“I’m not asking for an arm and a leg, just some assistance,” says Fred Omasan. For more than 15 years he has lived and worked in Blackpool, never once claiming benefits, he’s keen to point out. But the council, he says, is “pushing him off a cliff”. He runs Fredstar Afrocaribbean store – most recently located on Cookson Street, in a building earmarked for demolition to make way for regeneration of the area. “We have to move out but we haven’t got a location yet.
“Future higher education institutions will need to be very different creatures than in the past if we are to truly achieve levelling up,” Blackpool & Fylde College’s website states. “They will need to cater for multiple entry points and cater across the age distribution, rather than focusing on the young and traditional academic years.” Once completed, earmarked for 2027, the campus will allow B&FC to offer more than 70 courses ‘enhancing its existing higher education provision’.