Outline plans for a £300m Blackpool entertainment complex with an alien theme have been submitted for approval.
The 17-acre development, known as Blackpool Central, will include an indoor theme park with virtual-reality rides, new hotels and restaurants, a public square designed for events and a multi-storey car park.
Developers Nikal and Media Invest Entertainment (MIE) have been working on the plans for a number of years, with construction initially planned to start in 2020.
Planning for the car park and a heritage quarter, which will see development around two Grade II-listed buildings, has been submitted, along with an outline planning application for future phases of the project. Nikal chairman Richard Fee said: “This first planning application is an important step forward and will see us deliver a new multi-storey car park and the Heritage Quarter, which will enable us to deliver the future phases.” Nikal has estimated the overall development will take up to 10 years to deliver.
Fellow backer MIE has said the theme park will have aliens and “unsolved mysteries of ancient civilisations” as its main themes.
In March, the seaside resort was handed £8m by central government to help fund the relocation of the magistrates and civils court, which sits within the planned development area.