries leading into Blackpool are as follows : — from the south, 

 Clifton Drive, Squires Gate Lane and the Promenade ; from the south-east, 

 Preston New Road ; from the east, Newton Drive ; and from the north-east, 

 Poulton New Road ; from the north, Queen's Drive and Fleetwood Road. 

 Undoubtedly the main artery into Blackpool is Preston New Road, which 

 discharges into the junction of Whitegate Drive and Waterloo Road and Park 

 Road, at which junction a traffic round-about is situated. From here the traffic 

 bound southwards is borne along Waterloo Road, while that for the centre of 

 Blackpool can travel by Park Road, and that proceeding to the north end of the 

 borough along Whitegate Drive and thence by way of Devonshire Road to 

 Cleveleys. 



The reconstruction and widening of Preston New Road to 100 feet was for a 

 distance of 1 .4 miles undertaken in conjunction with the Lancashire County 

 Council, while the construction of Poulton New Road 60 feet wide was also 

 undertaken with their co-operation. The total length of Class I. roads 

 scheduled by the Ministry of Transport within the borough, widened and 

 constructed during the period from 1920 onwards, is 19.70 miles, while the 

 length of secondary roads, or those scheduled as Class II. by the Ministry of 

 Transport, is 9.41 miles. The total mileage of unclassified roads is 

 151.14 miles, making a grand total of 180.25 miles under the jurisdiction of 

 the Corporation. The remodelling of these arterial roads involved the 

 construction of four railway bridges, viz. : at Squires Gate Bridge Lane, 

 Harrowside, Bispham Bridge, Devonshire Road Bridge. A large proportion 

 of the expenditure involved in the construction of these roads was borne by the 

 Government and the total nett cost to the Corporation was an expenditure of 

 £697,675. The majority of the roads thus constructed have been surfaced 

 with either bituminous or mastic asphalt, and have stood up remarkably 

 well, and maintenance costs have been low, while the foundations have been 

 constructed in 6 to 1 Portland cement, concrete or rubble. 



