Stand Up For Southport Blog by Andrew Brown
Exciting possibilities lie ahead for the future of one of the most prime seafront sites in the North West.
Princes Park enjoys stunning views looking towards the Southport coastline and Southport Pier.
It sits between Ocean Plaza Leisure, Adventure Coast Southport and the Marine Lake / Kings Gardens. It is a short walk from Southport town centre.
The site had been earmarked for the £75 million creation of the new Cove Resort, which aims to offer multiple leisure activities including a leisure beach, an extensive thermal spa and a four star hotel.
Two years ago Cove Resort instead earmarked the nearby Esplanade site near Southport Lifeboat Station.
It means that Princes Park is once again available – a site that is sure to attract serious interest with the huge investment being made in Southport.
Sefton Council is currently carrying out a review of its property portfolio, which comprises over 800 assets.
Princes Park is vacant at the moment – it is sometimes utilised to host car parking for major local events.
It will be prioritised as part of Sefton’s review, which will take a number of weeks to complete.
The park will also be included in the upcoming Southport Place Strategy.
Next year, The Open golf championship will be held at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport with the eyes of the world on the town.
It could be a great opportunity to show off what the resort has to offer to both national and international investors.
Southport is a town very much on the up, with work taking place on the new £73 million Marine Lake Events Centre and the accompanying Light Fantastic water and light show in the Marine Lake in the area in front.
Next year is due to see work beginning on the £10 million transformation of the Town Hall Gardens into a family-led events space led by the families of Alice, Bebe and Elsie.
The Government has pledged to support the restoration and reopening of Southport Pier.
Work is taking place on the former BHS building on Chapel Street and the former Southport Visiter office on Tulketh Street.
Planning permission has been granted to create the UK’s first event threatre-spa-hotel at the Garrick building and a new Wetherspoon Hotel, both on Lord Street.
Now seems to be a prime time to alert investors to the availability of Princes Park with a rare opportunity to create an exciting new use for such a unique seafront site.
But what would you like to see it become?
It sits very close to where the old Southport Sea Bathing Lake once stood, and a new attraction which would attract more visitors to the town would surely be welcomed.
Southport is in need of top quality, all-year-round attractions that would attract families throughout the year and would complement and add to its existing offer.
In 2008, Sefton Council signed an Exclusivity Agreement with Urban Splash to redevelop the ‘Southport Marine Park’ site which at the time included Princes Park along with what was the former Southport Pleasureland site after its closure by Blackpool Pleasure Beach two years previously.
Urban Splash was recently chosen to spearhead the regeneration of the Festival Gardens site in Liverpool, but back in 2008 their interest in Southport never materialised into anything.
They had expressed their intention to convert the land in Southport into an eco-park with gardens, hotels and a lake.
At the time, Sefton Council head of tourism Tony Corfield said: “During their impressive submissions, Urban Splash has vowed to create a distinctive new attraction featuring a wide range of activities.
“The company is keen to work with the local community to produce a quality, eco-friendly development which includes exemplary architecture and embraces our reputation as England’s Classic Resort.”
The fairground area has since been revived through the Adventure Coast Southport attraction.
Seventeen years on, the other part of that site – Princes Park – is up for grabs once again.
What will its future hold?
It’s time for someone to come in and make a real splash.
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